Bill Blair - Coppice Crafts - The Red Sheds

Bill Blair
Coppice Crafts
The Red Sheds
Oamaru Harbour Heritage Precinct

by Celia Walker

If you search up ‘red shed Oamaru’ the first on the list will probably be an ad for The Warehouse, but far more enticing household goods can be found inside a tiny heritage corrugated iron shed on Oamaru’s waterfront. This particular red shed is the workshop of artisan woodworker Bill Blair, who produces hand-crafted baskets, rakes and brooms, and other objects using traditional techniques. The former Harbour Board workshed is part of an assemblage of buildings from the Oamaru Harbour Historic Area, the only surviving Victorian deepwater port in the country. The small-scale buildings and rusting ironwork in the harbour area are quite a contrast to the grander whitestone façades of Oamaru’s Victorian precinct, a more workaday view of industrial and commercial heritage.

The dark red shed looks tiny from the outside, but opens out in an almost magical way, with wall-to-wall hand tools, shaving horse and pole lathe, and piles of wood trimmings curling on the floor. If it is open, Bill happily chats to all while he is working away – providing a demonstration and conversation at the same time. Some years ago when I first visited he said he was aiming for the magical ten thousand hours of work at a skill to enable true mastery – I imagine he is well beyond that now, his exceptional knowledge of materials evident in all his products.
Bill’s initial foray into woodworking was making traditional rakes, but his focus now is making trugs, traditional English baskets made from thin willow planks, all hand-cut, steamed and assembled. He sources the greenwood for working from a coppiced wood in North Otago – the centuries-old technique of coppicing enables regular harvesting and renewal from this planted forest of trees such as ash, lime, oak and willow.

Bill Blair is part of a circle of makers that have found their home in this part of Otago, part of the culture of living heritage that helps make the town so special. The museum-like working bindery and shop of Michael O’Brien [link to your entry for this] is part of this network that Bill has helped pull together. Mike Lilian is another in this group, crafting traditional wicker baskets from his home in Kakanui – his beautiful utilitarian willow creations can be seen in some of the local galleries, and larger structures of woven living willow fencing and vegetable beds can be found at the glorious edible gardens that are part of Riverstone Kitchen, just north of Oamaru.

Image Credit: Celia Walker