Woodwork maestro sells family firm

Peter King is stepping down from his woodgrain Carterton throne to sell his family business that has thrived in the town for 123 years.
Mr King said yesterday he has decided to sell his King's Fourth Generation Woodworking Company, worth close to $1 million and employing at times up to 15 people, after rebranding and diversifying the family firm 33 years ago.
He said he will remain a wood product designer and consultant and specialist in sustainable timber practices in work that will pace recreational ballooning alongside wife, Annette.
He said son Daniel was a film industry set builder and son Benjamin was a glazier, glass artist and abseiler who replaced windows and repaired tall structures including lighthouses.
''They are well involved in their own pursuits now and I feel I've done enough here and it's time for a change,'' Mr King said.
Mr King, 62, is the fourth generational member of his family to craft wood products out of the premises, which was originally opened in 1887 by his great-grandfather Daniel Thomas King.
He said his ancestor started a general joinery and contracting shop at the site that became a well-established part of the town employing seven people to work in joinery, building, furnishings and an undertaking service, which was normal practice for builders and joiners of the time.
The business founder later went into partnership with his third son, Walter, and Bill Gregor and the company became King, Son & Gregor.
Walter King, along with his sons Jack and Keith King (Peter's father), continued to manage the renamed business of The Wairarapa Joinery & Cabinet Company, which became Kings Carterton Ltd in the 1960s, Mr King said.
According to the company website, the firm at that stage had a furniture showroom with interior decoration, hardware, and floor coverings and boasted a building gang of up to 15 staff and a team of painters.
The joinery factory was managed by his father and had a staff of up to 12 people, he said.
Houses, general joinery, furniture and kitchens were manufactured at the site to service the rapidly growing towns in the region although the Carterton funeral service remained an important part of the firm.
When Peter King took over in the 1970s, he said, there was ''a real boom in the renovation of the older Victorian homes in Wellington'' and the family business had kept the old profile cutters and machine blades essential for running the 19th-century period mouldings needed at that time.
Mr King had a background of solid timber lamination and the company eventually became renowned in the Wellington region for the design and installation of solid timber kitchens and joinery.
Mr King, after much experimenting and 20 years of experience, next developed the Generation IV finish now popular with architects, designers and home and bar owners throughout New Zealand, he said.
In 1992 the company concentrated solely on timber tops and launched its own Generation IV brand of timber tops for domestic and export supply to kitchen companies, joiners, builders, and homeowners.
The company now produces solid timber benchtops from its standard range of 36 timbers, he said, and has also launched an innovative Lasergrain product that combines acrylic and timber for interior building use.
''This is a good business and there's still plenty of work to be done but I want to try something different now while I'm still young,'' Mr King said.