Old Masters
Craftsmen
Wood Carver
Kevin Luff
When a tree is somehow damaged or injured, nature heals it slowly. Over many years, a dense knot of wood grows over the injury. To most, it’s merely an undistinguished, often ugly burl. For a Master like 73-year-old Kevin Luff, a burl removed from its donor tree is like a diamond in the rough. A work of art in the making.
Not far from the Fremantle studio of fellow Old Master jeweller Craig Peters, Luff’s non-descript wood turning workshop is a jumble of roughly-hewn timbers, lathes and turning machines. In one corner, a kitchen and a refrigerator. Stacked against a wall, stands of rivergum, sheoak and York gum. In another corner, a box of burls that will one day emerge, akin to a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, as exquisitely finished housings for the precious pieces of art materialising under Peters’ hands.
Luff loves wood. The warmth and the texture of it. He picks up a burl and cradles it, as a jeweller cradles an uncut stone. Staring at it intently, he imagines there and then what this piece of nature will become. The right burl is rare. Sourced from the forests of Western Australia, he chooses them carefully, knowing what each burl needs to become, aware that once his fine-toothed machinery whirrs to life, the tiniest mistake will ruin it. These are the same processes used by the craftsmen who create the bespoke interiors of each Bentley motor car.
“You only get one shot at it,” he says. Each piece may take six hours or more to turn into the basic shape. And that is just the beginning. From here, Luff sands and smoothes until the piece is ready for the equally-painstaking process of applying layer after layer of lacquer. Only when dry does the laborious task of polishing begin.
Like the jewels they encase, no two pieces of Luff’s work is the same. But each glows with the same sense of pride devoted to its delicate, elegant creation.
As Old Masters, we are technically uninhibited & free of all external parameters. We simply design and craft the ultimate masterpieces, sparing absolutely no cost.