As newlyweds 37 years ago, Ron Twaddle and his bride Cathie received a bentwood chair requiring some mending, including a new seat. What resulted was an unexpected career for Ron.
The now 64-year-old from the Sunshine Coast is one of only two professional wicker workers in Queensland.
You’ll see Ron at the Lost Trades Fair, returning to the Cobb+Co Museum in Toowoomba on October 6-7, at which more than 50 heritage trades will be demonstrated.
Other artisans include a sixth-generation cooper, a stonemason, a blacksmith, a saddler, a pennyfarthing maker and a spoon carver.
Back in 1981, Ron was a newly minted arts graduate and Cathie was starting out in her career as a teacher.
Dollar-wise and sensible, Ron sought to learn how to mend the chair that had been gifted to the couple.
“The wicker worker I came across was in his 90s; he was happy to help – if I did it myself: he wasn’t going to do it for us,” recalled Ron, whose Brisbane-based shop/studio, And Woven Cane, has been the “go to” for quality handweaving and repairs to rush and seagrass seats, split cane and rattan for three decades.
Ron developed a passion for intricate and elaborate hand weaving.
He mourns the death of the Australian wicker industry: “It was probably the first industry lost to cheap Asian imports.
“Right up until the 1950s there was a strong split cane and seagrass manufacturing industry with at least one trade union in every state for wicker workers. And of course blind institutes did a lot of wicker work and basketry.”
He laments also that he has no successor – yet. “It is fiddly work but I think hand caning is like knitting. Once you know what you’re doing, you work with your sense of feel.”
The Lost Trades Fair celebrates ancient crafts, rare trades and skilled manual work.
Details – Cobb+Co Museum, Lindsay Street, Toowoomba; $18/$15. Adult tickets booked online before midnight October 5 are $15/$12; go to trybooking.com.
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