Fecund ground to grow a furniture studio

[Ross Annels]

As I sit at my laptop to write this first entry I am completely distracted by the sound of water, crashing on my studio roof, pouring from the trees and rushing away downhill in torrents. 

And this is summer in Australia - the driest continent - think red desert, kangaroos, the hot sun and white sandy beaches. But I live in the subtropics, and here we get most of our rain in these warm summer months, and we get a lot of it. In the last two days we have had about 300mm (12 inches).

But that rain is part of why this place is so attractive. This was rainforest country before settlement - it is a rich and fecund place, full of life. And in this rich ground, my partner Tamsin, our daughters Katerina and Anika, and I settled, and have grown our practices and community. From my studio I design and make contemporary furniture, using mostly local timbers.

Photo series courtesy Katja Anton and Original Eumundi Markets

Cantilever Table and Katerina Chairs in Blackbean and Hoop Pine - rainforest species that grew on this land prior to settlement. These are a couple of the 20 or so timber species we are replanting. Photo R Annels.

Rain glistening on the trunk of a young hoop pine in our plantings.

Photo R Annels

In my next posting:

Collaborating with place - furniture as landscape memoir.