"...if you build it they will come..."
In the fabulous 1989 film " Field of Dreams" Ray Kinsella, a corn farmer,[ played by Kevin Costner], is about to lose his farm to the bank. He starts to hear voices in the wind as he is walking through his fields: " If you build it he will come." He doesn't understand what this means, but he follows his intuition, and it leads him to understanding and freedom. It is a touching movie of hope and faith.
At the end of 2018, we were informed that our warehouse was to be demolished, to make way for new development. It was a time of uncertainty for us. But fortune was on our side. The property developers, were also proponents of recycling and repurposing, and they offered to relocate us to a warehouse that was only 100 metres away from our old one, just next to the Merri Creek. We were thrilled!
The new factory is a gem of the old world- "built like a brick shit-house" The roof is so high, that you can drive a semi-trailer in and out. The power sub-station could run the whole of the industrial revolution! and it's so vast that you can hear the echo of your own voice. We keep bicycles handy, because it takes so long to traverse the floor! And if there's no music playing, there is an eerie silence
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And best of all, it's just beautiful, in a rugged , industrial fashion.
It was astonishing to see how quickly the old building of 10000 square meters, was demolished. 200 years ago, it could have taken 100 men, 6 months to do what 1 man and an excavating machine did in 2 days. Man has probably progressed so far because of his use of machines: aeroplanes, cranes, computers, rockets, and all the other day-to-day contraptions make modern life so efficient.
We befriended the operator of the excavating machine. Amongst the rubble of steel and concrete, he was able to salvages an amazing fire-engine red barndoor that had lead into our old warehouse. It was chunky as all hell, and weighed a tonne. It was one of the last remnants that survived the demolition.
We were so inspired by the door, that we immediately started work on an experimental table. It would be a fond reminder of our old warehouse.
Building furniture from recycled timber, is an experience in itself. The timber takes shape in mysterious ways; we just facilitate the process. In a pack of recycled timber, each plank may look the same in a rough-sawn state. But in a finished piece of furniture, each board could tell a different story, with it's different tones, and features and textures.
Our furniture design is often experimental. It starts with a vision,however, the end product may take an unexpected turn. Our hope is that if we build furniture from the heart rather than the head, someone will love the piece for it's eccentricities, uniqueness. Production-line clones is not in our vocabularly.
A table named: " CHARIOTS OF FIRE" [ Rhymes with " A Streetcar named Desire]
