Last Sunday I drove up from my furniture making workshop in Kerikeri and visited Brian and Gaye Simms at their award-winning farm near Kaitaia, Northland. Brian has known the land since he was a boy, after inheriting it from his father who cleared the land with his own two hands, to prepare it for farming. […]
People ask me, how did you get started? Where did it all begin? What made you choose woodworking? I usually reply with, well, I’m not sure. And that would be the truth because the turning of events is more complex than I could claim for my own mind. That being said, I joined a bookclub. […]
Last September, our family, in the midst of strictest COVID lockdowns, packed up house, shop and kids to return to New Zealand. We truly love Melbourne and Australia but time comes when change is needed and in this case, the change we needed was to return home. We've settled in Kerikeri, Northland which is a […]
Accidents do happen, especially when viewed from the perspective of decades and not months. Truly sustainable furniture should be easily repairable. Unfortunately, the most common glue used in furniture making, PVA, cannot be manipulated easily once set. If, for instance, a leg join breaks, that join will have to be cut away and new parts […]
There is a new design to welcome to the Lloyd Brooke Furniture family. The Finn coffee table. The client wanted a custom coffee table with prerequisites being splayed legs and baby safe edges. I started by gluing and scraping the top, followed by attaching the breadboard ends. These help keep the tabletop flat. The trick […]
