Zen Natural Beds started in 1990 at 233 Stafford Rd, Stafford, as Mr Futon. In '96 or so, I was made aware by Dr. Barry Ryan, a Brisbane GP who specialized in allergies and natural health (way ahead of his time), that I was experiencing modern living toxic overload. He suggested, as part of my recovery, to sleep on a natural cotton futon. Off to Mr Futon I went, and within a few days of sleeping on a cotton mattress and pillow, I noticed a significant improvement. I was so impressed that, after two decades in four- and five-star hotel management, I felt it was time to move on. A few months later, I bought the little futon shop. Since it also made wooden sofa beds and bed frames, it was a perfect fit for me. Over two and a half decades later, it still is—I love it, it's more fun than fun. Woodworking and helping people with real, natural mattresses is what I do.

At age six, I went down under my parents' old stilted Queenslander and banged and clanked out a little wooden chair and table. Very rickety, but it looked the part. In primary school, a rather reclusive retired Brother Ephraim had a big wood shed where he made and repaired things for the school. He only ever allowed another secondary boy and me to assist him. When I started secondary school, I didn’t take to learning French at all! After a few months, Brother and I chatted after class. We decided we were both wasting our time, and he offered to arrange for me to double up on a class I enjoyed. So, off to woodwork I went for an extra three classes a week. My woodwork teacher, Mr. Murdoch (nickname: Mr. Chips), and I got on well. That, combined with Brother Ephraim’s patronage, fostered my love of woodworking. I learned that I most enjoyed working with my hands, creating durable, useful things that also looked aesthetically pleasing.

I followed my father into four-star hotels, mostly at Lennons and a little at the Crest. During this time, I was also restoring old Queenslanders and, once, an old Woolloongabba church conversion into a home during my off hours. I loved working with wood. After two decades, I’d had enough of hotels—it wasn’t for me anymore. The purchase of the futon shop reignited my creative flame. Since my teens, during my martial arts days (everyone was kung fu fighting), I had wanted to visit Japan. The aesthetic, the culture, and Zen Buddhist philosophy intrigued me enormously.

After a year, I had a ticket. As I alighted from the plane in Tokyo, I was surprisingly overwhelmed with an enormous wave of very nice feelings. I truly felt like doing a Pope move and dropping to my knees to kiss the ground! I strongly felt like I was home—and I still do on my many subsequent visits. I think I was probably Japanese in a recent past life. I’ve become friends with Japanese craftspeople, and they accept me as a maker too. I’ve learned so much from them and from Japan.

One occasion, many years ago, I was at a new upmarket furniture store opening in Tokyo with my good friend Tsukasa Fukushima, owner of Hug Design in Osaka. He introduced me to the lead designer of the beautiful Japanese aesthetic lobby of the Peninsula Hotel in Ginza. The designer generously gave me over twenty minutes of his time. My friends were amazed. “He’s a very famous designer; he never talks to us that long!” they said. One thing he told me was, “I love talking to naturals. There aren’t many naturals.” I was confused, and he could see it—it was something I had never thought of about myself.

He explained that furniture requires three types of people: a designer, a maker, and a seller. Most people are good at only one of the three; some maybe at two, but it’s rare to meet someone who can do and is good at all three—especially someone who designed and made his first piece at age six!

I don’t just sell mattresses and beds for money. Zen Beds is who I am. I’ve walked the path of recovery from modern toxic life, and my designs and creations come from genuinely deep within, with a connection to living healthy and natural ways of life.