Garry Olson
Garry Olson grew up in Australia surrounded by Eucalyptus forests and has always had an affinity with wood. He was originally trained as a teacher but having travelled extensively he settled in England in 1978 and began a new career as a furniture maker.
As a craftsman he is largely self-taught but after gaining experience in two previous workshops he established his present premises in 1984. Ever since he has had a steady flow of commissions from private clients and various churches in the North West. He works mainly with homegrown hardwoods, and considers the sustainability of timber as a resource to be very important.
Garry has tutored in furniture design and cabinet making at Manchester Collage of Art and Technology (also taking City and Guilds qualifications), Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Central Lancashire.
He has organized and hosted several exhibitions of his own work combined with the work of others at his own workshop gallery in Wilmslow, Cheshire. The most significant of these were Furniture of Excellence in 1989 and 1990, and A Celebration of Wood in 1997. The latter show was in collaboration with Peter Toaig, who was sharing Garry's workspace at the time. As a result of the show Peter developed the idea of onetree and in March 1998, asked Garry to co-ordinate it with him (http://www.onetree.org.uk). Through the national touring exhibition and the accompanying book the onetree project has had a huge impact. It has become a large part of Garry's life but his main interest remains the making of bespoke furniture.