Houses: Have you always been design minded?

Mike Hindmarsh: I’ve always been attracted to craft and handskills. My father was a builder by trade, so I had access to tools from an early age – there was a lot of trial and error. After leaving school I did a signwriting apprenticeship, but I was always drawn more towards creating in three dimensions. I returned to making furniture when I started my own business crafting commissioned pieces in 1996. I soon realised I wanted to further develop the aesthetic and technical aspects of my designs, so I enrolled in a furniture design course under John Shaw.

Houses: Where do you find inspiration?

MH: I’m largely inspired by materials and the potential available through their physical properties; such as laminating and bending plywood. My flat-packed furniture designs utilise the stability of a product like plywood and the relative ease at which you can interlock elements to produce a sizeable piece. I also like to work within a brief and enjoy the challenge of coming up with a product to meet a client’s needs.

Houses: Who are your design mentors/heroes?

MH: I’d have to mention the Eames’ and Wegner as the big internationals. The Eames’ for their ply skills, obviously and Wegner for his aesthetic purity. Grant Featherston, a mid-century Australian designer who was forced into being a clever designer through economic constraints. Closer to home would be my mentor and friend David Haig, for whom I worked part time for many years helping to produce his beautiful steambent signature rocking chair.

Houses: What are you working on at the moment?

MH: I’m currently making a lounge chair from reclaimed timber for the Whole House Reuse project in Christchurch. A whole house has been painstakingly pulled down and catalogued piece by piece. Artists/designers then submit their designs and are allocated the materials needed. The final products will be exhibited at Canterbury Museum, Christchurch. I’m also teaching courses in plywood furniture design at the Centre for Fine Woodworking. The centre, which caters to students of all levels, hosts both local and international tutors and is a must for anyone interested in the making of high quality furniture. 

Houses: You’ve introduced a range of LVL pieces to your line up. What is it that drew you to laminated veneer lumber?

MH: I was approached by the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology to design and make some seating for the foyer of their new Arts and Media Building. They had offcuts of LVL left over from the construction phase and commissioned me to come up with tables and benchseats that would complement the large internal LVL elements. It’s basically thick plywood so I was already in my comfort zone. Since then I have gone on to design a lounge chair from the same product.

Houses: Which other materials do you like to work with?

MH: I designed some more sculptural pieces in solid timber, stainless steel and blue cast glass that I loved the combination of. I’ve always meant to revisit that. I also have a stack of various timbers in the shed that’s not getting any smaller!