Sovereign Woodworkers Ltd: 1949 - 1992
Sovereign Woodworkers Limited was established in a vacant shop in Tawa Street, Gonville, a suburb of Wanganui in 1949 by Leonard Austin Brasell, Arnold (Arnie) H. W. Burling and Edwin (Wyn) H. Hart. [Wanganui Chronicle, 21 April 1949]
The company had its immediate origins in Austin Brasell’s ownhome workshop a few years or so before. Here he developed a woodturning hobby to produce a small range of inlaid and laminated wooden souvenir ware which he marketed mainly in the metropolitan centres. One of his most successful products was his 12-inch “Sovereign” ruler – named from awordplay on “ruler” – with 18 samples of native timbers.[Wanganui Chronicle, 10 March 1967]
The success of Brasell’s home operation soon required staff, so he employed Arnold Burling, followed soon after by Edwin Hart and the trio established a partnership in 1948.
In 1949a shop in Gonville was rented, Sovereign Woodworkers formed and a nearby vacant lot purchased for a timber store. Two more staff members were employed.
During the 1950s and 60s the company bought several of the surrounding Gonville shops, established a country-wide distribution and, by the late 1960s, had expanded to employ 20 staff and over 100 different lines of wooden souvenir ware.[WanganuiChronicle, 10 March 1967]
In 1967 the company opened a new factory on the site, using one of the adjoining shops as a retail outlet.
Sovereign Woodworker’s Ltd factory and retail shop, Tawa St., Gonville, c1970
By that timeSovereign was at its zenith. Brasell explained some of the process at the factory opening.
“Each different species has different characteristics, and some woods present problems which must be overcome.
“In general terms, the ornamentation of our woodware is accomplished by choosing laminates of different native species to produce attractive colour patterns.
“The wastage of wood in sawdust is very great.
“The time required for one item, such as a box lid, to proceed through the factory from raw material to finished product is weeks or months. This is necessary to ensure adequate drying after each glueing process”. [Wanganui Chronicle, 10 March 1967]
Brasell retired as manager in 1970 but remained as the company chairman. Sovereign Woodworkers continued under the management of E. H. Hart and later under Chris Hart andBrasell’s son Rodger, but changes in the tourist market during the 1980s saw the company downsize to six full-time staff.
In 1992 the firm was placed in receivership after a potential joint venture with a Taiwanese investor fell through.[Wanganui Chronicle, 11 June 1992]
About 1995-6 the Gonville factory was purchased and New Zealand Timber Arts with Ian Cragg as manager continued to produce laminated woodware for the souvenir market.
New Zealand Timber Arts moved its operation to Bulls in 2000.
Leonard Austin Brasell (1914 – 1985)
Sovereign’s founder, Austin Brasell was born in Carterton in 1914 and brought up there.He moved to Wanganui in the 1940s. A committed native forest conservationist at a time when it was hardly consideredan issue, Austin Brasell outlined his viewpoint in an early brochure.
“Most of the accessible bush, especially in North Island has already been milled and cleared for farm lands …….. Some scope exists for the extension of milling and the use of various “beeches” of South Island, but the future timber supply of New Zealand is dependant upon careful preservation and regeneration of the remaining forest areas, the limitation of the use of valuable native species to special purposes, and the more general use of such exotic species as Pinus radiata, now coming to maturity in large afforestation areas.” [Sovereign brochure, 1949-50]
He also preferred to use Maori names for trees/timbers and always included a pronunciation guide in his brochures which contained a table of the timbers commonly used, their distribution, description, supply and uses.
In addition to Sovereign Woodworkers Brasell also established the milling and wood preservation company Wood Enterprises Ltd (Pizac). He retired about 1970 to discover wood carving, a hobby he developed to extend to Maori designs and restoration of carvings on Koriniti marae on the WhanganuiRiver. In 1980 he published Woodworking for New Zealand, a manual for woodcarvers which outlined techniques and patterns. [Woodworking for New Zealand, 1980]
Austin Brasell died in 1985.
Sovereign Products
In the first couple of decades of its existence Sovereign producedsome of the few qualityNew Zealand-made souvenirs available at the time. The firm’s products were frequently also used as engagement, wedding and birthday presents.
A total of around 70 timber species were used, mainly during the first decade of operation. Many of these must have been largely experimental as commercial supplies of timber from such species as rata vine, monoao, kowhai and kawakawa are next to non-existent. About 23 timbers were, however, commonly used over the years.
Items from the first 20 years often have a tawa or taraire base but radiata pine later replaced these native species as they became increasingly unavailable.
Two Sovereign products are well-remembered by school pupils of the time – the iconic timber-sample ruler and equally well-known pencil case with its swivelling laminated lid. Other popular lines were turned powder, trinket and fruit bowls andbookends.
