The founder of Matakana furniture maker WRW & Co, Will Worsp, explains why handcrafting long lasting, sustainable and beautiful pieces is so important to him.
You design and make furniture to last, which is how products were once crafted. Do you think the pendulum will swing back to this enduring approach?
There will always be quick-sell fast furniture but more people are thinking about longevity, where a product is made and by whom. I have a lot of young buyers who want furniture that will last a lifetime, and really fall in love with our pieces. They love the fact that it’s different, it’s made here and made well. Our pieces can be modified somewhere down the track by us or, maybe, someone else.
Tell us about the types of timber you work with.
We work a lot with American oak. It’s a lovely versatile hardwood that’s strong and stable. Demand has risen dramatically as has its price, but there are many other great timbers – ash, rosewood, walnut. There are also American oak alternatives, such as red, Tasmanian and European oaks. All are managed sustainably and readily available, but may not be on people’s radar.
Knox table in oak and Chameleon chair.
Describe your design aesthetic.
Timeless, functional and well made. We are devoted to the development of original design that adds value to your life.
What’s your most prized piece of machinery in the workshop and why?
Our thicknessing planer by SCM, an Italian brand. It will last forever, which is weird because their cars break down all the time.
Head cabinetmaker Dave Guest at work.
You offer a full suite of furniture, as well as customised designs for home and commercial projects. How do you apply sustainability to your business?
We try very hard to produce lifetime pieces with a negligible footprint. All our timber is FSC-certified and we also use a wide range of recycled timbers. Our offcuts go to a local woodturner and are made into door handles, eggcups, chopping boards, bowls, etcetera. Sawdust and shavings are used by locals as mulch and compost for vege gardens.
From working on film sets and super yachts, you followed your dreams to become a furniture designer. Tell us about the journey.
I worked in London as a project manager on large fit-outs and my spare time was spent dreaming up stylish room set-ups. The furniture came by accident: people wanted to buy what I was making for myself. We are in our 10th year of business and I’m still loving it. It’s me, head cabinetmaker Dave, and trainee Dan two days a week. It has been a hard slog and I’ve felt like giving up many times but something keeps me going. In 2019, my wife and I bought a property in Matakana, which had a rustic cowshed, an olive grove and a lovely home. I renovated the cowshed and now have a fantastic showroom, and the workshop is in a new shed. We have everything on the one property, which makes the work-life balance a lot easier.
Baxter bathroom vanity
What do you enjoy about living and working in your region?
My wife and I moved here to be out of Auckland, but close enough to still be able to work there. We love walking on the beach on a Monday morning and not seeing another soul, yet being able to reach the city in 45 minutes. Being from a farm, I love the outdoors and being alone on the water or walking the dog in the bush. With the olives, gardens and lawns, a lot of time is spent on the property. We love being part of a community and everything in it – the wineries, cinemas, fishing trips, camping and artisan food producers.
