After designing and manufacturing top quality furniture from native New Zealand timbers in Oamaru since 1982, Colin Willetts has decided to close the business and retire.
While there was still demand for his hand-crafted furniture, he was "well past retirement age" and said closing up was "probably the most sensible decision".
The Willetts Furniture business was established in 1982. Mr Willetts, who was born and raised in Waimate, had been working in demolition in Auckland, "watching beautiful kauri being wasted".
Despite having no woodworking or joinery training, he designed and made a sea-chest out of recycled kauri — "I borrowed a mate’s chainsaw" — and his journey into making some of the most sought-after furniture in the country began.
He started buying up kauri, and having it loaded on to trains to Oamaru. Initially, he "palmed out" the making of it to a variety of subcontractors.
The business moved into the Victorian precinct in the mid-80s.
At its peak, Willetts Furniture occupied all of the seaward side buildings of Harbour St, from the Harbour Street Collective to the Loan and Mercantile building.
Production was halted in 1992, when a major fire took out the the top two stories of the Red Lion Mill building. The fire started a few minutes into the lunch hour, and luckily staff had just left the building before a "massive explosion".
Mr Willetts said it was "very lucky" no-one was injured, and he was very grateful to the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust which committed to rebuilding.
After starting with kauri, the company moved into New Zealand rimu in "a big way".
It established an export market for rimu furniture and opened three retail outlets in New Zealand. In the mid-1990s, Mr Willetts employed about 100 staff.
While he had no background in furniture making, Mr Willetts had an eye for design — and furniture making was an outlet for his creativity.
He was always looking for ways to "make something better or more beautiful", and had "employed a lot of good people" to help bring his ideas to life.
The richness of the timber and the finishes gave it a point of difference from imported furniture — it was durable, hard-wearing, and beautiful.
His traditional craftsmanship also became highly sought after by local and international designers to furnish top-end hotels and resorts.
Mr Willetts was heavily involved in all aspects of the business, but as it grew he spent less time on the workroom floor, and more time on research and development, and administration.
But the business had a major setback in the early 2000s when Government legislation cut off its supply of rimu timber. Mr Willetts had to lay off staff, and considered closing like many other furniture makers across the country did.
However, Mr Willetts found an alternative in Southland silver beech, or tawhai.
To launch the new range, he organised an international "fashion show" in Oamaru — and invited people from around the world for the event.
The models were Mr Willetts’ pieces of furniture from the new collection, which made their way down a runway on a conveyor belt.
The company faced another big challenge in 2008, when it was placed in receivership due to an internal fraud. But Mr Willetts took on a new entity, and carried on as a sole trader.
While the company had downsized, the orders kept coming in and Mr Willetts and his team continued to produce small runs of furniture right up until last month.
While Mr Willetts was hopeful of continuing on into the future, illness made it impossible to keep going, and ultimately led to his decision to close.
He had "very mixed emotions" about closing the business, after 40 years of "living and breathing it", but he was looking forward to spending more time with family — especially grandchildren — and focusing on his health.
Mr Willetts heaped praise on all the "wonderful" staff he had employed over the years. He wanted them to know how grateful he is for their — and the Oamaru public’s — support.
Tomorrow, from 11am, all of the remaining woodstock, furniture and other equipment is being auctioned off.
