For a lot of people, retirement is a scary phase. There’s the fear of running out of money and not being able to figure out what to do with the coming years. There’s also the fear of not being able to contribute to one’s family and society anymore. In reality, retirement isn’t that bad.

Henk Verhoeff is a retired cabinet maker from Auckland, New Zealand.

Instead of letting his worries get the best of his life, he’s using his retirement as an opportunity to do what he’s truly passionate about. He continues to build different pieces of furniture.

Henk’s furniture pieces, however, are unlike any wood items you’ve seen.

They look like they’ve been taken out straight from a fairy tale book. Some of them have a weird shape while others look like they are broken. They have cracks that can make you think that they’re not usable.

For example, there’s this cabinet with a hole in the middle. Another one looks like it’s about to be split into two pieces.

Henk shared:

“I describe my style of furniture as broken and weird. I like making weird furniture, something that you don’t see in a shop.”

Despite looking like they are damaged, Henk’s pieces work perfectly fine. You can store anything in them- from clothes to personal items. And if you don’t plan on using them for storage, that’s perfectly fine. You can use them as accent pieces at home. With how magical they look, they’ll surely make your home extra beautiful.

The cabinets aren’t easy to make.

The cabinets look complicated to do. Even with years of experience, Henk admits that they aren’t that easy to make. From designing to actually doing them, you’ll need a lot of patience.

The time it takes to finish a piece depends. For Henk, a piece can easily take 80 to 100 hours.

“Sometimes details or angles don’t work and I have to start again. I use recycled New Zealand pine, mostly, but if I can get my hands on some Rimu, I will also use that.”- Henk said.

Henk is highly skilled in his craft.

He has been in the woodworking industry for about 53 years prior to his retirement. With his experience, it’s not surprising how he’s able to come up with such magical pieces. And now, from being his work, he considers it as his passion and hobby.

Henk’s daughter Linda posted some of the cabinets’ photos online.

The family was surprised at how quickly they went viral. The photos gained so much attention that Linda had to make a separate page on Facebook to show more of her dad’s pieces.

Henk shared:

“I was absolutely blown away at how this has gone viral, just a post my daughter put up on a page to share. I never expected ANYTHING like this.”

Henk’s cabinets aren’t for sale.

Despite the demand, the family isn’t interested in selling them or giving them away. For now, they are just keeping the cabinets at home.

“I started creating them for the pure love of it without the intention of selling them. But when I run out of space, there will be an eBay auction or two. Everything is for sale… except for my wife,” Henk shared.

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Source: Bored Panda, Facebook