BBM collaborates with past awardee Ben Madden!
With the 2014 BBM Youth Support Awards Night fast approaching, BBM have collaborated with 1997 awardee Ben Madden to create something unique for this year’s awardees. Ben has created some beautiful trophies made from jarrah timber and we have created a quick mock-up design to get an idea of what they will look like once the plaques arrive.
Ben Madden had won apprentice of the year and a gold medal for cabinet making at WorldSkills when he applied for the BBM Award in 1997. After becoming successful in his application, Ben was able to work at one of England’s finest bespoke cabinet makers and designers, Mark Asplin Whiteley Ltd.
Since returning from England Ben now owns his own business (Capital Veneering) where he employs 50 people, 12 of which are trainees/apprentices. Over the years Ben has employed 40 trainees/apprentices and trained many more by teaching cabinet making at the Canberra Institute of Technology on a part time basis.
Ben’s advice to future awardees was “Embrace the opportunity, make the most of it and learn as much as you can and bring those skills back with you and further develop them.”
“The BBMYS award gave me skills and experience that I don’t think I would of received here in Australia, which gave me the confidence to start my own business.”
Ben’s work can be seen inside Parliament House, The Canberra School of Music and the Australian Federal Police headquarters as well as in private homes cross Australia.
