TALL bamboo stalks reach up to the sky like the arms of a mother reaching out to her children amongst the stars. Tied together at the top, they spread out to form the base of a teepee and it is inside this symbolic womb that Andre Charles Hubbard feels safe and connected with the earth.

"There is life in all this," he whispers. "We are all as one... each indigenous people has its own version of the creation story, but we all came from the same place."

Many will know Andre Hubbard as the master cabinet maker, restorer of antiques and preserver of beautiful things, but it is his longing to connect with his spiritual side that few people know about.

"Understanding the connection between all things and the spirituality that has been within me all of my life," he explains.

"Part of my searching has been for an outlet to live in this way."

He is quick to add that it is not a religion, but a way of living which will ultimately allow him to "walk in a good way" in every aspect of his life.

When asked how this journey to spiritual enlightenment started, Mr. Hubbard recalls a few years ago when he took a trip to New Mexico.

During a visit to the Navajo reservation, he was invited to join a large and diverse group of people in a "ghost dance" - a spiritual dance of sorts. He was moved by the experience and in an effort to learn more about the people, he was introduced to a traditional medicine man, Wolfred Moses.

Today Mr. Hubbard considers Mr. Moses his "adopted father" and spends a week of every month in either New Mexico or Utah.

But, he says, it is hard for western people to accept the traditional ways he has adopted: "In our traditional ways we have many fathers, uncles and mothers and the western mindset finds this hard to get around."

He takes it one day at a time he says and recently had the opportunity to host his "adopted father" here in Bermuda for a number of spiritual workshops.

"It was the fist time he had ever left North America," he says with a proud smile.

Mr. Hubbard was born in Bermuda, but spent a great deal of his childhood in England with his grandmother and godmother.

It was obvious from a young age that his passion lay with understanding how things worked, creating and building things and even restoring things.

"My mother soon realised I had more use for tools than books," he says with a chuckle.

This passion is evident in his interpretation of what they do at Fine Furniture and Antique Restoration: "We try to interpret dreams and ultimately try to create a piece that in some way embodies certain facets of the personality of the person we're creating it for."

He hopes that in turn each client will remember the story and experience of each individual piece the way he did.

"I remember virtually all the pieces I have been involved in making, which is fewer now than maybe three years ago because I have a gifted team, but I remember the wood, I even remember the dimensions," he says with a soft laugh.

"No one piece stands out... they are all important and in some ways they are all your children. You pour so much of your life, your soul and spirit and energy into these things and the most difficult thing to do then is to let them go. You want to keep them around for a while and enjoy them.

"From the restoration standpoint, we have the opportunity to step back in time, endeavour to look into the eyes of the original maker, see how they saw it and through a process of restoration preserve the integrity of these antique or ancient artefacts," he explains.

The ultimate goal, he says, is to preserve the story behind each piece and interpret it as best they can in order to make it look as if it has been well preserved, while remaining aesthetically pleasing and functional.

When asked where his journey will take him next, Mr. Hubbard smiles and says he is searching for his place of "wicha" which will help him become a complete man.