Dunkeld’s vibe grabs furniture maker

Three years after building a holiday house in Dunkeld, Gerard Murphy and Kay Leyshon could no longer resist Dunkeld’s positive “vibe”, packing up their Buninyong home to move west.

A furniture maker for 35 years, Gerard and Kay opened the doors of their new showroom, Gerard Murphy Furniture in August this year, just in time for the Discover Dunkeld weekend.

While Kay has gained a job at the Hamilton and Alexandra College, Gerard has established the showroom and workshop as the first development on the newly-rezoned “Dunkeld South East Industrial Park” on Blackwood-Dunkeld Road .

According to Gerard, the couple’s aim is to offer a range of fine timber furniture and giftware to the selection of shopping options available to locals and visitors to the Southern Grampians region.

“We believe that the success of the Royal Mail has provided Dunkeld with enough momentum for businesses like ours to prosper,” he said.

“The flow of tourists through Dunkeld generally is valuable to us, as are the people of the Western District broadly. “

“We are proud of the scope and quality of our finely-crafted ‘timber art’. Pieces range from the large – beds dining tables and so forth- to the smallest olive bowl,” Gerard said.

“I obviously enjoy the privilege of being able to create objects of beauty and offer them to people through the showroom, but I also like helping others to realise something of their own vision by assisting in the design of special pieces and bringing them to being.

“Sometimes the pieces on display in the showroom act as a catalyst for a visitor’s imagination and a commission results,” Gerard said.

“People buy from us unique pieces that can be passed down the generations.”

Gerard added that their range of creative timber giftware enabled everyone  to have the opportunity to “acquire a unique expression of the beauty of timber”.

They use quality Australian furniture timbers, with an emphasis on local, sustainably-harvested Red Gum cut from the State Forest at Woohlpooer by Neville Galpin of Horsham.

Gerard said his love for red gum traces back to his childhood, when he grew up with his grandfather’s love for making timber furniture.

He said that every item is unique in design and execution. “Echoes of the Grampians can be found through in many pieces.”

Hamilton Times <http://www.hamiltontimes.com.au/dunkelds-vibe-grabs-furniture-maker/>