Lou Fuller - Lead Tutor

Lou is our Full-time Lead Tutor here at the school, teaching terms 1 & 2 of the full-time Furniture Making Programme as well as teaching short courses throughout the rest of year. Lou oversees all of our Visiting Tutors, as well as our Workshop Assistants, keeping everything humming with grace and good humour.

Lou completed a degree in Furniture Design & Craftsmanship in the UK and moved to New Zealand in 2006. She set up and taught a furniture making programme for at-risk youth through the YMCA, which she ran for three years. Lou designs and makes furniture, has been involved with the school since 2010, and has also taught in Australia, Canada, and the USA.

Lou has worked extensively with Michael Fortune who she met here on his first visit. Since then she has worked as his teaching assistant in Australia, NZ and the USA as well as making his privately commissioned furniture for the Canadian Embassies in Berlin, Chicago, Jakarta, and most recently for the Wellington Chancery in NZ.

Curious to see more of Lou’s work?

Follow her on Instagram @loufuller to discover more of her furniture, making and life in the workshop.

David Haig

David is an internationally renowned furniture maker based in Nelson, New Zealand. Over the last three decades David has been commissioned to design and make a wide range of furniture for private clients all over the globe. David is highly respected in his field of expertise which is steam bending and curvature and is best known for his Signature and Monogram rocking chairs.

David has been involved with us since the very early days as well as regularly teaching at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine for almost twenty years.

Want to see more of David’s work?

Follow him on Instagram @davidhaigfurniture for more of his furniture, making process and latest work.

Llyod Brooke Anderson

Lloyd Brooke Anderson is a New Zealand-based artisan specializing in sustainable, handcrafted furniture. Initially drawn to music and songwriting, he later turned his focus to woodworking when his young family needed quality, durable furniture.

Starting with a small workshop in Melbourne, Lloyd embraced hand tools for their precision and connection to the craft. With support from his wife, Vanessa, he founded Lloyd Brooke Furniture, dedicated to creating unique, lasting pieces from premium timbers.

Now back in New Zealand, Lloyd oversees each stage of production, crafting furniture designed to endure for generations.

Llyod participated in the Centre for Fine Woodworking’s Emerging Tutor Mentoring Project generously funded by Creative NZ and now teaches short courses for the school.

Lloyd’s Website and Instagram

Neil & Pam Erasmus

Neil and Pam Erasmus are accomplished furniture makers, designers and educators based in the Perth Hills of Western Australia. Originally from South Africa, they have built a longstanding practice in fine furniture making, developing a reputation for thoughtful design, refined craftsmanship and a deep understanding of materials and construction.

Their work and knowledge have been shared widely through Australian Wood Review, with which they have maintained a long and valued relationship. Neil has been contributing to the magazine since 1996, writing on subjects ranging from furniture making and joinery to tools, techniques and workshop practice. Together, Neil and Pam have also contributed their knowledge through teaching and articles, helping generations of woodworkers develop a deeper understanding of the craft.

Alongside their own making practice, Neil and Pam are passionate educators with decades of experience teaching and mentoring woodworkers in Australia and internationally. Their teaching brings together technical precision, practical workshop knowledge and an understanding of design, encouraging students to develop both their making skills and their own approach to furniture. Pam continues to teach and mentor, while Neil has taught extensively across Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Neil has won numerous national awards, and his work has been featured in many books and publications. Pam has also received several state awards, with her work featured in a number of books. Together, they have also judged numerous exhibitions.

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For more about Neil and Pam Erasmus, their furniture, writing, and making practice, visit their instagram below.

Neil Erasmus Instagram

Adrian Ferrazzutti

Adrian Ferrazzutti is a furniture maker based in Guelph, Canada. He graduated from the College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking Program, where he studied under James Krenov and the programme’s faculty.

Adrian specialises in custom freestanding furniture, with a practice spanning casework, chairs, bent wood and veneer. His work has been exhibited throughout North America, and he has received several Canada Council for the Arts Grants in recognition of his work.

Alongside his own making practice, Adrian spends a significant part of the year teaching woodworking at various schools, sharing his knowledge and experience with makers and students. Most recently, Adrian was awarded Maker of the Year World by Australian Wood Review for his Pipe Box.

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For more about Adrian Ferrazzutti, his furniture, and his making practice, visit his website below.
www.ferrazzuttifurniture.com

Tony Clark

After 25 years as a telecommunications support engineer, Tony decided it was time for a career change and in 2009 enrolled on the Furniture Makers’ Programme at the Centre for Fine Woodworking and from then on has made woodworking the career of his choice.

