Many students come to the Chippendale school having never worked with wood before.

Alex Stanton, from Brisbane in Australia, has the advantage of three years experience fitting timber floors and staircases.

He’s also had a long interest in designing furniture and has tried his hand at making simple pieces such as tables.

In deciding to take the plunge into professional woodworking, Alex felt that the Chippendale school was the right place to study, which was confirmed after a brief visit to the school a few months ago.

Alex hasn’t made up his mind what to do after graduation, although he may decide to set up his business from incubation space at the school.

Our incubation space allows former students to take the first steps into professional woodworking without the expense of buying equipment and machinery.

His first project will be a hallway table, and Alex is pictured with a scale model that he’s made and a visualisation of it on paper.