Out on the high seas, sailors would tattoo swallows on their hands if a shipmate drowned - so the swallows could fly the dead sailor’s soul to heaven. “The swallow tattoo, that’s my brother. Paul died when he was 43,” explains David Bromley, one of Australia’s most celebrated artists. “One of the first memories in my life is my brother toying with a spark plug. I was never that sophisticated.”

 In May, Bromley launched his latest venture on East street in Daylesford; Boon Bromley - a furniture collaboration with Hans Boon, a fellow Dutchman and “old-school mate.”  The result is a fusion of Bromley’s firework mind - a kaleidoscopic ode to youthful wonder, with Hans Boon’s refined European craftsmanship. But for Bromley, the business is something of an unrealised dream. 

In a cloud of saw dust, Donald Straka works with the ghosts of the forest. “This craftsmanship is becoming old-fashioned,” laments Donald Straka, founder of Daylesford’s Pride Furniture. “Everything in the retail market now is basically boxes with a few legs bolted on.”

 Amidst the furniture that crowds our daily lives, the delicate touch of artisans is fading. For millennia, artisans have looked up at trees and sculpted a comfortable way of life. In carved woodwork, craftsman try to honour the ornaments of nature. In Ancient Egypt, the nobility would furnished their palaces with opulent wooden chairs, delicately carved dining tables and bed frames with legs sculpted into lions and bulls. And it’s staggering to think that since the age of Pharaohs, modern furniture is still framed along the same design principles.