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

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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