Designer/maker, teacher and mentor Michael C. Fortune is one of Canada’s most respected and creative contemporary furniture masters. Since his career began 42 years ago, Fortune has become acclaimed for his innovative, but resolved, designs for one-of-a-kind objects in wood, commissioned residential furnishings and items in limited editions.

Michaels work has brought him an international clientele and reputation and is acknowledged for both his technical and design expertise, giving lectures and workshops across Canada, United States, New Zealand and Australia. His work has appeared in numerous exhibitions worldwide. In 1993 Michael received the prestigious Prix Saidye Bronfman, Canada’s highest award in the crafts. Juried by his peers, Michael was the first woodworker to receive this award.

Michael has taught at many schools and craft centres including: Sheridan College School of Crafts and Design, Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, the Rochester Institute of Technology NY, Worcester Centre for Crafts in Massachusetts, Anderson Arts Centre, Colorado, Savannah College of Art and Design, Australian National University School of Art and the Marc Adams School in Indiana where the fellowship program for advanced students has been named in his honour.

Michaels career has also taken on other dimensions. Amongst other government projects, Michael has consulted to the government in Trinidad and Tobago to assess their manufacturing potential and ultimately to design a range of outdoor furniture to be produced by five manufacturers. Michael has also promoted a contemporary internship program that gives emerging craftspeople opportunities to work alongside established makers throughout North America.

Michael received the 2007 Award of Distinction from the Furniture Society, there had been fourteen recipients and Michael is the first Canadian to receive this prestigious award. Michael has a clear vision of how fine craft can positively affect the culture and economy of Canada and the world beyond.

Come and meet Michael Fortune at Wood Dust 2018
Enrol in Michaels three-day Masterclass
Hear him speak at the Wood Dust Yarns at the Q lecture series
Learn more about Michael at www.michaelfortune.com

Kerryn Carter caught the woodworking bug as the daughter of a passionate high school woodwork teacher growing up in Newcastle NSW. Kerryn went on to become a lawyer and accountant working in the US, Canada and Sydney. When she lost her father in 2012, Kerryn built a workshop in Sydney to house her father’s tools and finally began pursuing her own lifelong dream of learning woodwork. Kerryn attended night classes at Heartwood Creative Woodworking for four years before founding Tool School, a woodwork school for kids.

Since 2016 Kerryn has been a regular contributor to the Wood Review Magazine, a feature speaker at Wood Review L!VE and is currently a Ryobi Australia Ambassador. As the Ryobi Ambassador Kerryn regularly represents Ryobi at special events as an MC or public speaker, and does on-stage live demonstrations with power tools designed to inspire and encourage women to pursue their own DIY dreams. Kerryn also creates the DIY projects for those special events and contributes project plans for the Ryobi website. The foundation of Kerryn’s woodworking education and first love is hand tools but she uses a mix of hand tools, power tools and large machines in her everyday woodworking endeavours.

Come and meet Kerryn at Wood Dust 2018
Kerryn will host “A Makers Life” Yarns at The Q on Wednesday 17 October
You can also chat with Kerryn at the Promac Tools display at the Timber & Tool Marketplace
Learn more about Kerryn and check out her classes, latest projects, and other cool stuff at www.toolschool.com.au

Matt Kenney has been making things from wood his entire life. When a youngster, Matt focused his attention of tree forts and skate board ramps. About 20 years ago however, when he was a struggling and newly married graduate student with plans for a philosophy professorship, Matt began to make furniture in earnest. He was still bumbling along when a generous professional furniture maker from Camden, South Carolina called Joe Mazurek took him into his shop and taught him to cut dovetails, make doors and hammer veneer. Matt has made a lot of furniture since then, constantly striving to improve his craftsmanship and design. The result of his efforts is furniture that is modern but grounded in the best of classic design, able to sit harmoniously alongside a wide range of furniture styles, and built to survive generations of daily use.

Today Matt is an editor at Fine Woodworking magazine, where he also writes about woodworking and is a co-host on the popular Shop Talk Live podcast. During the last 10 years, he has focused on making decorative boxes and small tea cabinets, which led him to the art of Kumiko. Matt is also the author of 52 Boxes in 52 Weeks (Taunton Press), a book chronicling his successful attempt to design and make 52 boxes during the course of a year. Matt lives and works in Watertown Connecticut with his two children.

Come and meet Matt at Wood Dust 2018
Enrol in Matt’s one-day Kumiko Masterclass
Hear him speak at the Wood Dust Yarns at the Q lecture series
Learn more about Matt, check out his blog and see his latest projects at www.mekwoodworks.com

Andy Buck is an American sculptor and furniture designer who lives and works in upstate New York. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (MFA 1993) and Virginia Commonwealth University (BA 1987), his work brings together traditional craftsmanship, investigations in form, and richly painted surfaces.

