VWA teachers Isabel and Jess with student Nic.; photo: Vivienne Wong.
Stephen Ziguras charts the history of a state-based woodworking association currently enjoying an increased interest in “bricks-and-mortar” activities.
The Victorian Woodworkers Association (VWA) was established in 1978 in Victoria, Australia. The organisation was founded to support and promote woodworking as both a craft and a profession.
When the Meat Market in Melbourne was bought by the State Government and transformed into a craft centre in the early 1980s, woodwork featured as one of the main activities. The workshop was located in the basement of the premises, originally built and used as a cool room. In 1992, the VWA took over the operation of the wood workshop, The VWA has operated from that space since then, providing woodwork classes and space for artists in residence.
In the early 2000s, there were increasing difficulties attaining third-party insurance for craftworkers. At that time, an insurance broker contacted the VWA with a proposal for a policy to be administered by the association to cover craft workers and market stall holders. In 2002, the VWA began operating the scheme and it continues to provide low-cost insurance coverage to craftworkers across the country at a price unmatched by any other.
The VWA ran exhibitions frequently in the past. While exhibitions have since been supplanted to some extent by the web and social media, in 2017 we held a major survey of woodworking through our exhibition Double Take in Wood, held at the Manningham Art Gallery.
In 2023 we launched the Vic Wood Scholarship, to commemorate the late Vic Wood, a founding member of the VWA and internationally renowned woodturner and educator. This offers an annual bursary to a woodworker to extend their knowledge, with the goal for that woodworker to then share their gained knowledge further via their own teaching.
There is an elected committee of management that runs the organisation and makes key decisions. It is a combination of wanting to try to stay relevant for membership, as well as active volunteer members driving activities through personal connections and interests.
VWA Victorian School of Woodcraft
Many of our members join as we offer affordable Public Liability & Professional Indemnity Insurance as part of our membership. Some members join as a result of attending our evening and weekend woodworking classes. Others join for access to a likeminded community of woodworkers – woodworking can be a bit of a solo pursuit, whether professionally or as a hobbyist, so it can be valuable to connect
While retaining the key elements of our current offering (ie regular member’s meetings, the artist-in-residence program, craft insurance & woodworking school), we are also looking to increase our offering for members. We are conscious that the traditional role of woodworking organisations, as well as exhibitions and mentoring, has been supplanted to some extent by digital and social media, and so we are looking to find a new relevance through the specific bricks-and-mortar as well as local community-focused nature of what we offer members. We recently conducted a major survey & analysis (supported by Melbourne University Business School) of professional local Fine Woodworkers. This highlighted a number of specific challenges that woodworkers were facing and ways in which we might be able to specifically support them.
We are seeing a renewed interest in craft and woodworking. Our classes regularly sell out as soon as they open. People want to re-engage with working with their hands and with the authenticity of woodworking. Our hope is to seize on this renewed interest to bring these people, both professionals and hobbyists, into our community, to grow the organisation to be active, self-sustaining and vibrant.
Stephen Ziguras is the designer/maker for Eco wood design and President of the Victorian Woodworkers Association.
