Monday June 10, 2013 at 7:00 am

TreeHorn Designs by Joe Chester

Joe Chester has always had a passion for handcrafting beautiful pieces out of wood. Little did he know at the age of eight,while using his father’s handsaw in his workshop in Tasmania,that it would lead to a career of creating beautiful pieces crafted with wood. Today he handcrafts stunning homewares and accessories from his work space in Preston, Victoria.

It started a few years previously when he designed a wooden necklace, which was multifaceted like a precious stone,for his girlfriend. This was when he found that he might have a market for his beautiful creations.

Joe had dabbled in building and construction and sign writing, falling into restoring furniture and making tables, and then into making jewellery. It just seemed like a natural progression.

Discovering he had talent and a market he decided to give up his job managing a burger shop in North Melbourne, and TreeHorn Design was started as a full-time business. Joe now supplies over 45 stores in Australia and overseas with his designs.

Joe’s pieces first stood out for me at the launching of Forte Apartments, Docklands, the world’s tallest wooden building, which focuses on sustainable living. His work was at the market showing sustainable products and what I loved about it most was the original designs, the use of Tasmanian Oak and the colour. It’s new, fresh and unique. I wanted to spread the word about his work so I went off to chat with Joe on a Monday afternoon.

Wooden bracelets by TreeHorn Design, waiting to be painted. (Photography by Antonio M)

When did you first know you had a passion for creating beautiful handcrafted designs using timber and do you see it as your life’s purpose?

I enjoy taking the products from the design stage to the production stage, and then getting the feedback from customers on how they are using and enjoying the product. My particular favourites are the statement pieces and there are currently a few I am working on. There are bowls that have the multifaceted design.

Wooden bowl for the home made from recycled timber by TreeHorn Design. (Photography by Antonio M)

Where do you look for inspiration for your designs?

After bringing over some machinery and tools from Tasmania, I started mucking around in the workshop making things and the products have developed out of that.My past experience in carpentry and playing with off-cuts and creating furniture pieces helped me to start creating pendants, bangles, serving boards and beaded necklaces, and then I moved into cufflinks and stud earrings.

Wooden earings and cufflinks. (Photography by Antonio M)

Joe Chester at work bringing the products to life. (Photography by Antonio M)

The finished product. (Photography by Antonio M)

I’ve lately discovered my love of playing with homewares and in the future will look at doing more of this and branching out work in both directions of accessories and homeware.

I take inspiration from everywhere, and try to make products that people will enjoy, wear, talk about and misunderstand. This stems from the pure joy I receive from creating.

Price is an important factor for me when designing and creating and I want to have jewelry that is good quality, fashionable and priced for the end use in mind, especially to be given for gifts. I have been able to keep the price at around $50 for much of the jewelry, though when it comes to homewares and furniture the value varies so the costs will be commensurate. Each piece is unique, like a snowflake, with its value based on what the item gives you.

Joe Chester and Sophia at the TreeHorn Design studio. (Photography by Antonio M)

Tools of the trade. (Photography by Antonio M)

How do you combine the creative aspect of your business and the financial side to be successful?

As with most start-ups, I am putting profits back into the business for its expansion.

How do you see this business model evolving over the next few years?

My next challenge is a pop-up shop at the end of the year. I want to get some good designs into my pocket of the community, around Victoria Street, Richmond. There will be a stock mix of different designers including local and overseas product.

There is talk between the team about where we see the business in the future, though for now we will take it six months at a time and plans will change as required.

In the next five years I plan to have built my reputation and would love to work with firms to work on design rather than make products.

My goal is to win a $1000 bet with Sophia from my team, to find a well-designed product in one of our largest retailers (retailer name withheld). So far no money has exchanged hands! So here is a challenge for retailers out there who are passionate about good design and creating sustainable products, to give Joe Chester at TreeHorn a call.

Timber serving boards designed by TreeHorn Designs. (Photography by Antonio M)

Joe Chester is one of a few entrepreneurs that I have interviewed this week that cares about the environment and creating a business using sustainable materials. He makes a point of using recycled timber and a sustainably grown new stock, including offcuts of offcuts. The environment is part of the company culture and is evident throughout the business.