Rick Knopke’s rural childhood taught him a resourcefulness that later proved invaluable for his furniture-making career. Here he tells F&C about his Western Australian-based marquetry business
Where are you based and how did you come to be there? I’m in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia. My early life was in tropical Far North Queensland, which is more than 5,000km by road from where I am now. I left my hometown because of the limited opportunities there at the time and chose my destination because it offered limitless opportunity, largely due to the buoyant economic conditions in this location.
Tell us about your background and training. My family were farmers in a remote part of the country. Farmers are, of necessity, resourceful people. They have to be able to build, make and repair or they simply don’t survive. As the only son, I quickly acquired the ability to do all three at a young age. My secondary education, as was common at the time (the early 1970s, when manufacturing was still alive and well in Australia), ensured that students could leave school at 15 years old to take up a trade or continue to tertiary study. I chose the latter path, which ultimately did not suit me. I ceased my studies and commenced a cabinetmaking apprenticeship when I was nearly 20, abandoned that after a short time and threw myself upon my own resources. I moved to a distant large city, found work and kept my mouth shut and everything else open as I learned on the job. This was long ago and I think I was fortunate to have fallen on my feet; the process certainly illustrated to me the necessity of being prepared to take risks.
How did you first get interested in furniture making? In my late teens I came to know a middle-aged English cabinetmaker who had come to Australia to find a new life. He was, as I later recognised, exceptionally well trained and capable and what he did with his hands made sense to me. One of my secondary school teachers was also a very capable craftsman; the meticulousness of his habits and clarity of the work that he produced in front of his students also made sense. I think I was bitten by the ‘work with your hands’ bug around this time.
How did you train? I’d been lucky to get the apprenticeship I’d commenced, but abandoned it because I quickly identified it as a dead end. The ‘on the job’ experience that I subsequently gained lacked the component of institutional technical instruction which an apprenticeship would have offered. Crucially however, as a farm boy who was the beneficiary of a sound education, I’d learned how to learn. I found any information I needed at the library, or heard it from the mouths of the much older men in my workplace, or discovered it myself through experimentation.
What was the first project you completed? The first thing I ever did which may have been a signpost to the future was to cover one of my father’s wooden cigar boxes with pieces of mixed wood veneers; I was probably about 10 when I did this. It is the only relic of my childhood which I still possess.
What made you decide to set up your own furniture business? My family had been small businesspeople their entire lives and as a child I’d been surrounded by their associates, people to whom the idea of paid employment was anathema, so self- employment was always my goal. The catalyst for setting up my own business was coming to the realisation that I would never be ‘ready’ but that I was already capable, that if I waited any longer I’d simply be out of time.
How did you go about it? I simply took the plunge one day. Someone I knew wanted me to produce a restaurant interior for them, several months’ work. I acquired someone’s failed business assets on a walk-in walk- out basis and got to work. Critically, I had garnered a positive reputation and was not afraid to cold-call prospects and to knock on doors, so I quickly formed new associations and found customers. I had also acquired some wholly owned real estate assets against which I could secure funding. I wouldn’t say it was all smooth sailing, but I survived. Without a sound partner in marriage and business to rely on, I don’t think I’d have managed.
What inspires you and where do you get your ideas from? It’s a well-worn cliché that inspiration is everywhere and simply being alive and well is inspiration enough. As for ideas, I think it’s inevitable that you’ll assimilate and synthesise the things you encounter in your life and that consequently a wellspring is formed from which you can draw at will.
Tell us about your main stylistic influences – how did you learn about them and how do they feed into your work? I was introduced to MC Escher’s work in my early teens, around about the time I discovered Hokusai. Modernism was the dominant theme at the time and the Danes were in the ascendancy; I just couldn’t miss any of it. As a producer, I became acutely aware of how much everything costs to make and realised that if I expected to sell what I made, it had better be lean. If you look at what I make, the structures are simple even if the embellishment is not.
Is there an ethos or guiding principle behind your style and if so, how would you describe it? Broadly, I don’t think there is. I certainly don’t think about it.
What type of tools do you like to use and why? Are there any you avoid and if so, why? I’d describe myself as a machine woodworker who is at pains to make work that doesn’t look as if it’s reliant on machines for its existence. If I worked predominantly with hand tools, I’d starve. Accordingly, I have an arsenal of hand and machine tools at my disposal and I’ll use whatever is appropriate to the task at hand.
