When Tiarn Ririnui began working for his father as a joinery apprentice, his dad Barry thought he had two left hands.
But the prizes collected by Tiarn at the recent NZ Master Joiner awards show that even as an apprentice Tiarn's work is outstanding.
At the recent awards night Tiarn came away with two awards – best timber project 0-4000 hours and highest judged for workmanship and skill.
Tiarn's bifold and double hung sash cord windows were best among the half-way apprentices, but the workmanship prize was judged with all the entries from both the half-way apprentices at 4000 hours and the guys coming out of their time at 8000 hours.
Barry says they were listening to the judges praising the work ethic and the attention to detail of the next prize winner and were joking about it being ‘one of the geeks down the back' when Tiarn's name was called.
No 4000-hour student has ever won the workmanship and skill prize.
'That was against everything - kitchens, bathrooms – he ended up winning that,” says Barry.
'I won some pretty wicked prizes,” says Tiarn.
A $750 pre-loaded Visa, $500 travel, $250 petrol voucher and for the BCITO prize a $250 voucher to be spent on tools.
'He actually was a clear winner they said,” says Barry.
Tiarn's tutor encouraged the entry in the awards, and vouched for it actually being Tiarn's work. His Wintec tutors have helped him out a lot, says Tiarn.
Clearline – a family business – makes wooden doors and sash cord windows, plus bifolds, sliders, and shutters with most of the detailed work done ‘old-school'.
The prize-winning double sash windows and bifolds entered for the prize were going into a house and was mostly done ‘old-school' without the aid of a CNC router, says Barry. Tiarn had to make the jigs and router the work by hand.
Tiarn was two years into a building apprenticeship when he changed direction.
'We had a guy who left and I actually said to Tiarn, we are going to have to find someone else. He said, ‘No we are not, I'm going to do that'.”
Tiarn also manages the back of the Clearline shop with four permanent staff, as well as producing the specialised joinery.