Tony runs the Jointworks Studio with Jane, making commission pieces, repairs and bespoke items for the studio. Tony believes that by reusing wood in a creative way then the tree lives on in a different form. In 2019 Tony was invited to design a range of introductory workshops here at the school and very successfully ran our first ever women only course.

www.jointworks.co.nz

Ben Grant

Ben Grant is a designer and maker whose practice bridges sculptural expression and functional furniture. Drawn to the natural forms, textures, and character of wood, his work explores materiality, craftsmanship, and the ways objects invite human interaction. Each piece balances refined aesthetics with everyday practicality, reflecting both discipline and curiosity.

Based in his workshop in Whaingaroa/Raglan, Ben develops and makes his furniture most of the year while also finding time to teach at the Centre for Fine Woodworking in Nelson. His practice brings together design, craftsmanship, and a deep engagement with the material itself.

Instagram and website

Geoff Korver

Geoff is based in Christchurch, and has been a woodcarver for more than 40 years, specialising in traditional forms, especially incised lettering and relief carving.

As an artist he has worked mainly on private commissions and exhibitions, and is currently making the transition to a full time artist.

Geoff Korver is an active member of the Canterbury Guild of Woodworkers, as a carver and tutor.

In 2014 Geoff was invited to teach an introductory carving course and spoon carving, and has since then developed a suite of carving courses that we run each year.

Ben Tindall

Ben Tindall is a furniture maker based in Whakatū, Nelson, whose work is driven by a fascination with wood and a deep appreciation for the time-honoured techniques of the craft. He enjoys working with both hand tools and machinery to create bespoke furniture, with a particular focus on combining beauty, functionality and thoughtful construction.

Ben’s furniture-making journey began as a joiner, completing his apprenticeship through BCITO before discovering the work and writing of James Krenov. Inspired to pursue furniture making more deeply, he joined the Centre for Fine Woodworking’s full-time Furniture Makers’ Programme in 2022. In 2023, his Embrace cabinet was selected for Australian Wood Review’s Top 100 Maker of the Year awards, recognising his emerging voice as a furniture maker.

Today, Ben continues to make furniture in Nelson while also running a shared makers’ space where woodworkers can come together to build their own pieces in a well-equipped workshop environment. He is passionate about creating furniture that can be enjoyed for generations and about fostering a community where makers can learn, share knowledge and develop their craft. Sustainability is also an important part of his practice, with Ben seeking to use reclaimed materials wherever possible and responsibly sourced timber when new material is required.

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For more about Ben Tindall, his furniture, making practice, and shared makers’ space, visit his instagram below.

Ben Tindall Instagram

Through The Grain - Makers Space Instagram

Karissa Walker Méndez

Karissa Walker Méndez is a furniture maker and graphic designer originally from Guatemala. With over a decade of experience in graphic design and creative direction, she brings a strong design perspective and an interest in material, form, and function to her approach to furniture making.

Before working primarily in wood, Karissa explored mixed-media making through community-based projects, including co-founding a recycling centre in Guatemala, where she worked with recycled plastic. This experience shaped her interest in material reuse, process, and the stories that objects can carry.

A 2025 graduate of the Centre for Fine Woodworking’s Furniture Makers’ Programme, Karissa’s practice is drawn to clean lines, balance, and harmony in functional objects. Her approach is grounded in care, patience, and attention to detail, with a particular interest in traditional joinery and furniture designed to be lived with, appreciated, and passed on.

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Want to see more of Karissa’s work?

Follow her on Instagram @walkermendezmaker for a closer look at her furniture, making process and latest projects.

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Aled Lewis

Aled Lewis is a furniture designer from Wales. He has over 40 years experience in designing and making furniture and products for private, corporate and education institutions in the UK and the USA. He has been a teacher and instructor for 20 years and the Lead Instructor for the Nine Month Programme at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in the USA for 11 years. He continues to teach in the USA , Australia and the UK.

Aled is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers. He exhibits work in London and New York and his work is in private collections in both the UK and USA. His work has been awarded a Bespoke Guild Mark for the Furniture Maker’s Company.

Aled Lewis’s solo exhibition at MOMA Machynlleth in 2024 titled “Making the Cut” exhibited a collection of furniture, products, drawing and sketches from the past ten years.

www.aledlewisfurniture.com

Vimeo on Aled Lewis discussing furniture making and design.

Evan Dunstone

Evan Dunstone is an Australian designer, craftsman, educator and writer. He embarked on the long journey as a craftsman after a stint as a bush pilot in the Far-West of NSW and Far-North-Queensland. Evan was trained by David MacLaren OAM, craftsman and owner of the Bungendore Wood Works Gallery.  Evan is a 2001 Churchill Fellow in contemporary chair design and manufacture.

