We are very excited to be involved in an inspiring initiative, Created With Care. It isn't every day that Luke gets to indulge in his artistic side in collaboration with an artist. Over the last few months, he had the pleasure of working with Tanya Keenan on a piece of furniture to be auctioned off with all proceeds going to their local charity of choice, the Spirit Foundation.

The created with care initiative

The Created With Care initiative is the brainchild of two Australian online marketplaces Handkrafted and Bluethumb. The two creative companies believe very strongly in the value of partnerships; that together we can have greater impact than going it alone. Fred Kimel (Handkrafted founder) and Edward Hartley (Bluethumb co-founder) paired a furniture maker with an artist and left the rest up to them.

The artist - Art By Tanya

Luke's collaborator, Tanya Keenan is a self-taught artist and mother of 3 from Geelong. Tanya’s art is inspired by her love of life, nature and is a reflection of her inner self. Tanya loves to experiment with different textures, applications and colour combinations that evolve into what she refers to as “landscapes of her mind”. You can check out her work here.

The piece of furniture- Wye River Buffet

As is so often the way in a close knit community as it is in Geelong and the Surf Coast, an instant connection was found between Luke and Tanya, with a shared love of the region as well as knowing some of the same people. They wanted to create a piece that reflected the natural environment that they love so dearly. To convey that feeling of a perfect summer day where the sun, sand and water all blend together into an almost dream like state. Acting as both the canvas and frame, the buffet is based on Bombora's Wye River Buffet. Luke’s timber selection of the light and clean American Ash accentuates the sand colour and bold blue tones of Tanya’s beautiful painting. Perfectly spanning across the 4 cupboard panels, the painting extenuates the clean, simple and classic silhouette of one of Bombora’s signature designs.

The Charity- The Spirit Foundation

With the intention of supporting the local communities of Wye River and Separation creek after the 2015 Christmas Day fires, Luke, Tanya and everyone involved happily donated their time to create both awareness of and funds for our chosen charity The Spirit Foundation. The foundation was initially established as a charitable trust in 2013 as the Casey Tutungi Future Fund. It was set up to raise and manage donations that were given in support of Casey Tutungi and his family after an injury sustained playing football resulted in quadriplegia. The trust was also set up to be able to provide support for other local community members in need. Following the bush fires in the Wye River and Separation Creek in on Christmas Day 2015, the fund branched into assisting these communities. “We are providing funding to the members of the community who have suffered hardship as a result of the fires” says one of the foundation's directors Peter Spring “the directors of the Spirit Foundation are working closely with community leaders at Wye River and Separation Creek to identify the best ways in which we can assist the wider community and individual members, including direct financial support to individuals as well as for infrastructure projects including refurbishment of first aid facilities at the Surf Club”.

The charity auction

The Created With Care auction is open and final bids must be received before 5pm on Friday the 10th of June. Bids can be placed at www.createdwithcare.com.au. Thank you to the fabulous Britton Timbers for the donation of the beautiful timber used in this piece.