Welcome to the Australian Woodwork Press Office
Welcome to the Australian Woodwork Press Office
Products from this company are shipped to: United States, