A BRIEF HISTORY of JAHROC GALLERIES

The gallery and furniture maker has made a name for itself, championing the works of incredible local artists, and those from further afield. JahRoc started life in Scarborough, in 1987, when founder Gary Bennett began trading out of his backyard. A year later he joined forces with his best mate and brother in law, David Paris. These days, the pair are renowned for their hand crafted furniture designs, which are much-loved by collectors and folk with good taste.

“Fate led me to my business partner of 35 years and best friend, David Paris, in a wrecking yard in Nambour, Queensland, back in about 1982,” Gary says. “He joined me in JahRoc in 1988, and has always been unflinchingly supportive of my creative and business pursuits, even when some seemed pretty crazy at the time.”

Gary’s business partner and wife, Lara Bennett, and his sister, Jo Paris, round off the JahRoc dream team. “JahRoc has had a core of four hard working creative people,” he says. “It’s a rare case, where the sum of the parts is worth more than the individuals, and for that we are lucky and grateful.”

Over the years, the gallery has played host to amazing artists. Gary recounts some of his all-time favourites. “One of the highlights of our time for me in the Margaret River gallery has been the collaborative exhibitions we have done with the artists that exhibit with us,” he says. “We successfully collaborated with the late Leslie John Wright, who was an incredible Western Australian furniture designer in the eighties and nineties.”

Working with Leslie opened Gary’s eyes to the joy of creating with other artists. “We worked with some extremely talented artists, such as Shaun Atkinson and Larry Mitchell, architect Ian Bailey, surfboard designer Jim Banks and John Kinsella, who is one of Australia’s leading landscape poets.”

Working with different artists injected new life into JahRoc’s furniture design, and inspired Gary and David to push the boundaries of their artistic direction. These collaborations are documented in a book titled, JahRoc

Collaborations.

JahRoc 1.0 originated in York where the foursome established a thriving gallery, café and furniture design workshop in an old flour mill. But the pull of the surf was strong, so Gary and Lara bought land in Gnarabup as close to the ocean as they could get.

“We travelled between York and Marg’s for a few years but by the early 2000’s it got to the stage where I just couldn’t drive back to York and call that home any longer,” Gary says. “David was very understanding of my desire to move back to the coast and said, ‘just go mate, and we will work out the details as we go.’ It was an absolute blessing.”

The new gallery hit the ground running, doubling its original sales volume within a matter of months. “We got very lucky and a building popped up in the main street, which had been a gallery for nearly twenty years,” Gary says. “We have been blessed to have so many supportive customers, many of whom have become very good friends, and continue to play a massive part in our success.”

JahRoc Galleries will officially close its door on June 30th, however Gary and Dave will continue to craft furniture in their Kilcarnup studio to ensure their many orders are taken care of. Once the work is done Dave is set to retire, while Gary will scale back and spend more time exploring Australia and Japan.

Be sure to stop in and say goodbye to the legends at JahRoc Galleries when you’re next in Margaret River.