JAMAR FURNITURE, has been operating in Geelong for over 25 years. We specialize in all aspects of furniture making and restoration. Our excellent local and interstate reputation rests both on our expertise in meeting individual requirements and our craftsmanship which is of the highest standards. JAMAR FURNITURE, will custom build your unique design for the home or business. Our goal is to creat
e your original design at an affordable price. The wood furniture we build is hand carved to any style you like from Italian, American, French, Tuscany, Old World, Exotic, Rustic, Modern and many more styles. We build reproductions of famous furniture designs with museum quality to detail. By request our signature pieces can be produced as exclusive one of a kind designs. A bit about Bob:
"Woodwork is in Bob Porter’s genes. He was only four or five when his grandfather, Charles Taylor, put a chisel in his hand and began teaching him how to carve wood. Porter didn’t realise it then, but he was learning from one of the best – Taylor was once a master craftsman in Britain.
“My grandfather was one of the men who built the Queen’s coronation coach. He did all the carving on that,” says Porter.
“I have some of his intricate inlay work that was all done by hand – such as a wooden tray with 500 diamond-shaped pieces of timber. Apart from what my grandfather taught me, I’ve had no formal training.”
Porter’s first job after leaving high school was making coffins. “Our boss would go out every Wednesday afternoon to sell the coffins and while he was out one afternoon one of my mates there decided he wanted to be nailed inside a coffin to see what it was like. So we put him in there,” he says.
“But the boss forgot something, came back to the workshop unannounced and by then we were back at our benches working. Then all of a sudden my mate started banging on the coffin. We all got the sack that afternoon.”
Porter joined his father working for the State Electricity Commission. But after a few years he returned to what he loved best and started his own furniture-making business, Jamar Furniture. In his Rutland Street workshop Porter makes and restores quality pieces for politicians, academics, and executives. “When the CEO of the Gordon Institute remodelled her office, I redesigned and built some furniture for that,” Porter says.
“Another interesting job was for a local politician who had an old couch. His dog chewed the upholstery and someone had painted the timber finish with black enamel paint. He asked me to restore it and to make an identical couch with liquorice strap legs. Now we can’t tell which is the original and which is the reproduction.”
Challenging restorations that return a piece of furniture to its glory days are Porter’s favourite jobs.
“I’m glad to be carrying on a family tradition,” he says. “I come to my workshop sometimes, lock the doors and get into a world of my own with my grandfather’s chisels. Then I almost feel like he’s looking over my shoulder. He always said when you finish a job, spend another 10 minutes on it and you’ll be surprised what a difference that makes. I’ll keep doing this work until the day I die.”
