The handyman artist

WARWICK SMITH/Manawatu Standard

JOINER BY TRADE: Palmerston North artist Stu Brown gave up his trade to study furniture design at UCOL. This liquor cabinet, based on an old navigational device, took him 200 hours and more than $3000 to make.

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Bored with his trade, Stu Brown decided to push the boundaries of furniture design, writes Michelle Duff.

Before he made the giant surfboard, the modified bomb and the navigational liquor cabinet, Stu Brown fixed windows for a living.

The 35-year-old Palmerston North artist spent 15 years working in his trade – aluminium joinery – before deciding to throw it all away and enrol in furniture design at Universal College of Learning (UCOL).

Now three of his pieces are on display at Te Manawa, and Brown is set to make a new career out of his creativity.

Upon entrance to the UCOL exhibition, Brown's latest piece can't be missed – a snarling rocket sound system based on a World War II bomb, it hovers menacingly over the other works.

The tip of the "bomb" is the actual nose of an old plane, sourced from the Taonui aerodrome where Brown's father and grandfather both fly, Brown explains.

The body was constructed from bendable plywood, Formica and the skeletons of 90 Red Bull cans, with the wheels underneath pilfered from the inside of broken washing machines.

Constantly on the lookout for materials, Brown has a handyman mentality gained from years spent as a tradesman, first in aluminium joinery and then cabinet making.

After leaving Queen Elizabeth College, Brown started a graphic design course at Manawatu Polytechnic before realising computers weren't for him.

So he moved up to Tauranga, spending his time surfing and working as an aluminium joiner.

But instead of throwing old window timber away, Brown would save the wood, take it home and construct things for his mates.

He began to work as a cabinet maker, outfitting boats, shops and motorhomes with wooden furnishings. Employers were impressed by his eye for detail and flourish for finishing, but he was getting bored.

"I didn't really want to be in that industry. I started thinking I don't really want to do this any more. I want to go extreme."

Judging by the works on display at UCOL's exhibition, the glowing reviews from his tutors and the fact he scooped the Student City Arts Awards this year, Brown's decision may have paid off.

The work he is most proud of, a liquor cabinet based on an old navigational compass, took him about 200 hours and more than $3000 to make.

It is inspired by a family link to the whaling industry, he says.

"New Zealanders gave the southern right whale quite a hiding from about 1795 to 1963. My great-grandfather was one of the people who came here and did it. That's my emotional motive."

After heat-moulding the wood and attaching cast-iron spears, Brown carved whale shapes into the finished wooden cabinet – while his colleagues covered their eyes.

"My tutors didn't want to watch. They were like, `Oh you're brave, doing something like that'," Brown says with a chuckle.

A perfectionist, he still says it's not quite finished.

"I'm caught between what is more realistic and what I'd like to do. I choose complex things, and our time briefs are a bit short for my head. I don't like working with squares. Everyone has them in their houses, and I'm sick of looking at them."

See Stu Brown's work along with other UCOL Diploma in Furniture Design and Making and Bachelor of Applied Visual Imaging students at Te Manawa Science Centre and Museum until December 13.

- © Fairfax NZ News