Me

My name is Samadhi. I am the sole owner, maker, designer and distributer behind House of the Silver Cat. However, I am very lucky to have incredible people, in my girlfriend, sister and my parents who help me out behind the scenes. The cat does very little to help, bordering on being a hinderance.

My Story

I have no formal training as a woodworker, other than YouTube University but I have been lucky to have few mentors along the way. I’m quite surprised that I’ve ended up where I am as being a woodworker/maker was never really in my plans. In retrospect I shouldn’t be.

I’ve always had an interest in arts and crafts thanks to my mum and dad being alternative before it was cool, hence my name. Timber has always fascinated me. I was the kid bashing nails into wood for no particular reason. The fascination grew as my pop who was a hobbyist woodturner, showed me the collection of timber and tools he had collected over the years, and I was hooked. Every visit I would find a way to get into the shed and annoy him with questions about wood species, stories and different tools. Subtle foreshadowing…

During school I loved manual arts, and my teacher Mr Hawk was a great influence as he never once looked at my half-finished, overcomplicated projects and laughed, he graded me on the time and effort spent and the quality shown. Sometimes I wish he did laugh as I might not have so many half-finished crazy projects lying around my workshop.

As I got older, school and sport (I wanted to play cricket for Australia) became my priorities. Like most people who perform reasonably well at school, I saw university as my only real option (if cricket didn’t pan out). I had no real idea what I wanted to study, never mind do for a job. So, I experimented with a dual degree in Science and Journalism because, “Hey,” I thought, “I like writing, I like science.”

After about a month I realised I didn’t like writing or science (at least the basic uncreative type that was served up) but I told myself I would persevere. In my second year Covid happened and I like many others struggled to find motivation to do anything when the world was in chaos. I dropped my Journalism class and persevered. Around this time, I suddenly found I had a lot of free time and internet connection, so I started watching woodworking videos on YouTube, specifically from a maker, Pask Makes and a seed was planted. After persevering for about two and a half years, dropping journalism and getting horrible grades for the first time in my life, I decided enough was enough and dropped out. I was completely unsure of what I wanted to do and tried my hand at a few odd jobs to keep the rent ticking over. All this time I had been watching more woodworking YouTube videos and experimenting with making things on the weekends. I was not particularly happy with myself or what I was doing so thought I could give woodworking a crack.

I had no plan, no fallback, no idea but Covid and the following years had put somethings into perspective, and I knew the time was now.

In an example of fate, or god’s will if you believe in those kinds of things, my Pop was moving house and wanted to sell and offload a heap of timber and tools. In what was one of the most special moments of my life I travelled up North to his place and helped him get ready to move, in the process inheriting a lathe, bandsaw and a heap of other useful woodworking tools and timber. That was two years ago, and until then I didn’t really believe I could make a living from woodworking. Although I don’t currently make enough to live of my business alone, it feels tangible. I can see the pathway.

Why House of the Silver Cat?

I would love to say it was a thoughtful plan to create a niche for myself with little competition in website domain names or something to make people take interest, but the truth is, it’s another thing that just feels right. It’s a little long and I may change it for simplicity’s sake in the future, but for right now the House is owned by the Silver Cat, House of the Silver Cat.

Style

It is an interesting concept of which I would say I have little. However, the little I do have is unmistakably mine and for that I am thankful. My 'design’ style is constantly evolving and just saying I take inspiration from nature is so cliche it hurts to say as true as it may be. Instead, my passion for sustainable and eccentric materials shapes the style of what I make. If something has a knot, interesting grain, or cool bark inclusion I want it in full display. I often start with material that inspires me then sculpt, burn (I’m something of a pyromaniac) and make something that ultimately feels right.

The Cat.

The cat’s name is Carlo. He is about 8 years old we don’t know exactly as he was a rescue. He eats, he sleeps, he craps and occasionally if he is in a good mood, he lets us pat him. He’s a cat.

Fun facts

• If you let him sleep on your bed overnight, you are liable to end up with a bloody face, hands and whatever other body parts are unprotected. He either enjoys inflicting pain on others, or he has a weird notion that we are more likely to feed him if we are bleeding.

• He has used up at least two of his nine lives that I have seen. When we first got him, he climbed up the top of the highest tree in the neighbourhood and came down the hard way. Then he got his back legs smashed up, we think by a car. After surgery he limps a bit but is otherwise fine. 7 to go… Make that 6. he ate some random gunk while I was writing this and had a vet visit after christening our hallway with vomit. Lovely.

• Three years ago, we got him a buddy, Kiwi. She has since taken the brunt of the battles for us like a loyal dog should. We have noticed a slight mellowing in Carlo’s behaviour as well although it is uncertain whether he is nicer or just old and gets tired from beating up the dog.