Blue Mountains Life – August-September 2019

PEOPLE

lt herownhome,runsa furniture

makingbusinessandholdsclassesforwomen

inwoodworking.

Q

How did your unusual upbringing give you

the confidence to enter a non-traditional

career?

A

I was born and raised in

Canberra. My parents were

not French, nor could they speak

French, but they wanted me to have

a challenge in life! They sent me

to a French Australian bi-lingual

school. Many of my friends were from

diplomatic families from all over the

world. It was a public school that

went from pre-school to year 10. I

spent a year on exchange in France

when I was 15 and became fluent in

French. It was a great schooling and I

not only learnt another language but

another culture, and got to see the

world in a different way.

Q

I understand you were musically

talented and creative as a child.

A

My mother was a piano teacher and I

played a lot of music. I learnt the violin

and the piano, and also sang and played the

recorder in a medieval music group. I played the

violin with the Canberra Youth Orchestra for 10

years, and tried the French horn and oboe.

In my teen years, I took pottery classes and

did cross-stitching projects in my spare time.

This was before computers and the internet!

Q

You decided to study Industrial Design

and eventually woodworking after

finishing school.

A

Yes, I did. I studied Industrial Design at

the University of Canberra. In my final year,

my major project looked at Nomadic Furniture,

Furniture that is designed for disassembly

and reassembly. I had a fascination for IKEA

furniture which you could disassemble for

storage or moving and then reassemble at the

new location. One piece I looked at was the sofa.

Such a big and bulky piece, and hard to move,

and as a student I moved many times!

oodworkinghaslongbeen

a male-dominated

industry,but

somewomen

e bucking

trend.Blue

MountainsLifemagazine

caughtupwithlocalartisan

Georgina Donovan,a trailblazer

h hhomeerurunsnsaaffururninituturere-

o

s

ar

thet

Chessboardsmadebystudentsinthe

children'sclasses(age8-12years)is

a popularproject.Above:Swordand

shieldmakingholidayworkshopfor

childrenis alsoverypopular.

Happy group of first time spoon carvers

at the end of a one day workshop held

at Lyttelton Stores in Lawson.

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