Design People: Woodenspoons
Sekai and Ben Connor wanted a creative outlet outside their day jobs, and they wanted to utilise sustainable materials. Thus, Woodenspoons was born.
Woodenspoons’ products come flat-packed for easy storage.
Sekai Connor with some of the range.
Three reindeer were introduced to the Woodenspoons collection after the initial Christmas tree.
This season sees the addition of a sleigh to the line up.
Young architectural graduates Ben and Sekai Connor create contemporary Christmas objects from sustainably sourced plywood. Amanda Harkness spoke with them at their garden studio on the Te Atatu Peninsula in West Auckland.
Amanda Harkness (AH): How did Woodenspoons come about?
Ben Connor (BC): We were looking for another creative outlet – something entirely different from our day-to-day jobs – and we came across the idea of flat-pack Christmas trees. I’ve always had an obsession for timber and the plywood tree seemed a great alternative to artificial trees, both in terms of its contemporary aesthetic and its storage advantage.
Sekai Connor (SC): Plywood was also something we were used to working with. At Unitec, we’d designed models and then laser-cut and CNC-routed them as part of our architectural studies. We started testing with a more-affordable plywood but it required much more finishing work so we switched to a quality 12mm plywood, which resulted in a better product when CNC-routed.
AH: It’s a fun name. Who came up with it?
BC: The name is a little random but we picked it for its association. A wooden spoon is an essential item that belongs in every household; it’s easily taken out to use and easy to store – much like our products.
AH: What products are currently in your range?
BC: After the tree, we introduced three reindeer – Dasher, Prancer and Rudolph. Then followed a number of custom-made designs for corporate gifts: a large star and some mini reindeer. We’ve just come out with our sleigh for this Christmas, which is designed to team up with the reindeer and carry the presents.
SC: We find people come back to us each year to buy another piece, slowly building their collection, and we’re conscious that we have to keep our products at affordable prices, which has dictated their size. We’re limited to working with 1.2m sheets; there have been requests for us to go larger but that comes at considerable expense.
AH: How do you market Woodenspoons?
BC: Our marketing has largely been by word of mouth and through social media such as Felt, Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram. Pinterest is incredibly effective – we find we’re popping up on people’s boards all around the world, especially in the States.
SC: The Auckland community also really gets behind local makers and we’ve exhibited at the General Collective markets very successfully. Some of our online sales are offshore but the rest are fairly well spread across New Zealand, with quite a few to rural South Island areas.
AH: You both have jobs within the architectural industry as well.
BC: Yes, we both studied at Unitec and met there, while completing our bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architectural studies. My master’s was on regionalisation and Sekai’s was on adaptive reuse. I’m now working as an architectural graduate at Jessop Architects, focusing on commercial and high-end residential housing, and Sekai is with Gel Architects, working on medium-density housing.
AH: What’s next for Woodenspoons? Can we expect to see a new range outside of the traditional Christmas realm?
SC: Our plan for the future is to branch out of ‘Christmas’ and build an all-year-round business but still with a limited production run. When we settle on the ‘right thing’, we’ll test it and then produce it.
BC: It’s likely still to be working with FSC-certified, sustainable plywood. We really like working with it, and we value its natural grain and texture. We’re considering more functional pieces for our next range. Watch this space!
Woodenspoons’ designs are available at woodenspoons.co.nz.
This article first appeared in Houses magazine.
