Bespoke furniture a thing of the past: Bridgetown furniture maker weighs in on lack of sawlog supply

The craftsman who once built the table for State Cabinet fears the inability of the WA government to supply saw logs to timber mills will “decapitate” the bespoke furniture industry. Bridgetown furniture maker Glen Holst said the attraction of bespoke fine timber furniture had helped build tourism in the region in the late 1980s and early 90s and produced products that remain highly sought-after by Western Australians. “The extreme of what they’ve (State Government) done suddenly has left everyone in the lurch,” he said. “I’m dumbfounded by the decision.” Industry across the region has slammed the State Government for prioritising firewood over saw logs to the few remaining mills in the lead up to the end of production from native forestry in December 2023. Forestry Minister Jackie Jarvis has responded that the State Government is supporting industry transition and affected communities with $80 million funding that included industry restructure payments of over $22 million made to 24 individual businesses, including sawmills. “For contracted customers who did not receive an Industry Restructure payment, the Forest Products Commission continues to meet all contractual obligations to deliver both firewood and sawlogs up until the end of this year; or until a deed of agreement to receive an Industry Restructure Payment is executed,” she said. “The Deed of Agreement was negotiated by Forest Industries Federation Western Australia.” Mr Holst, who has more than 35 years’ experience in the industry and a host of awards and highly valued commissions, believed funding was not the answer. “Moving forward there is an option for the government to look at the social and heritage issues of their decision and actually supply the timber making industry rather than just tipping money at it,” he said. “I would really like them to reach out to me and see what it would look like for the bespoke timber industry. “I’d like to be a part of the process for allowing that to happen because it’s nearly too late and it’s really disappointing that they didn’t make the effort early on.” Mr Holst, who in 2012 made the State Cabinet meeting table, said there were several heritage projects he was working on that required the use of native timber. “To me it’s important to maintain our heritage buildings in the manner they were built,” he said. “The local mill here is doing what they can to supply the product... the short answer is we don’t know if they can.” Mr Holst’s comments echo those of West Australian Furniture Manufacturers’ Association secretary Frank Parker, who said the association was “absolutely disgusted” with the State Government’s decision. In a letter to Mr Parker, Minister Jarvis described the recent decision by the Forest Products Commission to focus remaining contractor capacity to fulfil non-saw log products as “simply the next step in the transition to the end of commercial logging in December 2023”. Contractory to the WAFMA’s belief, Ms Jarvis said “this is not unexpected and not contradictory to what Government has said”. Mr Parker said Ms Jarvis conducted a meeting with WAFMA in February this year giving her personal commitment that a reliable supply of saw-logs would remain. “These saw-logs would mainly be derived from mine site clearing and would be prioritised to high value adding industries such as furniture manufacturing,” he said. “With this commitment a few saw millers with linkages to the local furniture manufacturing industry decided to remain in operation. With this guarantee of a reliable input supply chain the local furniture manufacturers continued to invest in their business and up-skill staff.”