He’s a man completely at home in his workshop, consumed in the joy of his vocation bringing life to grain and groove. Adam gives a wry smile, laughing about how it has taken the wandering Scotsman halfway around the globe to find himself.

Initially his focus was on working with recycled native timber.

"There is nothing like working with the old pieces of rimu that have come out of a house and giving them a new life."

While he loves the special quality the old boards offer, working with recycled timber does bring its own challenges.

"It’s quite time-consuming compared to new timber. They are never cut exactly straight, so always need some work before you begin."

Now the bulk of his work is in his ’Jetsons’ range of mid-Century Scandinavian design pieces - that cover everything from bedside tables, to dining and hall tables, to book cases and TV units.

The Glasgow art school graduate credits his parents, who were always bringing home interesting art pieces and restoring their heritage home, as instilling his practical creativity - and a love for natural wood.

Looking back, he thinks a turning point may have been when he turned up to woodwork class to make his bird box with a piece of wood his father gave him, rather than the dressed timber everyone else had.

"I ended up with something that was authentic and fitted in the garden environment."Adam still pinches himself that he gets to do this full-time.

"Now I can’t imagine doing anything other than this," he says, as he rubs his hand along the grain of his latest creation.

The adventure began about seven years ago, when working in Whakapapa’s ski maintenance workshop he became a proud homeowner with his partner Fran.

"We bought this 100-year-old villa in Raurimu, near National Park. It was in a pretty poor state and we didn’t have a lot of money, so we needed to do all the work ourselves."

The great feedback he had about the bathroom cabinet he made (recycled rimu and concrete top) encouraged him to make furniture. Friends were soon asking him to make items for them, then his big break came when he was asked to make beds and furniture for a new house being built in Pauanui. A few years later the couple shifted to Taupo, where Adam juggled part-time furniture projects with a fulltime job.

When they shifted to the Mount four years ago Adam decided it was the perfect time to throw himself headlong into the work, with the aim of developing it into a fulltime business.

"It was the right time to give the furniture a big push, to make it my full-time focus."

Starting from a slow burn, his sales have taken off with his furniture going to homes in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown, and more recently the Western Bay.

"I can’t believe the change in the past six months. Interest has really taken off here." Adam puts it down to a combination of good word of mouth, and people shifting to the region who appreciate his contemporary furniture style.

Adam also rates the mentions about his handcrafted furniture in home magazines and from industry insiders - including interior design blogger Tina Stevens of ’Roomie’ - as being a great boost to his profile. "She’s been brilliant and has been putting lots of her clients in touch with me". Adam has recently turned his ’less is more’ approach to creating contemporary office furniture and desks from high grade Russian Birch plywood. This allows him to offer his appealing Scandinavian-inspired commercial work stations at a lower price.

But it’s not all about the sales. Adam also likes to give back where he sees a worthy cause, something he recently did when he donated a set of eight desks to social change agency Innovate Change. The Auckland-based organisation won his support for the way it is fostering youth development and community with active, creative involvement of young people.

"Learning about the great work they are doing, I wanted to do something to support them."

Knowing just how much more satisfaction there is in furnishing your home with pieces made by your own hands, Adam is now helping others do the same. He is making and selling metal hairpin legs to transform gorgeous wooden table tops into the centrepiece of a room.

"You get a lot of joy from sitting at your own table."

Adam loves the great feedback he gets for the special pieces he makes himself, or helps others make.

"There is something special in knowing that you are helping create a focal point in their home."