Inspired by nature

This year’s Supreme Award winner from the Master Joiners Excellence Awards is a truly outstanding staircase from Auckland based Cutting Innovations Ltd. Bob Nordgren from JOINERS Magazine caught up with Managing Director Alec Stringer and General Manager Peter Barlow to find out how this all came about.

Cutting Innovations was established back in 2007 by Alec who saw an opportunity presented by the emergence of CNC technology as a design tool to push the boundaries of what was possible. “I had a background in design in the advertising and shopfitting industry and took this with me into the Cutting Innovations business.” Alec recalls.

The business is an eclectic group of designers and tradespeople from many disciplines from designers, joiners and cabinetmakers to boat builders, engineers, welders and spray painters. “We make bespoke joinery, kitchens and custom furniture but we lean toward the challenging, projectbased jobs. We love the weird and wonderful that allows our full range of talents to be used.” The business has a range of CNC equipment including a 5 axis CNC cutting machine. “This machine is a time saver which allows us to give reality to projects that require sculpting for example.” comments Alec.

So what about the Award winning staircase? “This project was built for a private home in Auckland’s eastern suburbs. The challenge lay in its size and detail which spanned three floors, making it in the factory and then installing perfectly onsite.” recalls Alec. A precast stairwell was 3D scanned from which the team then designed and created a plywood CNC cut Skelton Frame. Using traditional timber techniques such as double diagonal planking, a three-dimensional timber spiral was constructed. This was made up of two layers of pine planking and with a feature top layer of American White Oak. “A real nicety was the solid Oak handrails machined using the 5 axis. These were then scribed and fitted to the timber spiral and then detailed with brass accents.” says Alec.

“The project, from prototype to completed form took about eighteen months to complete” comments Peter. “It was a really challenging project involving many of our highly skilled staff throughout that period.” One of the interesting aspects of this project (and in fact of Cutting Innovations) was the use of 3D CAD software that allows the design of complex 3D surfaces. In this case we used Rhino 3D for design and Powermill for the complex 3D machining. We now have a team headed by three designers who often shape where each project goes.”

Most of their work is from their 900 square metre factory site in the Auckland suburb of Henderson where some twenty five staff operate from. They moved to this location back in 2015. They operate a contract cutting business alongside their more creative, largely shopfitting operation.

“We have come a long way in the last fifteen years” says Alec. “Extreme projects are our forte these days. Pushing the envelope is what brings us alive.” Most of their business comes from word of mouth but having seen their Award winning staircase that maybe about to change

For more information contact Alec or Peter at Cutting Innovations Ltd, 70 The Concourse, Henderson, Auckland. Ph. 09 836 9050 or alec@cutting.co.nz or visit www. cutting.co.nz

The winning entry included a level of detail not seen in a long time. The workmanship and skill required to manufacture a stair to this scale captures every bit of a joinery practitioner’s experience, skill and ambition.

Judge’s comment