Roderick Groenewegen from Amerongen in the Netherlands comes to us following a 30-year career with a major Dutch banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam.
He is also a skilled woodworker who has been on several woodworking courses, and worked on commissions for a number of clients.
Among those commissions were a book stand for a large atlas and a large bookcase for a library.
He also created a showcase, commissioned by the 17th century Castle of Amerongen, for the exhibition of a 300-year-old death mask of Godard van Reede that is part of the castle’s collection.
The castle is famous as the place where, in 1918, the former German Kaiser Wilhelm II signed his abdication.
Godard van Reede was a Dutch cavalry general who received his first commission at just 12-years-old. In 1688, he was with William of Orange in the expedition to England that deposed James II.
Roderick intends to set up his own business in Amerongen.