About
Mark Aylward has been designing and manufacturing "objects" from timber and metal for many years. Most of these pieces have been commissions from people wanting unique well made items that will last a life time.
Marks love of making things was fostered from a young age by his parents and grand parents. From the age of 10, he spent most of his hard earned pocket money on tools! Mark was given his great great grandfather’s cabinetmakers tool chest which was bought to Australia in 1859. Mark excelled in Manual Arts in high school. This led to a diverse apprenticeship trade journey, starting in sheet metalwork and leading to refrigeration and air conditioning, where brass, copper, steel, gases and electricity were all worked with to create breathing, functioning, electro mechanical systems. After gaining the Craftsman's Certificate of Proficiency, he continued in these fields for another 21 years advancing from apprentice to manager.
In 2000 he left the air conditioning industry and worked with his partner Helen Stronach in Architecture for 5 years. The time spent working in the Architectural practice gave new insight into design, the use of space, texture and colour. Since 2006 numerous commissions of recycled and solid timber furniture pieces have led to the forming of The Solid Wood & Furniture Company. The furniture is a montage of heavy slab construction using Australian hardwood, clean lines and butter smooth finishes. The use of both ferrous and non ferrous metals ads texture, interest and a strength to the pieces. Mark, an artisan at heart, reverts wherever possible to the use of hand tools and hand rubbed finishes over power tools this keeps an element of quality and tradition in the pieces.
You will find, if you decide to work with Mark, that he can make just about anything! Mark has experience working with a huge variety of materials and "systems", which brings an ingenuity to his designs. Mark is absolutely passionate about working with timber and dedicated to crafting the very best piece of furniture with each and every design.
Tool Chest
This tool chest was given to Mark at the age of 10 by his grandfather Richard Legge. It originally was Richard's grandfather, Phillip Legg, who made this tool chest whilst he was an apprentice cabinet maker in Jersey in 1838.
Philip worked as a Seaman on the ship Elizabeth and arrived in Sydney in December 1850 (Richard's father was Harry Legge from Leggs Camp, Myall Lakes).
Mark continues to use many of these tools on his pieces.
Quotes from Wood Workers
These are a few of my favorite quotes form old Wood Workers.
James Krenov - A Cabinetmaker's Notebook.
"Here I am, here is my work - and someone is waiting for the fruits of these fleeting hours. My contentment is bound by the whitewashed walls of my little cellar shop, by the stacks of long-sought woods with their mild colours and elusive smells, by the planked ceiling through which I hear the quick footsteps of a child- and yet it is boundless, my joy. The cabinet is taking shape. Someone is waiting for it. With a bit of luck it will be liked, given a continuety in a life of its own. Hands will caress the shimmery surface, a thumb will discover the edge which I am rounding. An edge rounded with my plane. An edge cut rounded, but not sandpapered- a sensitive finger will understand its living imperfections and be pleased at the traces left by sharp steel on hardwood. Through the years this edge will be polished, change tone, gleam in mellowness. Yet always it will bear the marks of my favorite tool."
Alan Peters - Cabinetmaking a professional approach
"I have purposely not painted a rosey picture of furniture making as a living, as opposed to a very pleasant pastime, for it is not for the faint hearted, and the following is only a guide to the complexities of such a career. At the end of the day, you must realise that no-one owes you a living; you will have to create it for yourself by your own efforts and by the quality of the work you produce."
Wharton Esherick
"If it's not fun, it's not worth doing"
Workmanship Award
Rotary Club of Newcastle
Pride of Workmanship Award
October 2007
Memberships
Woodworkers' Association of NSW Member
NAVA - National Association for the Visual Arts Ltd
HAN- Hunter Arts Network
Member of the Wood Turners of The Hunter
Back to Back Galleries Cooks Hill
The Australian Institute of Refrigeration Air Conditioning & Heating
Licences
ABN: 58887186471
Contractor Licence No 32883C
Refrigeration Air Conditioning
Refrigerant Handling Licence
No L003863 Code RAC
OHS Certification Class LF Forklift Gen
Cert No N- 0085370/1
WorkCover General Induction
Accreditaion No 00789
