"The only time I haven't worked is when I didn't want to, and the reason I believe I can do so many different things is because I'm not afraid to try."
Tragedy visited he and wife Jen about 18 months ago when the couple lost their newborn daughter Beatrice during childbirth, he said.
Mr Holmstrom was working as a builder at the time but resigned after losing focus on his work and daily commitments.
He instead turned his hand to creating homeware, objet d'art, and furniture from disparate mechanical and found elements. In February he went solo at his Industrial By Design gallery in Greytown to sell his work.
Mr Holmstrom engineers art and brings together unlikely alliances in his designs, like his "1951 Singer Tractor" made from a centennial anniversary sewing machine, tricycle wheels, a cast-iron wheel, and a spatula for a seat; or a coffee table that marries recycled heart rimu floorboards and cast iron end pieces from an antique seed drill, or the merging of welded frames, preservative jars, or antique watering cans, and squirrel filament light bulbs to make wall or ceiling-mounted lights, floor or table lamps.
He and his wife five months ago welcomed their son Archie and an upturn in trade had paced the unfurling of spring this year after "a long, hard winter" in the Greytown gallery, he said. "Archie came along so quickly and he's healthy and happy and eating like a horse. And the weekends have been getting better and better and better. Everything's really looking up," he said.
"I'm too old to go back into the service, they won't take me, and I prefer the creativity of what I'm doing today so much more. I enjoy the variety. I don't know how much longer I'll be doing what I'm doing now - but if and when the time comes, I'll just go on to something else.
"What I tell everybody is 'don't plan anything'. You have a concept of what you need to get done, whether it's a project or life, and you just roll with it ...
For more information about Mr Holmstrom's work go to industrialbydesign.co.nz.
