Another life: remade furniture

Hamish Hill, the Organist's Entertainment Centre, shown at Second Wind, 2001. Photo: Terence Bogue

Sometimes the things we make can have more than one lifetime of use. Here’s a notable example.

In 1998, many components were discarded in the process of refurbishing Melbourne Town Hall’s Grand Organ. The ‘unsalvageable’ timber was given to a group of furniture makers to transform. The resultant work was shown in 2001 as ‘Second Wind’, an exhibition curated by Kevin Murray, then Director of Craft Victoria*.

The featured works in some way bore reference to their past incarnation. Hamish Hill’s Organist’s Entertainment Centre utilised cast-off panels with holes that once permitted air to pass throughout the organ chambers.

Left to right: Handrail Cabinet, sugar pine, redwood, oak, tulip tree, mahogany, Douglas fir; Green Cabinet, sugar pine, redwood, tulip tree, mahogany, rock maple; Offset Shelves, sugar pine, tulip tree. Photos: Terence Bogue

In 2007, following the discovery of a cache of secret letters, notes, drawings and a jar of white powder, Hamish Hill was prompted to create another collection of works from the organ’s components. Several of the pieces, in their recomposed forms, express humour; some perpetuate the organ’s mysteries with the maker’s inclusion of new secret compartments.

For example, the Handrail Cabinet was made from a small bellows and old handrails and included a secret compartment. The central part of the Green Cabinet utilised a chest that appeared to be a distributor for air. Most of the organ’s structural members were painted green. Another piece, Offset Shelves, was a recomposition of a small windchest and other parts which formed a slightly eccentric set of shelves.

Overall, the works drew attention to the complex and skilfull construction of the Grand Organ, and reveal the maker’s excitement of discovering its inner workings and retelling of the mysteries contained within.

In 2023, Maker of the Year presented by Carbitool has a category called Recycled & Rescued which invites entries of works created from reclaimed timbers. Find out more here.

* Kevin Murray is now Secretary, World Crafts Council Australia

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