Melbourne Custom Furniture Builder Reveals Love for Timber and Bespoke Industrial Furniture is “All in the Family”

Coming from four generations of timber importers, Melbourne custom furniture builder, Durwin Lambe has timber and woodworking running through his veins. He says his love affair with timber began as a child, and recalls spending a lot of his early years exploring timber yards, and learning the timber trade through those around him.

“I remember playing amongst the huge packs of timbers in the yard as a young kid. Some pieces of timber were up to 48 foot long. There were so many exotic kinds from all over the world, and I remember thinking I couldn’t believe they were here in our family’s little timber yard in South Melbourne,” says Durwin. www.customindustrial.com.au

Born in South Melbourne in 1865, Durwin’s great grandfather, William Henry Dyson started the family business of timber handling and transportation with his three sons, including Durwin’s grandfather, Aubrey Nigel. When his grandfather passed away, exactly two weeks after Durwin’s birth, Durwin’s aunt, Beverley Jones took the reins and directed the company for 23 years. Melbourne-born Beverly was the first woman to ever run a company down at the Wharf, and continued to attend meetings and communicate with the Melbourne Harbour Trust as the only woman in a male dominated field for over two decades.

“I used to climb up high and sit on top of the packs, and look down at the machines. Many of them were over 60 years old, and I would think about how my grandfather would have operated them. The smell of grease and oil mixed with raw timbers was etched in my mind back then. Add to that the visual of a then undeveloped docklands – huge holding sheds, bluestone streets and a patina over everything that showed years of purposeful use. It was just a natural feeling to be there,” the Melbourne custom furniture builder says.

“I feel I’m most at home in industrial areas now. There is something about the years of use and grim that appeals to me. I feel at peace in places that are so functional orientated and heavily used during the day, and bustling with human life, then morph into industrial wastelands during the night or over the weekends, seemingly abandoned as if there had been no life there for 50 years.” www.customindustrial.com.au

Durwin’s decision to work with timber and his hands was, in his opinion, a predetermined path. His grandfather was a self-taught man who had a woodworking talent, and built everything for his family from furniture, the home and even a caravan.

““The decision to incorporate old machinery parts into my unique custom made furniture was just a natural progression for me, as I feel it’s something I love just as much as timber. It’s a funny thing,” says Durwin. “When I travel now, I always seem to gravitate to the industrial areas of whatever city or country I’m in. It’s like a drug I need; I’m not satisfied unless I’ve been amongst the big wharves and industrial areas of wherever I go. I have to do it.” www.customindustrial.com.au

Almost everything that Durwin uses to build his unique custom made furniture is rustic, reused or redesigned, and therefore has a patina, a soul to it, which makes it extra special. According to Durwin, ‘character can’t be built into a piece of furniture straight away’; it evolves over time from being used. “I still pinch myself every day because I feel so blessed to have an opportunity and a platform to do this,” says Durwin.

To see how beautifully unique Custom Industrial’s bespoke industrial furniture is, visit www.customindustrial.com.au.

 
About Custom Industrial

Custom Industrial is a unique furniture and lighting design company specialising in the re-purposing of old machinery, parts and unusual items into exclusive pieces. Everything Custom Industrial creates is individual, using timeless craftsmanship. Their products are made to last using the best measure of both time-honoured techniques blended with modern day efficiencies.

The business was born from a love of the unique and interesting, and influenced by the founder’s family history working in and around the wharves, surrounded by patina worn, heavy industrial machinery. Combining this with skills gained in the building and timber industries, a passion was fuelled for turning the unusual and unique into custom pieces of furniture and lighting that captured the feeling of those childhood memories.

Contact Information

Durwin Lambe

Founder

Custom Industrial

(61) 0438 805 522

durwin@customindustrial.com.au