Vince Berkhout: Rescued from the ashes
Words and photos: Vince Berkhout
Back in 2023, our son and daughter-in-law introduced us to their new favourite restaurant wine bar, ‘Where’s Nick’, in Marrickville. They mentioned that the wine bar’s owner, Bridget Raffal, had told them how her parent’s house in Gordon had tragically burnt to the ground. Fortunately her parents were safe, but the only things that survived were Bridget’s wine collection that was stored in an underground cellar, and a jeweller’s bench that she had bought recently.
When Bridget found out that I make furniture, she asked if I could take a look at some photos of the bench after the fire, and to see if it was worth doing anything with it. She had taken jewellery lessons, and saw herself making jewellery as therapy after long days in the wine bar.
The bench was very badly damaged, with the left hand side almost completely burnt out, but importantly the frame and legs were mostly still intact.
After seeing some markings on the bench, and with a bit of research, it is an Italian-made Fratelli Cavallin (Cavallin Bros) jeweller’s bench called ‘Julia’. It is two metres long by 600mm deep, with eight legs and a frame of European beech, and a top made with laminex/ formica coated particleboard and aluminium edging. Anyone growing up in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s will instantly recognise this as typical of kitchen tables and cafe tables at that time. It is shaped with cut-outs to seat two jewellers, and has a set of central drawers, and wide drawers and shelves under each seating area.
It had sat on the Gordon property for about a year before I saw it. As a result, some woodworm had infested the legs, where the fire had missed, chewing significant holes that would need urgent attention and repair.
I suggested to Bridget that it was too badly damaged for a full faithful restoration, but that it could be more of a ‘make good’ project, that could retain the stronger parts, while recognising the effects of the fire.
From February 2025, in between other commissions I set about ‘making it good’. This involved careful brushing with a soft wire brush to remove the charred wood, tidying up the base of the legs to remove the weakened timber where the woodworm had done their damage, and removing the laminex top and particle board and burnt elements that could be replaced, followed by a good scrub of everything.
Some real surprises appeared, including melted aluminium from the garage where it was burnt that had landed on the aluminium edging, and formed a molten drip. One of the drawers retained the outline of jeweller’s tools that were inside when the fire raged through. The sculptural effects of the fire on the legs and frame that were revealed after wire brushing are testament to its underlying strength.
Most of the aluminium edging was salvaged and reapplied, with gaps left where the fire had destroyed it, exposing the edges of the new birch ply top.
Rather than replace the original pale blue/ green laminex top, a new bright red colour was chosen, paying homage to the power of the fire. Drawers were made and repaired where necessary, new runners created, and the legs fixed with new beech and epoxy glue to guarantee strength.
The made good jeweller’s bench is finally ready for service. I really like the contrast of the bright new elements against the charred burnt parts of the bench, which will live on to tell its story of survival.
I’m looking forward to seeing some of Bridget’s jewellery in due course. In the meantime, Bridget and her partner Harri have opened another wine bar The Claret Club, in Stanley Street, Darlinghurst, which has been the venue for regular progress reports on the Fratelli Cavallin Jeweller’s Bench rescue project.
Vince Berkhout’s Fratelli Cavallin Jeweller’s Bench is entered in the Recycled & Rescued category of Maker of the Year, presented by Hare & Forbes. See more here
Enter Maker of the Year, presented by Hare & Forbes
Vince Berkhout @vnc_brkht_bspk is a bespoke furniture who lives in Sydney.
