Damien Wright
Furniture maker
Northcote, Australia
Recommended by WCC Australia
Harnessing ancient Australian timbers
- Damien works with 10,000-year-old ancient red gum wood
- In collaboration with a Yolngu maker, he makes works collected by museums for their deep cultural meaning
- He has developed unique hand skills in native timber veneer
For Damien Wright, furniture is more than just something comfortable to sit on. It is an important expression of who we are as individuals, cultures and humanity. After completing a university degree in history, he found woodworking a practical way of realising his values. Damien set about reforming traditional skills to accommodate the unique beauty of Australian timbers, including ancient red gum. This eventually led him to being invited to help establish a furniture workshop in the Yolngu community of Gunyangara North East Arnhem land. Out of this came a lifelong partnership with Bonhula Yunupingu, resulting in collaborative works collected by museums. Damien believes firmly in the handmade as a key to enduring beauty. He is regularly commissioned by architects and those who believe in beauty for the long term.
INTERVIEW
When I was 16, my parents took me to a furniture exhibition. I had this visceral attraction to a wooden chair. I wanted to make something like that. Then while travelling around Australia I was taken in by a woodworker living in a beautiful Jarrah forest. I could see a future for myself there. My father worked for me at the start of my career and taught me problem-solving.
In the early 2000s, I was commissioned to make a lectern for the Federal Court of Australia. Recently I attended its 20th anniversary celebration. The Chief Justice, Michael Black, used the lectern as an example of the values to focus on: doing something of enduring value well.
I have mastered some traditional skills, such as blind mortar dovetail joints, but I have also developed new techniques, such as vacuum pressing solid timber veneer onto a substrate. It cannot be done industrially. It needs sensitivity to the individual qualities of the timber.
I am particularly impressed by the three-pronged Yolngu fishing spear. It is made from three pieces of sharpened steel bound on the end of a timber pole with copper wire. For me, it represents the high point of Australian design as it is a wonderful combination of efficiency and beauty. I am drawn to the tension of combining ancient and modern materials.