As well as training his own team of award winning makers, Evan has taught at the Australian School of Fine Furniture, University of Tasmania, Launceston. He has also taught at the ANU School of Art and the Sturt School For Wood, Mittagong. Evan is a regular contributor to Australian Wood Review and Australian Woodsmith magazines.  Evan is regularly invited to judge exhibitions of wood craftsmanship and furniture design.

Website for Dunstone Design

Stuart Faulkner

Stuart trained as a scientific illustrator before enjoying a career in design in London, and later, as partner in a Sydney based studio. Intending to return to London to study furniture design, life and marriage intervened.

Instead, he undertook a cabinet making trade course, and in 1997 completed the full-time course at the Sturt School for Wood, Australia. Upon graduating, he was invited to design and teach courses for Sturt’s fledgling short course programme and was employed as head teacher of Furniture and Product Design at the Centre for Furnishing Trades, Lidcombe TAFE.

Stuart returned to Sturt as the fulltime director of the Certificate IV Furniture course in 2010 and in 2013 he and his wife started a 10 year journey offering recreational woodworking courses in Sydney under the banner Heartwood Creative Woodworking.

Hape Kiddle

As a sculptor and jeweller Hape has been working for many years refining a language in shape and form that reflects his deep connection to the natural world.  This relationship is at the heart of all his work and is a reflection on the spiritual connection humans have to all of ecology.

Hape’s work demonstrates the development of this language through the mediums of wood, stone and precious metals. 

For more than a decade Hape has shared his love of making things by hand. There is a slowing down and reconnection to self that happens in this process that is something that really resonates for his students.

www.hapekiddle.com

Brian Reid

An honors graduate of Parnham College (Dorset, UK), Brian studied under the renowned designer Sir John Makepeace and principal Robert Ingham. He is the 5th from only a total of 8 Americans to have attended this distinguished program.

Brian splits his time between furniture making and fine woodworking course instruction with over 15 years of teaching worldwide in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. At the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship (Rockport, ME), he leads the twelve week intensive programme and is former senior fellow of the Studio Fellowship Programme. He also lectures and speaks about contemporary design practices and the history of furniture to a wide range of audiences.

www.brianreidfurniture.com

Michael Fortune

Michael Fortune has designed and made furniture since 1975 for private residences across North America.

He received the prestigious Bronfman Award in 1993, was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts in 2000 and received the 2007 Award of Distinction from the Furniture Society. He graduated from Sheridan College near Toronto in 1974 and then interned with Alan Peters in Devon England.

Michael is acknowledged for both his technical and design expertise and has taught worldwide. He continues to be fascinated by chair design and construction.

www.michaelfortune.com

David Upfill-Brown

David studied furniture making and design at Parnham, John Makepeace’s school, in England under the remarkable tutelage of Robert Ingham. David loves teaching and has done so since the early ‘90s - at the Australian National University, the Australian School of Fine Furniture, as lead instructor at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine and Sturt School for Wood.

His greatest pleasure is witnessing students find ability deep within themselves, seeing how the craft generates a powerful physical, practical, emotional, almost primal intelligence, seeing them become something like dancers or athletes, individuals whose minds speak through their bodies.

www.davidupfillbrown.com

Roy Schack

After ten years in the merchant bank industry, Roy recognised a need to have a more tactile career. On completing his studies at the Sturt School for Wood in 1994, he opened up his first workshop in Brisbane and has been operating from Queensland ever since.

Roy’s school is The Brisbane School of Fine Woodwork, and he makes under the banner of Roy Schack Fine Furniture.

The things that matter most to Roy as a designer–maker include quality without compromise, a good working relationship with his clients and above all else, his enjoyment in the process.

www.royschack.com

Andy Buck

Andy Buck is a furniture maker, sculptor, and educator. Currently a full professor
and programme chair for the Furniture Design Programme at the Rochester Institute of Technology, USA.

Andy holds an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and BA from Virginia Commonwealth University. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Museum of Art & Design, Museum of Applied Art, Frankfurt, and the Boston Museum of Fine Art. Andy’s colourful work of furniture and sculpture
is included in a many of private and public collections.

www.andybuck.com

Will Bayliss

William is a multi-award winning craftsman who started as an apprentice with Dunstone Design in Australia.

William was awarded the 2020 scholarship to attend the Michael Fortune Residency Programme where he made his extraordinary Cable Bay Cabinet.

In 2021, William took out overall winner as well as winning in the Tables, Chairs & Desks category with his Bunyjul Occasional Tables. 

Will has been invited back here to be involved in the 2024 Michael Fortune Residency as technician/teaching assistant to Mr Fortune & Lou Fuller.