Ben Cooper

Cabinetmaking

• Region Sydney West

 “The whole WorldSkills experience has offered me many great opportunities.It has been the platform for meeting many young tradespeople who share a common passion for their job and it has helped me hone my skills to be the best that I can be.  It has helped to give me larger scope into the industry through discussions with competitors and judges. It has allowed me to gain more confidence in my work and has also reinforced my skills and ability in my trade.”

It was in high school that Ben found a passion for cabinetmaking and the construction of fine furniture. With his great grandfather a woodworker and his uncle a cabinetmaker, it seemed natural to “follow my passion for something I loved and take on a cabinetmaking apprenticeship.”

Ben would definitely recommend others to compete in WorldSkills Competitions. “Competing in WorldSkills is not just a way of benchmarking your skills against people from around the world. WorldSkills helps to strengthen who you are as a person and improve your skills through training and pressure situations. You will meet people who will become friends for life. You will become much more confident in your own abilities and you%27ll have a lot of fun doing it.”

In his job Ben enjoys working on pieces of furniture that date back to over 200 years old and seeing the ingenuity of the craft, “to think that all the furniture was once built completely by hand without the use of any power tools is quite extraordinary and inspiring.”

In both the short and long term of his career, Ben hopes to continue working in antique restoration in order to further his skills, and then he would eventually like to open a business of his own making one-off pieces of fine furniture. In the future Ben is also interested in going on to studying furniture design.

Favourite motto?
If you think you are beaten, you are!

In one word describe how you feel about representing Australia in London?
Proud!