My name is Rob and I make a variety of wooden items but am probably best known for my wooden Hearts and Dogs.

After a long career in the UK working for a major multinational I emigrated to New Zealand with my Kiwi wife and our two children. We settled in Nelson, close to my wife’s family and I work from our garage at home.
I am completely self taught but have always enjoyed working with my hands. Moving to New Zealand gave me a chance to try something new and Plumtree Craft was born. The majority of my work is cut by hand on my scrollsaw. I enjoy the challenge of extreme accuracy and while I can never compete with a laser cutter, I truly believe there is a warmth in something handmade that a laser or CNC machine can never achieve. As I once heard a fellow craftsman exclaim “There’s no art in hitting Start!”
A lot of my work is in reclaimed timber and I love Rimu. It is such gorgeous timber, I love rescuing it from landfill or the firewood pile. Often the most unlikely piece of wood can reveal incredible beauty after stripping it back. I do this with my thicknesser or hand plane or my latest TradeMe find a Stanley Scraper plane produced between 1925 and 1934. Older than me and it will still be capable of great work long after I am gone.
I love to receive feedback from my customers and their comments inspire me to keep making. I have a saying, “I do this for the outcome, not the income” but I am so grateful others see value in my work and it enables me to keep indulging my passion. Thank you to everyone who supports hand made and to Felt for providing a platform for Makers to share their work.
Rob.