PhD who gave up his career to become self-employed all-round maker

Hi Guys,

My name is Benoit, I'm from Belgium and i'm 31 years old. I would like to introduce some of my work to you and ask for some support.
After persuing an academic carreer, and even graduating 10 years later with a PhD in organic chemistry, I started working with a friend whilst looking for a job. It's during this time that I realized that my passion always laid in working with my hands and so I took the big leap and decided to become an independent contractor of all sorts. I do all kinds of different projects, big and small, and with all kinds of materials, but I prefer woodwork the most. To get some more exposure I recently joined a national crafters competition. If you would like to check it out, here is the link to the profile they made about me. (It's in dutch but it has english subtitles)

Benoit Aigret | Urban Crafts

If you like my work, don't forget to support and vote! You could help me win a trip to the makersfaire in NYC

I've attached some of my latest works. Let me know what you think of them.

Attachment 365316Attachment 365317Attachment 365318Attachment 365319Attachment 365320Attachment 365321


Greetings,

Benoit

Nice work Benoit! I especially like the spice rack

I lived in Belgium for 9 months About tens years ago and fell in love with Belgian beer. I made a project to try 500 different beers during my time there and made 502 at Brussels air port on the day I flew out. I still have one bottle of Westvleteren left in my fridge. The habit which I kept up for ~7 years was probably a major contributor to my diabetes. Now I rarely drink alcohol but when I do I have a Belgian Beer.

Yeah belgian beers... truly the best in the world :U Did you go through all the trouble to get a westvleteren yourself or did you manage to get one through a friend?
The beer elevator in the second picture was done for a bar called "the capital" where they serve about 3000 different beers (largest or second largest selection in the world - there's still some discussion with another belgian bar making the same claim). They have a stock of up to 50000 bottles in the basement which get transported to the bar on the main floor using the elevator. You can see it in action if you watch the video in the link.

Thanks for the like on the spice rack. I actually made 30 of those... Handmade... stopped being fun after a couple. Especially since I ruined some whilst routing and getting some really terrible tearout. Learned a lot on that project.

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Originally Posted by benoitaigret

Yeah belgian beers... truly the best in the world :U Did you go through all the trouble to get a westvleteren yourself or did you manage to get one through a friend?

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I managed to purchase 3 Westvleterens at a store in Brugge but subsequently went several times to the monastery to get the Westvleterens as two of the guys I worked with had bottles for an exchange. There was a small tavern by a canal lock near where I worked that had a good supply of Westvleteren and I made a 7 day pilgrimage to that tavern (I visited every day for 7 days straight) in the week before I left to have one Westvleteren each day. I also ended up bringing back 2 dozen to Australia - I have one bottle left of those.

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The beer elevator in the second picture was done for a bar called "the capital" where they serve about 3000 different beers (largest or second largest selection in the world - there's still some discussion with another belgian bar making the same claim). They have a stock of up to 50000 bottles in the basement which get transported to the bar on the main floor using the elevator. You can see it in action if you watch the video in the link.

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Sound like the place to visit next time I an in Belgium.

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Thanks for the like on the spice rack. I actually made 30 of those... Handmade... stopped being fun after a couple. Especially since I ruined some whilst routing and getting some really terrible tearout. Learned a lot on that project.

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Yeah production runs are not my forte either.

Welcome to the forum Benoit.

Welcome to the forum.

It is an interesting journey that you have gone on so far.

G'Day & Welcome to the Great Southern Land and to a top forum "Benoit".
There are quite a few members from the EU plus folk across the UK and the rest of the world.....
You'll find a heap of helpful & knowledgeable blokes & ladies on the forum and for most very willing to assist.
Make sure you show off your handiwork as everyone loves a photo, especially WIP [Work In Progress] photos with build notes.
Enjoy the forum.
Enjoy your woodwork.....
Cheers from On Top DownUnder, crowie

PS - Please add a few new threads with your handiwork as others will also appreciate you workmanship....

thanks guys! I'll try to post my newer projects with a little more progress pictures

Welcome to a great Forum Benoit,

Hope you enjoy the friendship of the many talented members on the journey.

Regards

Keith