Tim Laing - Furniture Designer
A DJ unit designed by Laing for his friend Jonathan Holmes.
Tim Laing.
This modular unit is designed for easy transportation.
Tim Laing of Meister Design makes bespoke furniture for his clients in his Auckland workshop. He talks to Houses about his journey from corporate consulting to custom cabinetry.
What sort of furniture do you design?
I design and construct furniture to order. I like to work with a customer to design furniture that meets their needs. I also like the challenge of coming up with creative solutions for small spaces, resolving storage issues and working to different budgets.
Did you want to be a designer growing up?
I took an unconventional route to becoming a furniture maker. I used to do a lot of woodworking when I was younger and also metal work. I loved it at school and I think I excelled in it. However there was an expectation that I would go to university and study so I did that and worked in an office for a few years. My desire to create was always strong, and after a visit to a collective of artists in South London and meeting a guy who was making concept chairs, I decided I really wanted to pursue this as a career.
Did you get into design through work experience or study?
I studied furniture making at Unitec in Auckland. I thought it was a fantastic course and we had a terrific lecturer; a Turkish guy who had lived a lot of his life in Germany. He took a very traditional route of apprenticeship with a master cabinet maker, which is where the inspiration for my business name Meister Design came from. I really wanted to experiment for myself and have the creative freedom to design and make a product which really focused on quality and detail.
Who are your favourite New Zealand designers?
I really like the designer Joe Sheehan who makes some amazing concept pieces from greenstone. He once made a functional cassette from greenstone; I really like the merging of design and function so his work really appeals to me. Although he’s British, I really like Terence Conran for his diverse interests from furniture to interiors and his restaurant empire. He has kept himself relevant by being willing to try new things. There are lots of other designers that I really like in New Zealand and I would like to undertake some collaborations with artists and designers from different disciplines.
What are your favourite materials to work with?
I love marine ply, native timbers such as rimu and American hardwoods like oak. It all really depends on the customer’s budget as to what I use. I am looking to incorporate more metal into my work as well.
If you could design a piece that had no budget, what would it be?
Having worked in hospitality for a number of years I have always wanted to design my own restaurant and fit it out to the level of quality that we used to expect from interiors before everything became so disposable.
