About Bombora Custom Furniture
We are a family-owned and run business with a passion for creating beautiful, functional wooden furniture and timber cabinetry with eco-responsibility. We are based in a small coastal town Torquay on the Victorian surf coast a hour down the road from Melbourne.
Our hope is that with carefully considered design, the use of great quality materials and construction, our custom timber furniture will be a treasured possession that will be passed on through the generations.
Our values of sustainability also influence the way that we work. We believe in a balanced life so when the surf is on or the sun shining on the golf course, furniture making can wait!
Bombora furniture designer Luke Collins
Creativity for Luke comes from converting necessity into something of beauty. Taking what the client needs for their home to display, hide or house things and designing something that transcends the purpose with a timeless style that will see it last the decades.
The custom timber furniture design process continues into the build of the piece as the timber is chosen and laid out. The timber is moved until each piece looks its best. Not traditionally trained as a designer, Luke creates organically, seeking inspiration from a wide range of sources so that his timber furniture is original and not influenced by what others have done.
Luke's ultimate muse is the wood itself. He loves to use timber with a history and tale to tell such as from bridges, piers and old buildings. It is this one-of-a-kind character that cannot be manufactured or reproduced and has a personality all of its own.
History of Bombora Custom Furniture
Luke began designing and building custom timber furniture in Melbourne 12 years ago to create a beautiful home on a student's budget. Out of necessity grew a passion for wood, design and working with his hands.
In Feb 2011, after the house was full of beautiful pieces, Luke made two wooden dining tables which he quickly sold on Gumtree. From there, Luke began to receive orders and the word-of-mouth referrals kept coming. After the birth of their Daughter early in 2012, the Collins family decided to have a sea change and move from Melbourne to Torquay on the Victorian Surf Coast. Alison came on board to develop the business with the hope that Luke would be able to quit his “day job” as a firefighter. In 2014, with two staff members, Luke was finally able to give in his notice and be a full-time furniture maker.
In 2021 Bombora took the plunge to move from our idyllic setting looking over the hills at Ashmore Arts to purchase our factory in Torquay. After a crazy couple of months of fitting out the new factory, we moved into our new home!
Read more about our story here.
Bombora showroom and workshop
Located in Torquay 30 minutes from Geelong and 1 hour from Melbourne, our workshop is where all the magic happens. All the timber elements of our custom timber furniture are created by our furniture makers in the workshop. The stone tops of our timber vanities and metal legs for our wooden dining table designs are created by other local manufacturers.
The Bombora showroom displays some of our timber vanity designs as well as doors, bench tops, concrete basins and shaving cabinets. We have examples of our timber selection as well as small samples to take home. Appointments can be made to view our showroom and workshop or we are open on Tuesdays and Fridays. If you aren’t located in our local area, a virtual showroom zoom appointment can be booked.
Make a workshop or zoom appointment >
Order timber or stone sample >
Our Coastal Inspiration
Our coastal home of Torquay inspires the design of our furniture and the way that we create it. Our core style is down to Earth, functional and lets the natural beauty of the timber be the star. Our deep love for our environment fuels our sustainability values of desiring to create timber furniture with longevity of design and construction as well as to minimise our environmental impact.