Amidst the shavings sits a square block of Tasmanian timber – soon to become a carved turtle, although you wouldn’t know it now. 

As she thinks back to when her love of working with timber first began D’Allura recalls school holidays spent with her dad in the shed working together on woodworking projects. 

“My father loved working with timber, we grew up in the country and we made things ourselves,” she said. 

“It’s just something that I’ve always enjoyed.”

While studying furniture design, and throughout the progression of her creative career D’Allura has always found herself coming back to timber as a medium. 

“I like the touch of it and the smell of it and how it feels,” she said. 

“I like that the piece [of timber] itself plays a large part in what you do with it.”

D’Allura describes it as working with the materials, rather than forcing them. 

Looking at her designs, you can see what she means – pendants make the most of burls in the timber to create a striking effect.

Five years ago D’Allura started Forestec Design, where she creates beautiful and functional designs that blend modern technology with traditional materials and sustainable ideas. 

“I’m very passionate about longevity in what we have and how that’s missing, and I also like things to be current and relevant,” she said. 

Some of her designs include wooden USB sticks, sculpture-esque lamps and wooden-bound books. Blending the functional with beautiful. 

Increasingly, D’Allura said, her designs reflect her philosophical musings and her ideas about the place of people in their environment. 

“I’m moving now towards a clear connection to our environment, and how we relate to it,” she said. 

Sustainability is an important feature of D’Allura’s work, she utilises materials that are cast-offs and off-cuts – scraps of fur or small blocks of wood. 

Her designs encapsulate more than just their practical uses - a light can be more than a light, when it is not in use it can be a beautiful object in its own right. 

“What I’m playing with is the idea that when you’re using the piece of furniture it’s an artwork – furniture is an artwork without a function when you’re not using it,” she said.

D’Allura currently has an exhibition of her work on display at the Moonah Arts Centre, and is a stallholder at the Niche Market in Launceston.