Carpentry

Damion served in the Royal Australian Air Force for 20 years. He graduated from the Australian Defence Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science (Applied Mathematics) and subsequently with Distinction from the Royal Military College, Duntroon. He saw operational service in East Timor, Iraq, Sudan and Afghanistan. It was during his deployment to Sudan that his interest in woodworking was born.

As a Military Observer with the United Nations, part of Damion’s mission was to oversee the program to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate soldiers who had fought in the civil war. An element of this program was the generation of employment and Damion assisted in the establishment of a furniture making program in the village of Yei in what is now South Sudan. Former soldiers were provided with the most basic of tool sets and trained to make rustic furniture from the abundant teak and African mahogany plantations.

Damion returned from his mission in Sudan determined to learn woodworking. What started as a hobby rapidly developed into a devotion. Since then Damion has had the privilege of having been trained and mentored by some of the finest names in the contemporary woodworking world, including Garrett Hack, Richard Vaughan, Adrian Ferrazzutti, Tim Rousseau, Yuri Kobayashi and Robert Howard.

Soon after the beginning of his journey as a woodworker, Damion discovered the pleasure of working with hand tools and they now play a significant role in every piece he builds. He uses his suite of machinery to break larger stock, often in slab form, down to manageable furniture components, which are then shaped, joined and finished at the bench with a combination of traditional and modern methods.

Over the period 2011-2014, Damion lived and worked in the northeastern United States, where he gained invaluable experience working with northern hemisphere timbers and meeting many successful furniture-makers. During this time his pieces sold in Australia, the United States, Portugal and the Netherlands.

In 2014 Damion was successful in his application to Studio Woodworkers Australia to become an Accredited Studio Woodworker and in 2018 his skills were recognised with formal trade recogntion as a qualified cabinetmaker.