Matt trained at the University of Tasmania, graduating with a Master of Fine Art and Design in 2016, specialising in sculpture. That background sits naturally beside restoration: proportion, balance, light, surface and knowing when to stop.
A piece arrives with its own history: original makers, later owners, good repairs, poor repairs, light, use and damage. The work is to understand what belongs, what needs attention, and what should be left alone.
That is why the workshop language is quiet. The work should make a piece more itself, not turn it into something that looks newly bought.
The first part of the job is observation: timber, proportion, damage, finish, structure and what previous repairs have done.
Joints, cane, drawers, surfaces and hardware are handled in the order the piece asks for, not as a generic makeover.
French polishing and timber finishing are slow, visual work. Each coat changes the surface, and each decision matters.