Rachelz – Whipps Designs

Hoody’s Fire Pit

This fire pit for Will Hood, Mt Beauty set us alight. A beautiful piece of functional art gave us instant coverage on facebook with friends and family sharing it all over the world. We went from 2000 to 9000 likes in 3 weeks on our Whipps Designs page.

I guess Australians love their heritage and the country speaks to all humans. Not only is this a popular theme, but the detail and workmanship sets Michael Whipps apart from the rest. Working with clients needs, having an artistic flair, designing and hand cutting a forever sculpture that touches hearts of families and individuals is a talent.

Thank you Will and family for trusting us and hope you invite us to a BBQ soon.

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Australian

A lovely German couple we met at the Torquay night markets selling gourmet German sausages just love Australia and we loved them. They invited us to stay at their place when we delivered the fire pit and we heard their stories of travel and life. Each custom piece we make is far reaching and means more than just a job. Not only do we produce well made functional art pieces connection, friendship and experiences are important to us too.

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Wiradjuri

This Aboriginal themed firepit was commissioned by Marian Catholic College in Griffith, NSW. The College is located on traditional Wiradjuri land and the firepit will be used for their smoking purification ceremony during the 2017 NADOC day celebrations. The college is committed to the journey of reconciliation with the local aboriginal people.
All artwork on this firepit is by local Wiradjuri artist, Michael Lyons.
His work can be seen at his website:
www.sandhillsartefacts.com
All photos are by Charlie Brown.
www.mountainside.net.au
Firepit by www.devsite.whippsdesigns.com.au

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Alpine Retreat Sphere Fire Pit

This Sphere was a surprise 60th present to a very happy Peter from a beautiful wife. They were happy with the end product and sent us a video with Peter’s commentary. Lovely clients and we think it turned out pretty nice. Its so amazing to see it lit up at night and imagine your out in the middle of nowhere under the stars with your tent, fly fishing rod and sound of a crackling fire.

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Flora and Fauna Sphere Fire Pit

This swinging stand is perfect for small entertaining areas and just looks good in the garden. Our clients live in Mt Beauty and Falls Creek and love the local native plants and birds, but also work in the snow and love snowflakes which are a perfect feature in the spherical fire pit to join everything together. What a great Christmas present for them which was finished and installed the day before.

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Howmans Chair

YMCA at Howman’s Gap approached me about a chair for a nice gardened area with views of Spion Kopje, a snow covered ridge in the winter. I had a bit of free rein on this one, and since the chair in the mountain bike park was so popular I thought it would be cool to do another one, not quite so rushed this time.

As luck would have it my new best friend ‘Benny’ had another fertiliser spreader rusting away on the farm, and I shoved some money in his pocket, against his will and loaded it on my trailer. I’m careful to look after the people that look after me. He loaded me up with fresh Veggies off the farm and I was on my way.

The build for this chair took about a week, I disected the fertiliser spreader completely and re built it from the ground up with quite a bit of new steel. I also used treated pine sleepers for the seat and back rest, which normally I’m not a huge fan of, however with the severe weather changes this seat would see up there, including being snowed on, I felt it was the best way to go.

Our aptly named town, Mount Beauty, was holding a music festival right around the time I completed this build. My wife Rachel, who is also a big part of our builds, was helping the girls beautify the town for the festival and we decided to make up a custom temporary backrest for the chair and placed it in one of the parks in town that was a venue for some of the music.

Autumn in town is all about the leaves changing colours and falling off the trees, it’s the best time to be here. The chair was a popular addition to town and after removing it and delivering it up to the YMCA a lot of people were disappointed to see it go. Perhaps I can convince the local council to commission a replacement!

The chair was delivered up to the YMCA and looks great nestled in amongst the native garden, making a great spot to sit and admire the views.

Mountain Bike Park Chair

This was the first seat that I built. Our mountain bike park has amazing views down the Kiewa Valley and every time we rode past this one spot we would always say, “we need a chair here”.

We were waiting for our visas to come through for work in the USA and I had a little time on my hands. I had seen some old farm machinery in a paddock on a ride and had imagined how it would look great as a bench seat. I approached a bunch of local farmers trying to get something to use and no one seemed to want to give up their ‘old junk’. It seems that the antique dealers have been fleecing farmers of their old machinery and selling it at huge mark ups. This has made it hard to get these sort of items now.

I had approached one of our local farmers, ‘Benny’, he had an old fertiliser spreader that would be perfect. At first he didn’t want to sell it, but I explained that it was a donation for the community, and his attitude changed and he just gave it to me. Amazing.

I had visualised the large wheels at each end as penny farthings, and set about building it. Most of the steel and timber were either donated or pulled out of the local tip. I am passionate about recycling and keeping parts of the local history alive.

The fertiliser spreader was used locally for who knows how many years, and instead of rusting in a paddock or a front yard, it is now sitting high on a hill being sat on and enjoyed! The timber planks on the seat were salvaged from a chalet that sat on the hill just below the mountain bike park.

The build only took about three days, and was done in my back yard. I roped my mate Matt into helping me haul the parts up the hill, which was no mean feat! I love this seat, I guess because it was my first real project, but also because I get to ride up there and enjoy the view. If your ever in town, it’s just a short walk up the hill, go enjoy the view!

Author: Rachelz