About 1967 the company introduced a small range of tawa(?) Monolignic Warebut this seems to have been unpopular with buyers and survived only a few years. A small range of Washable Laminated Woodware was introduced about the same period. This remained on catalogues until the late 1970s
Other lines also appear to have been less than popular and were quickly dropped from the company catalogue – the bread knife introduced in the late 1950s was deleted by 1961.
Labels and Backstamps
Brasell Period – 1947-49
Round yellow paper label: “New Zealand /Timbers”
Green label with timber names and “Made by Austin Brasell,
Sovereign Woodworkers Ltd
Circular green paper with "Sovereign" - early 1950s
Black with gold/silver lettering, - 1950s
Gold with black lettering - 1960s similar to above
Gold with stylized bowl (#67) and row of samples -1970s?
Gold on black woodturning (as per backstamp) - 1980s
Printed backstamp of woodturning & ‘Sovereign Woodware’ – 1980s
Black on Gold: Monolignic Ware – 1967 - 1970
Washable Laminated Woodware – 1967 to late 1970s
Timber List
Commonly used species in bold
- Aka tawhiwhi…………Metrosideros fulgens
- Aka……………………Metrosideros perforata
- Akeake……………….. Dodonaea viscosa
- Black Marie…………. Nestegis cunninghamii
- Haekaro………………Pittosporum umbellatum
- Heketara…………….. Olearia cunninghamii
- Hinau…………………Elaeocarpus dentatus
- Horoeka……………… Pseudopanax crassifolium
- Horopito……………... Pseudowintera axillaries
- Houhere……………… Hoheria sp.
- Kahikatea…………….Dacrycarpusdacrydioides
- Kaikawaka…………...Libocedrus bidwilli
- Kaikomako ……………Pennantia corymbosa
- Kanuka……………… Leptospermum ericoides
- Karaka……………… Corynocarpus laevigata
- Karamu……………….Coprosma [robusta] ?
- Kauri…………………Agathis australis
- Kawaka……………… Libocedrus plumosa
- Kawakawa…………....Macropiper excelsum
- Kohekohe…………… Dysoxylum spectabile
- Kohuhu……………… Pittosporum tenuifolium
- Koromiko……………..Hebe salicifolia
- Kotukutuku……………Fuchsia excorticata
- Kowhai………………. Sophora microphylla
- Mahoe………………… Melicytus ramiflorus
- Maire………………… Nestegis lanceolata (White marie)
- Maire-raunui………… Nestegis cunninghamii (Black maire)
- Makomako…………... Aristotelia serrata (Wineberry)
- Manawa……………… Avicennia resinifolia
- Mangeao…………….. Litsea calcilaris
- Matai……………….. Prumnopitys taxifolia
- Matipou………………Myrsine australis
- Miro………………… Prumnopitys ferruginea
- Monoao……………….Dacrydium colensoi
- Ngaio………………… Myoporium laetum
- Orihau……………….. Neopanax colensoi
- Pink Pine…………….. Dacrydium biforme
- Pohutukawa…………. Metrosideros excelsa
- Pokaka………………..Elaeocapus hookerianum
- Porokaiwhiri ………… Hedycarya arborea (Pigeonwood)
- Puka………………….. Griselinea lucida
- Puketea……………... Laurelia novaezelandiae
- Puriri…………………Vitex lucens
- Putaputaweta……….. Carpodetus serratus
- Radiata Pine …………Pinus radiata
- Ramarama……………. Lophomyrtus bullata
- Rangiora………………Brachyglottus repanda
- Rata………………….. Metrosideros robusta
- Raukawa……………….Panax edgeleryi
- Red Beech…………… Nothofagus fusca
- Rewarewa……………Knightia excelsa
- Rimu……………….. Dacrydium cupressinum
- Rohutu……………….. Neomyrtus pedunculata
- Silver Pine………… Dacrydium colensoi
- Tanekaha…………… Phyllocladus trichomanoides
- Tarata……………….. Pittosporum eugeniodes
- Taraire………………. Beilschmiedia taraire
- Taupata……………… Coprosma repens
- Tawa …………………Beilschmiedia tawa
- Tawhai ...... Nothofagus menziesii (Silver beech)
- Tawhai-raunui………. Nothofagus fusca? truncata?(Red beech, hard beech)
- Tawhero ……………… Weinmannia sylvicola
- Titoki………………….Alectryon excelsus
- Toro………………… Mysine salicina
- Totara……………… Podocarpus totara
- Towai……………… Weinmannia racemosa
- Turepo………………..Paratrophis microphylla
- White Marie………… Nestegis lanceolata
- Yellow Wood……… Coprosma linariafolia