West Auckland woodworker David Parker is holding a raffle of his work to raise funds for charitable trust Help, which supports abuse survivors.
West Auckland woodworker David Parker is holding a raffle of his work to raise funds for charitable trust Help, which supports abuse survivors.
WARNING: This article mentions abuse.
West Auckland woodworker David Parker is turning a hobby that’s made him internet famous into a fundraising initiative for survivors of assault. He tells the New Zealand Herald how he got started, and why he was inspired to help.
DavidParker has been woodworking for over 10 years. It all started with a lap steel guitar that he made with tools borrowed from his brother.
Inspired, he soon bought a few basic tools of his own, and turned his hand to other projects. “It wasn’t long before I was making canoes, wooden bikes, dining tables and anything else that interested me,” Parker tells the Herald.
The canoes – one cedar striped, another paper – went viral, so did a skin-on-frame boat and a wooden bike.
“Other than some help from my brother I’m completely self-taught from YouTube videos and internet tutorials,” he says.
“I love learning new skills so I don’t often make the same thing more than once. Woodwork is such a broad discipline and there’s so much to learn. But mostly I love making things I can use, it’s a special feeling paddling a canoe you made, or riding a wooden bike that you built.”
Parker’s YouTube channel has over 30,000 subscribers and has racked up 11 million views. “I think people appreciate a well-made piece of furniture or a beautifully made one-of-a-kind object,” he says.
With a sizeable audience and appreciation, Parker decided to harness all this interest to help others.
Four hand-made guitars were auctioned off for charity in 2023. They raised more than $6000 for Help Auckland.
In April 2023 David Parker auctioned off four hand-made guitars for charity, raising over $6000 for Help Auckland.
There are stools, brushes, cutting boards, bowls – useful, beautiful, things for the home – made from walnut, ash, maple, tawa, kahikatea, kauri, rimu, and jarrah.
Entry to the raffle is automatic with a donation of $20 or more on Parker’s Do Something Helpful page.
David Parker is raffling handcrafted wooden objects to raise money for charitable trust Help.
Winners will be eligible to claim one prize each. The raffle is open to New Zealand residents, and entries close on May 31. Gilmours Mt Roskill will be generously matching any donations made on May 23.
Help, a charitable trust established in 1982, helps survivors of sexual abuse and works to prevent future abuse from happening, providing support services for Aucklanders. It’s backed by the Auckland Council, ANZ, the Lion Foundation and other groups.
A hand-made wooden stool by David Parker, one of the items available in his raffle for local charitable trust Help.
Parker, who has donated personally to Help over the years, says he was motivated to do something more wide-reaching after reading Alison Mau’s reporting on claims of abuse from people in the New Zealand music scene. “That article was the catalyst for me wanting to do something bigger to raise money for them and the important work they do.”
He has a personal connection with the industry. “I used to work full time as a music producer and live sound engineer,” he says. He’s worked with local artists like Chelsea Jade, Ruby Frost, Great North, and Artisan Guns, and toured extensively as a live sound audio engineer, primarily with Avalanche City.
He’s also worked with some of the names investigated for abusive behaviour. “For a brief period when I was recording music I was managed by Scott Maclachlan, I haven’t been in touch with him for years, but the article Alison Mau wrote a couple of years back exposing the abuse perpetrated by him and Paul McKessar and many others in the industry really shocked me.”
Scott Maclachlan publicly admitted to “harmful behaviour” and, following an internal investigation about a 2018 incident, was sacked by Warner Music, Alison Mau reported for Stuff in 2021. That same year Paul McKessar, Mau reported, apologised for “crossing professional boundaries” with artists he represented and handed back his Aotearoa Music Awards Manager of the Year 2020 award.
“I had certainly heard things about certain men in the industry but I didn’t think it would be happening in my circles and to my friends. Since then I’ve heard of far too many friends who’ve experienced abuse both in and out of the music industry.”
He hopes that the money raised by Help can contribute to supporting survivors of abuse. Donations to his raffle will help fund resources and therapists for survivors of sexual abuse and their families.
Each piece in the raffle is special, and many are made by saving old wood. “Buying nice pieces of wood isn’t cheap! I love to use reclaimed wood where I can.”
A kauri bowl and vase are made from a reclaimed pillar his brother rescued from a skip; a piece of rimu Parker carved for a brush was reclaimed from waste wood sourced from the old Carrington Hospital.
A brush made from reclaimed wood by David Parker is part of his fundraising raffle.
This eye for potential and resourcefulness means he collects a lot of wood, and the project has helped him clear out his shed.
“At the start of the year I realised I had way too much wood in my wood storage pile and offcuts bin, so I set myself the goal of not buying any more wood until I had reduced my stash to a more manageable size! I’ve held onto some of this wood for years,” he says.
“The maple in the little cabinet is offcuts from a guitar I wanted to build but eventually gave up on about six years ago. It’s been in my wood storage waiting for me since! And the piece of tawa was given to me from the collection of a friend’s dad who’d passed away but it had a few nail holes in so he must’ve rescued it from somewhere!”
Woodworking has also kept him connected with music. “Since getting into building guitars I started picking up some guitar repair work and have worked on guitars for Kurt Vile, The Beths, Fazerdaze, Earth Tongue, Hans Pucket and many others.”
Parker currently works across Little Monster Studio and Oratia Valley Workshop.
As for what he’s making next? Follow his woodworking projects on YouTube and Instagram.
Emma Gleason is the New Zealand Herald’s lifestyle and entertainment deputy editor (audience). Based in Auckland, she covers entertainment, lifestyle, media and culture.
