Community collaboration yields Victorian Parliament dining suite

Collabaration crew from left to right: Elliot Gorham, designer maker; Louise Gorham operations manager; Denis Brown, timber miller (Yackandandah); Rob Love, furniture polisher (Bright) and Ben Saunier, upholsterer (Porepunkah).

Five years ago, Elliot and Louise Gorham relocated from Melbourne to set up a world class furniture making workshop in Yackandandah, Victoria. Flash forward to over 12 months ago when Steel Road Custom Furniture was invited to submit an expression of interest for a commission to design and make solid timber furniture for the Speaker’s Dining Room at Parliament House, Victoria.

Denis Brown admires the premium Otway's blackwood he supplied for the project, fondly named by him as ‘The Number 5 Tree and the Number 6 tree’, now made into Speaker’s Dining Room dining table, designed and made by Elliot Gorham.

After a long selection process, which included quoting, completing a lengthy supplier statement and prototype chairmaking, the company was shortlisted. Finally, as the successful applicant, the furniture was manufactured by the Steel Road team to a very tight deadline and delivered to Parliament on the last day of August 2024.

The Speaker’s Dining Room Chair, designed and made by Elliot Gorham

“I believe fourteen EOI’s were submitted by furniture maker Australia wide, just three were shortlisted to prototype the dining chair and from there, we were selected to make the furniture, which was a great moment for us,” said Elliot Gorham, Steel Road designer and maker.

The Speaker’s Dining Room Table and Chairs designed and made by Steel Road Custom Furniture.

“One of our main goals is to manufacture the highest quality furniture possible,” said operations manager Louise Gorham. “We achieve this through Elliot’s furniture making experience, attention to detail and enormous skill set. That being said, in order for us to make the best furniture, we rely on the support and expertise of others. We have access to the finest timbers, including Denis Brown’s premium blackwood from Corsair Sustainable Timbers, and we utilise the skills of a master polisher, Rob Love, who has over 40 years’ experience. The brief for the Parliament chair was for a leather upholstered seat pad, so we needed to outsource that element to our local expert, Ben Saunier. So all together, it’s a team effort for sure.”

Photos: Michael Gordon Hill

Learn more about Steel Road Custom Furniture at steelroad.com.au