An active maker for more than 25 years, Buck has presented his work in over 100 exhibitions in galleries and museums in the United States and abroad. Represented by Pritam & Eames North and Gallery NAGA, his works of furniture and sculpture have been published in numerous books and magazines. Andy has been invited to speak at many venues including the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, Hui No’ Eau Visual Arts Center, Maui, HI, Australian National University, Minneapolis College of Art, Maine College of Art, Herron School of Art, California College of the Arts, Oregon College of Art & Craft, University of the Arts, University of Wisconsin and the Rhode Island School of Design.

Andy has also taught at some of the top workshop programs in the United States including Anderson Ranch, Haystack Mountain School, Penland School, and Peter’s Valley. He is currently a Full Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, where he has been teaching woodworking and furniture Design for the past nineteen years.

Don Thomas of John Elder Gallery says “Andy Buck is one of the brightest stars representing the third generation of contemporary art furniture makers. As a younger maker, and building on the shoulders of the previous generations, Wharton Esherick, Sam Maloof, George Nakashima,
and later Wendell Castle, Garry Knox Bennett, and Alphonse Mattia, Buck continues to open new territory in his exploration of sculptural form in furniture. While each piece is created using traditional furniture techniques and joinery, and made to be used, they are also formal, playful, pure, uninhibited delights to the senses.”

Come and meet Andy Buck at Wood Dust 2018
Enrol in Andy’s three-day Masterclass
Hear him speak at the Wood Dust Yarns at the Q lecture series
Learn more about Andy and his work at www.andybuck.com

In the late 1970s, Thomas Lie-Nielsen was working for Garry Chin’s company, Garrett Wade. Then in the early 1980’s, Garrett Wade’s supplier of an adapted Stanley #95 edge trimming block plane left the industry. Thomas acquired the tooling, plans and components necessary for producing the #95 and moved from New York to a farm in West Rockport, Maine and began production of the plane in a tiny back-yard shed.

A few years later, Lie-Nielsen moved into a double garage sized workshop on the farm and started production of his second plane, the skew-angle block plane. In 1988 as business grew, Lie-Nielsen bought a 740 square metre building in the town of Warren, Maine which the company still occupies. In the mid-1990s Lie-Nielsen expanded to a 1200 square metre facility.

Today, Thomas Lie Nielsen is without question North America’s most famous woodworking toolmaker with the Lie-Nielsen Toolworks producing some 20000 tools per year. The Lie Nielsen range has expanded to include over 50 different models of planes, in addition to spokeshaves, socket chisels, screwdrivers, marking and measuring devices and workbench hardware. The acquisition of the Independence Tool company in 1998 added hand saws to the product line.

Lie Nielsen hand tools are legendary and may be found in workshops all over the planet.

Come and meet Tom on his maiden trip to Australia at Wood Dust 2018
Hear Tom speak at the Wood Dust Yarns at the Q lecture series
Learn more about Lie Nielsen at www.lie-nielsen.com

Vic is a veteran of the Canadian Army where he served for 14 yrs in the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery. After his honourable discharge, he was a student at Rosewood Studio where he studied furniture design and making under the guidance of some of North America’s top furniture makers. He ran his own studio furniture business designing and crafting furniture by commission while working at Rosewood as a part-time instructor and craftsman in residence. He realized that making the type of furniture he liked to make didn’t make him much money so he went in search for a real job…taking the helm at Canadian Woodworking & Home Improvement magazine as editor.

Vic now has what might be one of the coolest jobs in woodworking: he serves as Technical Advisor at Veritas and Lee Valley Tools. Vic is also the author of the book entitled “The Minimalist Woodworker”, published by Spring House Press in October 2016. The book gives advice on how to work when space, time and money are at a premium.

Come and meet Vic at Wood Dust 2018
Enrol in Vic’s one day Masterclass
Hear him speak at the Wood Dust Yarns at the Q lecture series
Learn more about Vic and check out his blog, latest projects, and other cool stuff at www.minimalistwoodworker.com

Chelsea Lemon is an emerging Australian designer and woodworker who has recently graduated from the ANU School of Art Furniture Design program.

