Award-Winning Furniture
"Tasmania has not only given me a sense of place but the natural environment provides the opportunity to source and work with beautiful raw materials."
SHOP NOWThe Early Years
My name is Rex Heathcote and I am a furniture designer/maker living and working in Longford, Tasmania. Longford is a small historic town on the junction of the South Esk river and the Macquarie River and the start of a large agriculture region called the Norfolk Plains 20 mins. south from Launceston.
I didn't become a furniture maker by accident, as my childhood was surrounded by the Heathcote's furniture business. Established in 1947 by my father and a few of his brothers (6 brothers and 7 sisters) after they returned from 2nd world war. Their starting point was a small workshop in Burnie. Making new upholstered chairs and couches as well as doing repairs. This market grew rapidly and within a few years more space was needed to grow. The brothers had a plan to start another outlet in Launceston doing the same as Burnie. My father and mother decided to make the move and give it a go.
The plan was to increase the manufacturing space in Launceston. This was up and operational by 1958 and not long after that another brother set up a similar factory in Hobart. The larger Launceston factory became the chair frame and couch frame manufacturing factory, sending the frames to Burnie and Hobart on the train for upholstering so they didn't double up on machinery needed to make them.
My growing years were often spent around the factory. Starting from a few hours per week when I was 7 sweeping floors, to later occupying school holidays, helping with more sweeping floors and deliveries to customers and my favourite, the rail yards. There we unloaded wooden chair frames straight from the delivery van into the freight box cars. Over the years the work that I was asked to do changed gradually to working more along side the workers making chair parts and doing repairs.
VIEW GALLERYRecovering chairs in Burnie – 1951
The Original Factory Sign with Deleted “Burnie”
The Craft
After finishing year 12, I worked at the factory often for long and short periods as a fill in doing basic machining and chair assembly, and of course deliveries.
On a normal day I would travel to work with my father via the post box for letters (hopefully there were cheques inside) and arrive at work at 6:45am. When Dad took me to school (on his way to work) l was always the first student to get there, well ahead of any teachers.
The factory workers didn't turn up until 7:30am so my standard arrival job was to turn on the electric pots to heat the animal glue and add a bit of water so the glue was ready to go. Each assembly tradesman had a glue pot on their workbench. I can still summon up the earthy smell, and I have since learnt how reliable and strong that glue joint was.
Not knowing whether to stay at the factory with my father or otherwise, I decided to travel and figure out what to do. My father wished me well and suggested "if ever you find yourself in London with nothing to do, go and have a look at a craft college called "the London School of Furniture". He thought it would be a good idea to use my factory skills to study design as it was lacking in Australia and would be the future if I ever came home.
On arriving in London I found the college, enrolled and was accepted. I learnt so much and hardly left the city in those four wonderful stimulating years. Working with wood, design, the craft of making, and the history of furniture through European eyes. An amazing grounding.
Returning home, things had changed and the family business had broken up. The Hobart, Burnie and Launceston workshops were divided into seperate businesses. I went to work at the Launceston factory for a few years with the remaining staff but my father's health was failing so he retired.
VIEW SHOPToday
Over that time I had started to make some orders for a few of my designs that weren't upholstery related, after work and at the weekends, designing and making dining settings, office fit-outs, corporate offices and cabinets. There were new galleries opening up around Australia wanting locally made products, both small and large personalised designs as gifts or for the family home. This gave me a start as there was an emergence of a craft revival nationally especially using native timbers and veneers.
I rented a workshop and my father helped me to move in after the family factory was sold. This move helped with space and the business grew rapidly. It was the old wet laundry opposite the original family factory, so I felt at home.
Employee numbers grew, and we were making lots of interesting one-off furniture with a team of clever cabinet makers mostly using native Tasmanian timbers and veneers.
In this period I was supplying over 50 galleries and craft centres nationally with a few overseas. But by this time I wasn't on the factory floor, I was managing and designing. In 2010 the business (Rex Heathcote Furniture) won the National Furniture Award for Excellence in Design and Manufacturing.
After this it was time for a change. Unlike my father I sold up while I could, and moved out of Launceston to the small town of Longford.
Today I work in a smaller factory which is really a big workshop and live next door. Still the early morning habit, sometimes I can smell the polishing shop with shellac and animal glue.
Making furniture to order and a range of smaller more portable pieces like the side folding tables and folding stools using solid wood and veneer.
Concentrating on the craft, the aesthetics, simplicity, comfort and sometimes a little bit of decoration.
CONTACT REXRex with Gentleman’s Dresser