MEET THE
CRAFTSMAN
“Necessity is the mother of invention”, never a truer word spoken!
The day the seed was planted for what became “Whiplash Products” was when, 20 years ago, I bought a house that had the craziest hairpin staircase I ever saw. Even getting a mattress upstairs required folding it half to get it around the corner. A bed base wasn’t going to happen.
The only experience I had with kitset bed furniture is that it was a very temporary option as the base was made of low-quality materials designed to be disposable.
At this time these cost $1000. As I was a stainless fabricator there was no way I was paying that sort of money a poorly constructed product. I was already beginning to get frustrated with the disposable product “throw away” mentality.
I decided to build a bed. As usual, it grew into more than I anticipated.
Using the nature of stainless steel as an asset I devised a way to eliminate the “kitset problem” of the item becoming lose. I say item because whether it is a bed or table or whatever, it was going to loosen.
Twenty years later this bed could easily be placed back on the showroom floor and sold as new. It is still rock solid after multiple times of being broken down and moved. It’s an investment as are all of my products!
The bed you see is the result, complete with candle holders.
With the continuous encouragement of friends, ideas began to develop and many note books were filled with ideas.
My range settled on; fire, furniture, lighting and fishing.
The first fire I made was the classic brazier basket, I used this for a few years before gifting to my brother-in-law. He still uses it to this day and that was 30 years ago.
30 years……let us think about that. That’s not just a number that’s half a lifetime and it is still in use today. To put that in perspective it is 30 warehouse brazier fires. How many products do you have that are 30 years old and still working like new?
The second fire I made was more significant. It is pictured in the collage of three kiln-shaped fires you can see here.
1/Shiny and new,
2/the first burn on the same day and
3/ 18 years later the day I sold it. 18 years apart.
There was no deterioration and it held it’s price. As a single dad opening the business was a very long road as my kids were always my first focus.
One night I was sitting around the fire with my adult kids. I realised that I was making more than fireplaces and furniture. I was making memories.
Whether it is a table, bar leaner or fireplace, you are buying a place where memories are made.
I sat there and looked at them and remembered them doing this same thing with me as kids, asking me to cook the marshmallows and now they were doing this for our friend’s kids.
Soon they will be doing this, around the “very same fire”, for their own children. My grandchildren will be enjoying the fire with mum and dad where granddad once sat with his kids. I like the idea that although I will be gone, I will still be present.
I would love to work with you to build memorable pieces that will stand the test of time….
Our showroom;
located in Goldfields Mall, Thames.
The workshop;
5/46 Kopu Road
RD1
Kopu 3578
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