Shinobu Kobayashi, Atelier Sumikko (Studio Furniture 2018)

Shinobu Kobayashi was born in Japan but started his woodworking career in Australia in 2002. The first turning point in that career was an unfortunate slip with a sharp chisel that severed three tendons in his arm. While recovering, he received shocking news of a massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan that literally wiped his father’s hometown off the north-east coast. His inability to help made him question how he could in future help people through woodworking and craft. Study at the Melbourne Guild of Fine Furniture, Capellågaden in Sweden, the College of the Redwoods in the USA and later being apprenticed to a designated master sashimono craftsman in Japan showed him the way. In 2016 Shinobu received a silver medal from the King of Sweden for an almost perfect examination score. In 2017, as an invited member of the Danish Cabinetmakers Association in Copenhagen, he exhibited at Design Museum Denmark. Now in Melbourne, Shinobu has recently become a resident of Montsalvat, Australian’s oldest continuously active artists’ community. He plans to create more art pieces while inspiring others to learn traditional Scandinavian and Japanese woodworking skills in a beautiful heritage area...and all over the world. Instagram @shino_bunny

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