“THERE is no better designer than nature,” says specialist timber merchant John Jung as he poured a cup of coffee brewed from Guatemalan beans at his Creative Timber World studio at Logan Central south of Brisbane.
“My fascination with timber started as a boy in South Korea with a dream to build my own log cabin,” he recalled. On his way to realising that dream John collected ideas and honed his timber knowledge while studying for an Associate Civil Engineering and Construction Management certificate.
His studio is now filled with sustainable specialised timbers from all over Australia and he has won respect among wood collectors, furniture manufacturers and interior designers with wood provided in slab form.
“Our main furniture pieces are made from flat-sawn, live-edged timber slabs,” John said.
“We strive to maintain the design that the nature has given to us. Resin art combined with timber slabs also adds modern and even more uniqueness to each furniture piece.”
Among the studio’s specialised timber species are jarrah, river red gum, bunya pine, African mahogany, silky oak, red cedar, camphor laurel, blue gum, marri, crow’s ash, blackbutt, brown salwood, karri, Victorian ash and blackwood.
Studio customers are offered free workshops on the specific use of the timbers and John also runs classes on resin application and wood burning.
It was time for another cuppa at John’s ‘Coffee in the Woods’, a sideline café business “where customers can drink in the wonders of wood while enjoying coffee and cakes”.
How about the Duke? Putting on his barista cap, John prepared a cup of roasted coffree from beans supplied by Dukes Roasters in Melbourne.
“Each sack of coffee they buy has been ethically traded, sourced from individual farms or small cooperatives that brew 100% Arabica organic coffee that’s traceable down to farm level,” John said.
