Stuart Bryan

"When my family and I moved to New Zealand 20 years ago a family friends' workshop had a large impact on me . The smell of machined timber in his shed flicked a subconscious switch in my mind that I have not been unable to forget to this day. 

Since then I have been fully addicted to woodworking. 

After finishing school I moved to auckland to train in a boat building apprenticeship. I spent 7 years learning many of the invaluable lessons of the trade and now carry these fundamentals into my own work.

I now run a business with a friend in timber veneers, this has given me a the opportunity to use my past training and current surroundings to create the sculptures that I enjoy to make. I especially enjoy making sculpture of birds. This stems from my fathers love for birds he would take us out on long walks to try spot them or listen for them.

'Wood working had been a way that I have been able to express myself without any reason or justification. I create purely because that's all I've ever done.' "