Within the furniture pieces Chelsea creates, she explores plant life and foliage through a fresh approach on the traditional woodworking technique of parquetry. Chelsea uses timber as her main medium to express the intriguing qualities and characteristics that are found within plants. For Chelsea, plants spark curiosity as they hold unique personalities through shape, form and are forever changing and evolving as they grow. Chelsea’s current work explores how these intriguing characteristics of plants can be represented through the organic arrangement of parquetry. To achieve this, she uses a combination of hand-work and machinery to create unique and engaging designs. By incorporating these themes into furniture design, Chelsea is able to bring the outside environment into the home. This allows the home to feel inviting and hold unique character.

Last year Chelsea’s work was featured in a variety of exhibitions, including: Speaking Volumes at Parliament House, a solo show Parquetry Meets Plants at Craft ACT, and DENFAIR: Front/Centre in Melbourne. This year Chelsea was invited to create a design to be featured in the Design Canberra Festival 2018, focusing on the geometry found within Canberra.

Come and meet Chelsea Lemon at Wood Dust 2018
Chelsea will be a member on the Q&A panel at "A Maker's Life" Yarns at The Q lecture series
Learn more about Chelsea and her work at www.chelsealemon.com and follow her on Instagram @chelsealemondesign

Terry Gordon was always a keen woodworker whilst serving as a navigator in the Royal Australian Air Force. Hand plane problems were a constant struggle in his woodwork projects, so he set out to find alternatives and new designs to assist him in his hobby. During a three-year posting in Malaysia, Terry met local woodworkers and observed them using their planes with balance and ease to produce tear out free surfaces. These Asian styled planes intrigued Terry, so he went on to learn all he could about this style of tool. Following a period of product development, Terry decided to follow his passion into the woodwork industry and established HNT Gordon and Co. Classic Plane Makers Australia in 1995.

Terry began his hand tool range with the little palm smoothing plane, and went on to make additional bench planes including jointers and jack/scrub planes. Between 2007 – 2012 the family business was at a stage where they could afford to expand the range by introducing moulding planes, spoke shaves, dado planes, radius planes and vices. Today HNT Gordon and Co., working from their Alstonville workshops near Byron Bay, have expanded their range of tools to 50 various types in total with further expansions in motion.

HNT Gordon and Co. hand tools are authentic Australian tool makers whose reputation for producing tools of quality and performance is growing all over the world.

Come and meet Terry at Wood Dust 2018
Hear Terry speak at the Wood Dust Yarns at the Q lecture series
Learn more about HNT Gordon and Co. hand tools at www.hntgordon.com.au

Ross is a studio furniture maker, multi-media artist and sculptor. Ross, with his life partner Tamsin, co-directs the Cooroora Institute in Queensland, sharing the song of the earth through creative practice. The Cooroora Institute brings together artists, musicians and intellectuals interested in the artistry of place. Birdsong becomes furniture, wood grain becomes block prints, leaves become copper sculptures; the politics of humanity rewoven into the ecology of the earth.

Ross has a deep understanding of wood technology. Whether he is making a functional timber chair or a creative free form wooden sculpture, Ross is always informed by the nature of wood. Ross has used steam bending techniques for a variety of applications and enjoys the direct nature of the process. Ross takes all the mystery out of steam bending and can deliver good results with a minimum of equipment and fuss.

An experienced teacher, Ross brings humour and the sheer joy of making to every class he runs. With a laugh as big as his beard, Ross can soon bring a room full of strangers into a cohesive team ready to learn.

Come and meet Ross at Wood Dust 2018
Enrol in Ross’ one day Masterclass (with Bern Chandley)
Or meet him at the Wood Dust Timber and Tools Marketplace
Learn more about Ross at www.rossannels.com

Designer/maker Bern Chandley is one of Australia’s most respected, productive and creative contemporary furniture makers. Bern specialises in a contemporary interpretation of traditional Windsor chairs.

Working from his Melbourne studio, Bern has developed a practice grounded in tradition but rich with innovation. As a craftsman who works predominantly by himself, many of Bern’s techniques allow for simple one-man solutions to complex tasks. Bern has a direct relationship with material and his understanding of the nature of wood is profound. Steam bending is a core process to Bern’s every day furniture making practice.

Bern started his Carpentry/Joinery apprenticeship at 16. After some twists and turns he spent 15 years making sets for the film and television industry. An encounter with American chair maker/teacher Peter Galbert sparked his love of the Windsor chair form.

In his trademark cap, Bern has become something of an Instagram sensation with over 55,000 followers from all over the world watching his progress in the workshop. Bern is the “real deal”, a one man workshop making world class furniture using a combination of traditional and modern tools and techniques.

