Life Lessons: How My Dad Shaped the Way I Work with Wood

Woodworking tools rest in serene readiness on a wooden surface, capturing the essence of meticulous craft and quiet preparation.

Some Life Lessons don’t come from books.

They come from paint-splattered overalls, early mornings, and a small toolbox that somehow can fix almost anything.

This is the story of how my dad shaped the way I work with wood – and why “nothing is waste” sits at the heart of Thys Wood Design.

Growing Up on Building Sites

My dad was officially a house painter in South Africa. In reality, he could do almost anything in the construction industry.

Most school holidays, I went with him to work. I carried brushes and sandpaper, held ladders, swept floors, and watched him repair cracks, doors, ceilings, and things I didn’t even have names for yet.

He didn’t make a big speech about craftsmanship. He just lived it.

If something was worth doing, it was worth doing properly – even if it took longer and nobody else would ever see the detail.

People in our community knew him as a no-nonsense kind of man. If you messed up, he told you straight. You always knew where you stood with him. It was not always comfortable, but it was always honest. And that honesty earned him deep respect.

A Quiet Legacy in Other People’s Homes

When my dad passed away in the middle of this year, I was not prepared for what I saw next.

So many people came to his funeral – faces I had never seen before. Neighbours, clients, friends of friends. Each person carried a story:

how he had fixed their home, painted a room at short notice, laid tiles meticulously, repaired something others had given up on, or showed up when they needed help.

In the days after the funeral, my family – aunts, uncles, cousins – kept pointing at walls, ceilings, cupboards, and small details in their homes:

“Your dad did that.”

“He fixed this.”

“He built that.”

His handwork was everywhere. Quiet, faithful, often unnoticed – but holding things together.

That’s when I realised: my dad had left a legacy not just in our family, but in many homes. His work, his standards, and his “do it properly” attitude were still there, long after the paint had dried.

Excellence, Even If It Takes Longer

From my dad, I learned two big Life Lessons that now sit right at the centre of Thys Wood Design:

1. Give your best and be excellent in your execution, even if it takes longer.

2. Almost nothing is waste. Use what you’ve been given.

He would rather take a bit more time and know the job was done well than rush and leave it half done. He never used fancy words like “quality control” – he just checked everything. If a line wasn’t straight, he fixed it. If a corner wasn’t right, he redid it.

Today, when I bend a Bentwood ring layer by layer, sand the inside of a ring you might never look at too closely, or align the grain on a piece of décor, I hear his voice in the back of my mind:

“If you’re going to do it, do it properly.”

That’s why our process is not the fastest. I’d rather send out fewer pieces that I’m proud of than many that don’t carry that same care.

“Nothing Is Waste” – A Different Way of Seeing Material

My dad also had a special relationship with material. He rarely threw things away if he believed they could be used again.

To a visitor, some of his shelves might have looked like clutter. To him, they were possibilities. Offcuts of wood, bits of hardware, pieces of pipe or metal – one day, they would become part of a solution.

That way of seeing the world – not as rubbish, but as potential – sank deep into me.

It’s one reason sustainability feels so natural at Thys Wood Design. When I look at a small offcut of wood, I don’t first see scrap. I see what it could become:

• a pair of earrings,

• a pendant,

• an inlay,

• a detail on a box or frame.

Instead of throwing away the pieces left after cutting rings or décor, we turn them into jewellery or smaller objects. It’s not just an eco-choice; it’s a way of honouring the material and the story it carries.

From Building Sites to Bentwood Rings

Sometimes I think about how different my dad’s world and my world look on the surface.

He worked on big surfaces – walls, ceilings, houses. I often work on very small objects – rings, earrings, fine details in décor. But the spirit is the same:

• Work with what you have.

• Take your time to do it right.

• Leave something behind that lasts.

When a customer writes to me and says, “I can feel the care in this ring,” or “Your workshop helped me slow down,” I know that, in a way, my dad’s legacy has travelled with me from South Africa to Germany.

His way of working lives on in each Bentwood ring that leaves my hands, each piece of décor that hangs in a home, and even in the way I set up a workshop table – tools ready, materials respected, people welcomed.

Passing the Lesson On in Workshops

In our workshops, I see another layer of his influence.

Participants often arrive a bit unsure:

“I’m not creative.”

“I’m afraid I’ll mess it up.”

“I’ve never worked with wood before.”

My dad would have rolled up his sleeves and simply said, “Let’s get to work.”

So in a gentler way, that’s what I do. I invite people to slow down, pay attention to their hands, and give their best – not for perfection, but for presence.

We talk about:

• taking a bit more time with the sanding,

• noticing the grain of the wood,

• fixing small mistakes instead of hiding them.

In those moments, I’m not just teaching technique. I’m passing on a way of seeing work, born on those building sites years ago.

Why “Nothing Is Waste” Matters for Thys Wood Design

At Thys Wood Design, “nothing is waste” is more than a nice sustainability slogan.

It means:

• We choose materials carefully and treat them with respect.

• We design processes that use wood wisely and creatively.

• We look for ways to turn offcuts into something beautiful and useful.

• We honour the people and stories behind our skills.

It also means we see people this way. Your story, your past, your mistakes – nothing is simply “waste”. In God’s hands, and in the hands of a loving community, even the broken pieces can be shaped into something new.

When you wear a ring, hang a wooden piece in your home, or join a workshop with us, you are touching that story:

• a painter in South Africa with a small toolbox and a big work ethic,

• a son watching and learning Life Lessons,

• and a belief that what we’ve been given – time, wood, skills, stories – is worth using well.

Thank you, Daddy, for teaching me that nothing is waste and many more life lessons.

And thank YOU for letting those lessons travel all the way into your hands and home, through Thys Wood Design.

— Denzel

This one is for you, Daddy!