Told·Works Dan Ross

Central Otago workshop · Aotearoa New Zealand

Dan Ross · Selected Works

Pieces that tell
the story the place
is already telling.

Sometimes it begins with an architect's drawing. Sometimes with a homeowner who can't quite name what's missing. Sometimes with a single object — held, leaned against a wall, taken out on the water. Each piece is shaped in a Central Otago workshop.

By invitation · Late 2026 availability

Enquiries are welcome.

The Practice

He builds the feeling first.

Dan Ross works from the inside of a place outward. The work begins by listening for what a site or object is already asking to hold — sometimes named in drawings, sometimes felt but unspoken by the people who live with it.

Rather than imposing a language, he shapes the story until it finds its own. What follows is made in answer.

The work ranges from singular objects to finished rooms. The approach does not change. Stone and timber are chosen for where they come from and what they carry. Joins are visible. Process is allowed to speak. A piece is finished when it feels inevitable.

Dan works alone and takes on a small number of commissions each year. Not every conversation becomes a piece. The work he accepts is shaped by alignment — of place, people, and intent.

The aim is simple: to give a place the thing it was already asking for.

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Selected Work

Three pieces, told through their making.

Outside Obligation

From the workshop.

A stone goblet carved from local quarry stone, gifted on completion. A two-storey dollshouse built with mortise-and-tenon joints at miniature scale, made for his daughter. Nobody asked for either; both exist at the same standard as everything else.

View the workshop pieces →
Work of Record

Built to that standard.

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Lake Hayes Cottage

Anna-Marie Chin Architects. Built by Dan.

2020 NZIA National Award
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Lake Hayes Cottage

Anna-Marie Chin Architects.

2020 NZIA National Award
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Faceted Cedar Ceiling

Multi-directional cedar cladding installed throughout the main living volume of a private residence. Each panel hand-fitted; the directions shift across the ceiling planes to catch light differently at every hour.

Lake Hayes Residence — Olive Lane
The Standard

Reputation observed,
not claimed.

The work does not lie about the person who made it.

There is a pattern across Dan's career that no single project illustrates — only the full body of work makes it visible.

When projects have hit pressure — and they have — Dan has not walked away, renegotiated downward, or settled for less. He has absorbed the cost, found the material, and finished what he committed to finish.

It runs the other way too. He chooses the people he works for as carefully as he chooses the timber he works with. Three to four commissions a year. The first conversation is a site visit. If the brief, the place and the person are not aligned, the conversation ends there, with respect and without obligation.

Twenty-five years of those choices, made consistently, is not a portfolio. It is a practice.

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  • Every current commission sourced through referral or firsthand experience.
  • Three to four commissions a year, made by one person.
  • Repeat clients across multiple commissions spanning years.
Commission

Begin a conversation.

The path is short. It begins with you.

  1. i.
    A first email
    Tell Dan about the place, the people, and what the work needs to do. As detailed or as brief as you'd like.
  2. ii.
    A site visit
    Dan visits in person. He listens to the place. No commitment in either direction at this point.
  3. iii.
    A clear answer
    Within a week of the visit, you'll have a yes or a no — and either way, an honest read on the brief.
Begin the conversation

Dan Ross · Central Otago, New Zealand
dan@toldworks.nz