Off-piste Passion: Todd Quirk foregoes (most) days on the mountain to indulge his love of creating beautiful furniture.
Furnituremaker and owner of Alan Perry Furniture, Todd Quirk.
Counting the years he has spent making furniture in ‘summers’, Todd Quirk explains that winters were for skiing. It was the white stuff that brought him to Queenstown from his Taranaki hometown, via many years working abroad as a ski instructor. He now focuses on the training and examining of others because he has committed himself full time (unless it’s a powder day) to his business — Alan Perry Furniture.
Strong and robust, the Alan Perry Cape Cod-style chairs sit comfortably in the region’s expansive landscape.
It’s indicative of the man’s lack of ego that he did not feel the need to change the name when buying the company from Alan 13 years ago. “Alan had built a solid reputation. Who knows who Todd Quirk is?” he laughs. Todd, who learned to make furniture working for Alan over eight summers, says he spent his childhood helping in his engineer father’s workshop. “I have always enjoyed figuring out how things work. I am good with numbers, and I am a good problem solver. Furniture making utilises these skills.
This outside table stands out for its clever mix of angles and wood
” Alan Perry Furniture is well-known around the Otago/Southland region for its range of outdoor furniture. Those beautifully crafted Cape Cod-style chairs you’ve relaxed into with a coffee or G&T? Alan Perry. The tables and bench seats you’ve wined and dined around at Central Otago’s wineries, breweries and restaurants? Alan Perry. Todd says they have refined Alan’s original designs for these wooden chairs, tables and sofas, but only slightly because, why change a good thing? Todd and his one employee are currently fulfilling an order to be shipped to Corsica following their customer’s experience with the furniture during a stay at Blanket Bay lodge. Alongside this range of outdoor furniture, Todd has been making a name for himself through custom work for architects, interior designers and discerning homeowners. There is no ego involved here either. Todd doesn’t have a particular style and welcomes clients coming to him with thoughts and images on what they would like. “I enjoy the back-and-forth process of turning what they like aesthetically into a functional piece of furniture,” says Todd, whose input ensures that each piece is fit for purpose and hardwearing. “We like to think that the furniture we make will last a lifetime.” Todd references a dining table made for someone whose inspiration was the shape of a favourite bathtub, which they scaled up to make a beautiful walnut table to fit the space.
Built to last, this beautiful 10-seater walnut table is designed for good times and big gatherings.
The large communal table that takes pride of place at Queenstown’s slick European-style wine bar Toast & Oak, is Todd’s handy work. Owner Casady Cunat says she wanted to use someone local and Todd immediately understood what they were after, turning oak from 600-year-old homes in Austria into planks for the tabletop. “Todd went above and beyond to ensure we got what we wanted,” says Casady. “Nothing was a problem, including numerous rounds of staining to get the colour just right once we had the table on site.” Another impressive piece is a bench-cum- tasting table for a foodwriter’s studio kitchen, which is made from planks of rimu extracted from the 115-year-old woolshed that the modern studio has been built within. Knicks and holes and imperfections in the old wood are filled for practicality and become features of these unique pieces of furniture that tell stories of their past and take on the patina of their new lives. While Todd prefers to finish pieces with Java or Danish oil to protect the wood and for easy maintenance, if it’s something else you have in mind, he’s sure to find a way to make it work beautifully.