Tell us about your workshop. What is the set-up? How long have you been there and will you be staying? I sold my workshop to a younger man and had a soft retirement a few years back; I continue to have access to the workshop by the good graces of my younger colleague. I had bought a 400sq. metre workshop 30 years before and had remained there and would casually lease adjacent storage space when the need arose. The workshop has a full suite of high-capacity Martin machines with centralised dust extraction as well as a large Vacupress vacuum pressing table and a custom-built CNC veneer cutting machine. Straight-line veneer trimming is done via a bolt-on pressure beam on a Martin panelsaw, an effective space-efficient solution.
The catalyst for setting up my own business was coming to the realisation that I would never be ‘ready’ but that I was already capable, that if I waited any longer I’d simply be out of time.
How does your design process work? I start with the marquetry idea and then look for an application. What suits a small panel won’t necessarily also suit a large panel, and this consideration will tell me a lot. Material choice is considered at the same time. I’ll then draw on-screen using Corel, a simple line-drawing program, nothing complicated. When I’m done with that, the finished piece is clearly visible in my head. Since I work speculatively, I don’t have to convert anyone to my point of view and I just get on and make the thing.
Which woods do you most like working with and why? I can’t explain why, but I prefer brown, yellow and blonde shades and have a borderline aversion to red hues; doesn’t mean I won’t use them, just that I lean away from them. Do you work with other materials as well as wood and how do they compare? I use almost exclusively wood and man-made composites. Any brass or steel work is jobbed out to someone with the requisite skill.
What sort of finishes do you prefer and why? I like sparely applied sprayed acid-catalysed lacquer, either left as is or rubbed out with 0000 wire wool and wax. Acid-catalysed lacquer is hard enough to be durable, but soft enough to sustain a knock and not fracture; well applied it has a very natural look. I’ve also started using oil finishes again for the first time since the 1970s. I had a desire to retain a little more texture; oil finishes have come a long way in recent years.
What do you love about marquetry and veneers? Well, the resource goes further, and that has to be a good thing. Perhaps oddly, but certainly not perversely, I like the fact that making marquetry requires patience and a clear mind and that it takes a long time to make. As for why I actually like the finished pattern, I really can’t say; it’s just gotten under my skin in a big way. I certainly don’t like making things complicated for the sake of making them complicated!
Are there particular challenges in this technique and how do you overcome them? Disparity in material density will lead to a fraught sanding process, so I always try to achieve rough parity in the softness/hardness of the veneers I choose. Material thickness differential I like to be within a range of +/-.05mm. There is so much time embodied in these things by the time you get to sanding the job that you’d do anything to avoid a sand-through. I also apply gummed veneer tape to the face of the veneer stock before I start so I can cut narrow elements and not lose parts of the veneer as I do so.
Do you have any advice for F&C readers who would like to try marquetry? Sure; jump right in! A little package of veneer can be had for very little outlay; start with something geometric so you can cut it with an Exacto knife and a metal straightedge. Make it small enough that you can clamp it with G (F) clamps and a couple of particleboard platens and you’re away. If you like the result, resort to the internet for more detailed instruction.
Do you draw a line between furniture and art, and if so, where? I don’t think about that; I see no point in it. I apportion no weight in either direction when I’m asked to describe what I’m doing.
What is your favourite project and why? The recently finished cabinet which I’ve dubbed the Celestial Sideboard is something from which I derived huge pleasure. It’s a whimsical idea that has a sweetness about it that I really like; playful, energetic and lively.
What is the most challenging project you’ve worked on and why? The recently finished Sentinel cabinet in wenge and several cuts of walnut; it’s much larger than is usual for me and consumed a lot of energy. I’m reminded of the apocryphal story of the kid who beat his head on a concrete floor because it felt so good when he stopped!
Do you prefer commissioned work or your own collection and why? I’m not mad about commissioned work although I’ve done enough of it, and people will often want a variation or repeat of something I’ve already done, something with which they’re already familiar. I understand that, but think I can best serve potential purchasers by showing them completed new work that pleases me.
What proportion of your business is commission based? Is that something you expect will change? The speculative marquetry-oriented furniture used to comprise about 30% of what I did, the rest was high-end commercial and residential work to order, with the detail being defined by a project architect.
What are you working on now and next? I’m working on a wall-hung bedhead in four different cuts of walnut: there are several thousand internal corners to oil finish, so when I’m done I think my neck will be demanding a break!
Where do you see your work going in the future? That’s in the lap of the gods!
What do you do when you’re not working? I really like to garden, there’s nothing nicer.
@rick_knopke • @rick.knopke
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROBERT FRITH, UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED