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.
We would meet every month in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne to drink wine, laugh and discuss books. I was introduced to some amazing novels, ones that I wouldn’t have come across without the help of others. For instance, “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole had me laughing out loud in bed each night. However, it was “News from Nowhere” by William Morris that had a profound effect on my life course.
“News from Nowhere” is the type of book that gives you hope and a different way of interpreting your surroundings. Yes, it is a utopian novel and yes, we will never live in utopia but at the same time, our minds are drafted to accept, revere and live by ideals.
The book stayed with me, in my mind’s eye for years, whilst I continued my journey as a musician. It was only later I found out William Morris was one of the founding fathers of the Arts and Crafts furniture movement, one of humanity’s early revolts against the disappointments of industrialism.
From time to time, when questioning the validity of spending a large amount of time on little details, I often call to mind self made images from “News from Nowhere”. They live alive in my mind, willing me and protecting me from degenerative compromises often labelled as “economy” or “efficiency”.
Lets dream of quality instead.
A Leap of Faith - (Moving Overseas During COVID)
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 beautiful little town in the Bay of Islands. The house we've moved into is a 1960's asbestos shack with a little garage at the end of its gravel drive. Over the road, a little river for the children to swim and a short walk away is a waterfall for jumping and jetty for launching boats.
I've set up a little workshop while we wait for a larger space to be built. This will be of similar size to the Melbourne workshop and hopefully be completed by May. Though this shop is small, I will be able to carry out all my previous designs, albeit with a little more fussing about.
nz kauri lloyd brooke furniture
kerikeri workshop furniture bespoke
I'm very keen to get to know the New Zealand timbers and have picked up some small offcuts of Kauri from a local demolition yard. Who know's what will become of these tangled pieces.
Before my first project kicks off I built some shelving for our home. These are built from some scraps I brought over from Melbourne and work nicely, I think, in this little kitchen pocket. There are a few fanciful curves and some hand carved brackets which I enjoyed making immensely.
Little Hand Carved Brackets
Corner Shelf Kerikeri
Close to Light Lloyd Brooke Furniture
Cherry Corner Shelving
American Cherry Rounded Details
A Shelf for Tea Boxes
Repairable Furniture
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.
custom furniture pva Lloyd Brooke Furniture
If, for instance, a leg join breaks, that join will have to be cut away and new parts will have to be made in order to revive the piece.
Enter animal glues.
heating glue pot Lloyd Brooke Furniture
animal glue in pearl form Lloyd Brooke Furniture
animal glue detail Lloyd Brooke Furniture
In addition to boasting more than adequate strength characteristics, these glues are completely reversible when a combination of excessive heat and moisture are applied. That same leg join, if glued with animal glue, can be taken apart and reglued without any destructive processes needing to take place.
From now on, all Lloyd Brooke Furniture pieces will incorporate animal glues in one way or another. Here's to hoping these pieces will be around long after I leave this world.
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 is to glue the centre but not the edges, to allow for expansion and contraction of the timber.
Breadboard Ends
Cabinet Scraper
Next was the frame design. I wanted to create an elegant statement. These two words guided my design decisions throughout the process. Once a rough sketch was drawn, I created a prototype out of scrap. Prototypes are invaluable because a drawing lives in a different world to a true 3d object. The prototype was hideous but earned it's keep with the information it provided.
Plywood View
Ugly Prototype
I then pieced together the frame out of Blackwood.
Once the edges were smoothed and angles refined, I believe we came out alright in the end.
Many of my favourite pieces are birthed directly from the
customer's needs. Recently, I had the pleasure of building a keepsake box for
an unborn baby, due in August this year.
The baby's name is secret. All I have are the initials WRF. This, to me, adds another degree of sentiment. Something private and something sacred.
It offered a pleasant opportunity to get the carving chisels
out and set to work on some letters. Letters that stand for a new human yet to
come into this world.
This box was made to store all the bits that go along with a
newborn. Birth certificate, hospital bracelet, a lock of hair...
I use a lot of hand tool processes when I'm building a
piece. Not only is it enjoyable, but it also offers efficiency in small, home
workshops. Ones that don't have the capabilities to use large scale machine
sanders and need to keep noise and electricity usage to a minimum.
