Having begun his carpentry apprenticeship at the age of 16, James discovered a love of building houses, sculpting their form and shaping a home. He then started tinkering with furniture design when he needed to furnish his own home, and before long, found himself crafting custom pieces for cafes and homes at night. Experimentation with steel and leather saw James’ pieces grow and develop, with his signature piece, The Tony Stool, adaptable to suit the colour palettes of cafes and homes.

Under Exit Eighty Six, James has designed the fit-outs at Two Trees (both West End and South Brisbane spaces), created bars for Nostalgia Haus and Gramercy Espresso & Eats, as well as furniture pieces for new cafe Irving Pl (also by the Gramercy lads). As business owners desire furniture that differentiates them from other nearby spaces, James has found his niche in designing one-off custom pieces for cafes, restaurants and retail shops.

A new collection is expected to launch early next year, continuing to focus on simplicity of design, with evolved timber joinery and added materials like brass and copper. You can find James tinkering away at creative workshop The Foundry, while select pieces can be found at Brisbane Made and on his new website.