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CHRISTIAN RENDTORFF – ARTIST’S STATEMENT

In 1988, after completing my apprenticeship as a cabinet and furniture maker in Germany, I migrated to Australia. This country has given me the opportunity to follow my dreams – to run my own business and to work purely with native timbers.
I started making boxes when I discovered that a large number of native trees don’t grow to a size usable for furniture. In making small objects, I can utilise a vast variety of native timbers.
I don’t see myself as an artist as much as a craftsperson. The “art” is to be found in the beauty of the wood.
Influenced by Danish furniture design, I prefer to keep things simple with clear lines and to let the colour and grain of the timber speak for itself. The timber used in my work is usually either recycled or salvaged after having been cut down to make way for construction, urban development or road works. If I purchase timber from a sawmill, I try and counterbalance this by making a donation to a tree replanting program. All my work is finished with natural or semi-natural finishes.
22 years down the track, I still have a passion for making boxes and love to discover, for me, unknown and unexplored species of timber.