The planes made by Australian toolmaker, HNT Gordon, allow me to quickly take out marks left by my machines and move onto the joinery of the piece.
Hnt Smoother on a custom American Walnut round dining table.
This means I go through a minimal amount of sandpaper and it
helps keep me fit.
The HNT planes and spokeshaves are beautiful but more importantly, work brilliantly despite the challenges that Australian timbers throw at them.
Hnt Smoothing plane working on custom sideboard door cleats.
I am in no way affiliated with HNT Gordon and haven't even
met Terry. I just thought, given the economic climate at present, what better
time than now to support quality Australian business?
There are items round the home that you use everyday, often without too much thought. These are useful items that make your life easier: laundry basket, filing cabinet, plant holder, fruit bowl.
In our case, these were items bought many years ago without
too much thought.
These days, with a young family we spend far more time at home than we used to. This being the case, we've started to prioritise our immediate surroundings.
Handmade Office Organiser
Q. Why not make our surrounding as meaningful and custom as possible?
A. Because it is expensive.
Q. Why rush?
Handcut dovetail office organiser
If we can make a positive change to one item in the house at a time and know that change will last our lifetime, the need to rush disappears.
Before
After
Often rushed and trendy purchases are badly made and originate from overseas countries. Our home is evolving, and slowly, because you can't rush growth.
The sky is the limit when it comes to woodworking
techniques. There are makers out there, wizards of all sorts of joinery, marquetry,
veneering... The list goes on and on. A question I often ask myself is where to
stop? Where will I set deliberate and intentional limits on my craft?
Many of the best craftspeople have access to basic tools and use fundamental techniques.
A simple coffee table made by the great, George Nakashima.
Many of the best craftspeople have access to state of the art tools and elaborate techniques.
A virtuosic cabinet made in the 18th century.
So, where to head?
In days past, you would apprentice under a master of the
craft, organically pick up techniques and modify them to suit your needs as
your experience increases.
Now we live in the face of infinite technique options and infinite
design inspirations. It's hard not to feel dizzy when facing up to a plethora
of concepts and techniques that don't belong to a set cultural tradition.
I've found music can help guide my decisions.
When questioning how I will tackle a design, I like to think back about how I like to write songs. For me, a song should be simple, direct and strike at the heart. My artistic tastes do not lean towards the virtuosic but instead toward the spirit.
Acoustic Dylan.
Let's take one of the greatest songwriters as an example.
Bob Dylan. His songs use simple chords, commonly accepted forms and simple
words. The genius lies in his ability to weave these in such a profound way as to
make direct contact with the heart.
Do I find the internet useful for establishing technique and
inspiration? Yes. If my furniture could approach the simple profundity of Bob
Dylan's work I'd be a very happy maker.
Though I would consider leaving out a few of those harmonica solos.
How many things you own aren't produced on a mass scale?
I was in the car this morning thinking about cars and how
car choice affects personal identity.
That car has been produced on an enormous scale, with as
much individuality as a can of soft drink. How is it possible that this
cookie-cutter possession can be used to construct a representation of our own
unreproducible, unique, self?
I love my 1991 Toyota Camry.
A fine furniture maker's number one vehicle.
Look around your home, can you find one item that has not been produced en masse? Even personal items that carry meaning every day. Your favourite trackies, your trusty mug, your snuggly bed........
Items like this hold meaning in everybody's life. We spend a lot of time at home, and we want our lives enriched, so how could this home-life hold even more meaning?
Now, for experiment's sake, take a look around and imagine
what could be taken off that assembly line.
This is the treasured item that won't end up in hard rubbish no matter which turn fashion may take. These do not have to be expensive things. My dad still uses the pencil holder I made as a 4 year old (at least I hope, Dad?).
To replace everything that can be replaced is wasteful in itself, but this way of thinking could influence our next necessary purchase or determine whether we choose to make something ourselves.
Our immensely personal and unique homes won't be transformed overnight. The process, if done right will take a very long time. But it will be a long time well spent, gradually accumulating meaning instead of stuff.
