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ALBY HALL — Master Woodturner

Alby Hall has been working at the Ancient Kauri Kingdom since 1995, developing techniques and processes to successfully work the Ancient Kauri (the world’s oldest workable timber). His work is sent all over the world.

Alby was born in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia in July 1948. After travelling extensively throughout Australia, he settled in Tasmania, where he was a fisherman for 16 years.

In 1978 he attained his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Hobart. He resumed fishing, skippering on crayfish, scallop and deep sea hook fishing boats until 1985, when he moved to New Zealand with his New Zealand-born wife and their two daughters.

In 1986 Alby started woodworking, making tables at first. In 1990 woodturning became his main creative outlet. He took to it with a passion, developing many new processes and tools to be able to achieve the ideas and designs that came from his creative process.

International awards

He has exhibited widely in New Zealand and has won numerous awards in major competitions and his work appears in the prestigious 'Bohlen Collection' of woodturning in the United States, a collection hand-picked from all around the world.

Inspirational artwork

Alby’s craft is mainly woodturning, with an inlay content such as fish, birds, seascapes, land images and sunrays, producing a layered depth using clear and opaque resins. The art content of his work are statements relating to the need to be concerned about the human destruction of our planet. The mental images of his pieces are inspired by his life experiences as a fisherman in Tasmania, a period he regards as his most inspirational. He is greatly interested in plants and life itself.

Alby’s craft is his lifeblood. The ability to pass on his skills and to inspire others in their work is very important to him. While his subconscious continues to bud off ideas and finished designs and his logic produces the ability to develop the processes and skills to make these objects, his innate creativity has not been destroyed. He is greatly pleased to have the opportunity to develop and perfect this wonderful process of creative inspiration.