Come and meet Bernard at Wood Dust 2018
Enrol in Bern’s one day Masterclass (with Ross Annels)
Or meet him at the Wood Dust Timber and Tools Marketplace
Learn more about Bern at www.bernchandleyfurniture.com

Chris Vesper’s passion for fine woodwork emerged on discovering the aromatic scents and warm glow of timber, the softness of wood shavings and the lure of big machines in the school woodworking department. Chris took it upon himself to teach himself traditional woodworking, mostly from books but also from any craftspeople or hobbyists he could soak up knowledge from. There was no real family influence to take up woodworking, just a strong personal desire to do so and to do it well. Chris faced a number of challenges in these early days, in particular, not having enough money to buy the tools he required to pursue his woodworking. Undeterred, Chris made his own tools as best as he could, often improving upon those available at the time.

There were all sorts of tool designs drawn up and prototypes made, patterns and castings were developed - some were finished, many were not. Experimental tool designs included an infilled toothing plane, a bronze router plane, several shoulder planes, a honing guide, mallets, dovetail gauge, sliding bevels, a mortise gauge and many more. Some of these tools were made and sold in very low quantity. The most successful design at the time was a cutting gauge Chris made at the age of 17, that was entered in the student section of the Royal Melbourne Show and won first prize. With some prompting, Chris made several more cutting gauges in 1998 and taking the Friday off school, he caught the train to the big smoke with a cardboard box of tools under his arm to display his tools at the Melbourne Timber & Working with Wood Show. This first show was the beginning of something very special.

Today Vesper Tools has earned a reputation for quality tools and enjoys the respect of industry peers, publishers and woodworking notables. Chris has built an extensive range of quality hand-tools that are exported all over the world. Chris says his early woodworking experience taught him that good quality tools, along with accurate marking and measuring, is the basis of good woodworking and is the driving force behind his passion to create the best measuring and marking tools possible.

Come and meet Chris Vesper at Wood Dust 2018
Hear him speak at the Wood Dust Yarns at the Q lecture series
You can also chat with Chris at his Vesper Tools display at the Wood Dust Timber & Tool Marketplace 20th–21st October at the Bungendore Showgrounds
Learn more about Vesper Tools at www.vespertools.com.au and Instagram @vespertools

Carol Russell is a self-taught woodworker who has been making pieces for most of her adult life. Carol began woodworking in 1987 with small furniture projects and antique restoration, spending time in workshops and gleaning what she could from craftspeople who were prepared to share their knowledge. She spent several years on small commission projects, exhibiting her work in galleries in Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney.

After many years of making furniture and using machinery to tame the wood and create sharp straight joints, she became drawn to simple hand tools such as carving chisels, knives and spoke shaves. Carol says working slowly by hand gives you the time to read the timber and use the ‘features’ contained within. She has found it a gentler, more considered way to work and one where you have time to ponder on the tree and listen to the radio.

Today much of Carol’s focus is on carving beautiful wooden spoons and teaching from her studio in the inner-city suburb of Paddington, Brisbane. When Carol makes spoons, she is aware that each piece of timber carries with it the story of the tree it came from. The character of the grain speaks to her of diverse landscapes, from high mountain country in Tasmania to harsh desert regions and dry river beds in Western Queensland. Carol says ‘I chose spoons because I love their sensuous, smooth shapes. To me they represent giving, sharing and hospitality. A spoon can be used to serve food to others or given as a gift. They are both sculptural and utilitarian.’

Come and meet Carol Russell at Wood Dust 2018
Carol will be a member on the Q&A panel at the “The Tool Makers” Yarns at The Q lecture series
She will be also leading a series of carving workshops at the Timber & Tool Marketplace 20th – 21st October at the Bungendore Showgrounds—details to be released soon, stay tuned for updates
Learn more about Carol and check out her classes, latest projects, and other cool stuff at www.carolrussellwoodwork.com.au

Robert is a self-taught, professional woodworker who has been making since 1985. He first worked first as a trade cabinetmaker (talking his way into a job without any formal qualifications) in order to gain knowledge and experience. By 1988 Robert was ready to venture out on his own doing commission furniture and contract wood carving. He supplemented his income by running private classes where he taught tool sharpening, furniture making and carving. In mid 1996, Robert began writing articles for the Australian Wood Review, becoming a Contributing Editor in 2005.

Robert still teaches, writes, makes the occasional furniture piece, and carves. From 1998 to 2005, his primary focus was carving wooden bowls, with these being exhibited each year in the US - mostly at SOFA Chicago (the Sculpture, Objects, and Functional Art Show). As a result, Roberts work is in collections in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Cincinnati Museum of Fine Arts, and the Figge Museum.

The bowls are usually entirely hand carved from a single block of wood, except for some of the smaller, earlier pieces that were initially turned on a lathe and then carved. Because the bowls are both large and complex, the carving is very time consuming so Roberts output quite is small at four to six bowls per year. Robert does most of his work in two Australian woods: Toona ciliata (commonly called Australian Red Cedar) and Gmelina leichhardtii (commonly known as White Beech). Both woods carve well and they offer contrasting palettes with which to work. The cedar is a rich red-brown colour with good figure, while the beech is a pale wood with almost no figure at all.

Robert finds it difficult to say why he does this work, or why it looks as it does. The simplest, honest explanation is that Robert enjoys the work and makes what he likes. For Robert, that means carving wooden bowls that are as beautiful and as fully resolved in their form as possible. Of all the ideas that Robert has only a few ‘grab’ him strongly enough for Robert to turn them into a finished bowl, where the ideas come from, and why some appeal more than others is a mystery. Another aspect of this same mystery is why his aesthetic sense demands that the bowls look as they do. Robert thinks it is the same impulse as that which drives mathematicians, for example, to look for the most elegant solution to problems. Robert doesn’t really know except that whatever it is, it cannot be separated from who he is. Robert also knows that what makes something ‘beautiful’, involves line and form more than anything else.

All of this now places Robert in the odd position of having to look back over the body of his work to discover who he is and why he works as he does. Robert does not think of himself as an ‘artist’, or his work as ‘Art’, he is just a wood worker, trying to make stuff he likes.

Come and meet Robert Howard at Wood Dust 2018
Enrol in his Short Masterclass
Learn more about Robert and his work at roberthoward.com.au

Robin Lewis is a prominent figure in the world of YouTube woodworking here in Australia. What started out as a simple past time has turned into a second career with no end in sight. Having spent more than half his life on stage, a few years running a media production company, and a now with an increasing love for woodworking - YouTube seemed like a great place for Robin to invest time. When searching for advice online, Robin discovered the maker community and soon began creating content of his own including anything from home renovations to woodworking. As his audience grew and the hobby turned into a business, Robin moved towards woodworking as the main type of content. This was when he created the brand, “Robin Lewis” and the business was formed.

Now, with over 35,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel and over 4 million views on his videos, Robin runs his own business as a furniture maker and content creator. He has been invited to industry talks including the Adelaide Maker Faire and the Maleny Wood Expo. Robin also hosts a weekly podcast with other YouTube influencers ‘The Shop Stool Podcast’ and has collaborated with other content creators around the world.

Come and meet Robin Lewis at Wood Dust 2018
Enrol in his Short Masterclass
Learn more about Robin and his work at www.robinlewismakes.com
Subscribe to Robin's YouTube to stay up to date with his latest videos

Hiroshi Yamaguchi’s training as a woodworker started in 1994 at a private woodworking school in Japan called Shinrin-Takumi Juku, under Master Craftsman Osamu Shoji and Masatoshi Tsukuda the school principal. Shinrin-Takumi Juku is located in Takayama city in Gifu – a quiet traditional town in Japan that has a long history of making various types of woodwork including temples, furniture and urushi lacquerware.

Hiroshi knew nothing about furniture making when he started, and he quickly became fascinated by the conversations had with Mr Tsukuda about making “genuine” items that reflected the natural shape, colour and patterns inherent in wood as a natural material. The training was of busy days studying as an apprentice as well as practically using woodwork skills to make craft and furniture. Hiroshi really appreciated what he learnt in those two years.

In the early years of his career, Hiroshi worked in a number of places doing different kinds of woodwork. From making traditional sliding doors in Furukawa to modern shop fitting in Melbourne, as a forest worker in Gunma, a saw mill worker in Kokufu and to teaching environmental education in Sapporo.

For ten years he taught at the Gifu Academy of Forestry, Science and Culture in Mino. This gave him the professional skills and experience to teach different groups of people from students intending to become professional woodworkers to adult education classes and children's workshops. This work also gave Hiroshi opportunities to work with local community groups involved in local forestry.

Hiroshi moved to Canberra in 2012 for family reasons and started working at Thor’s Hammer where he developed new skills in using recycled timber. He maintained his connection to Japan through teaching and also through my involvement in a sustainable Hardwood forestry project in Shirotori, Gifu.

One of the themes running through Hiroshi’s work is connection – connecting customers needs to design, connecting characteristic of wood to finished product, connecting responsible use of forest materials to design and making, and connecting people to enjoy wooden craft making.

Come and meet Hiroshi Yamaguchi at Wood Dust 2018
Enrol in Hiroshi’s Short Masterclass
Learn more about Hiroshi and his work at www.koitoya.com.au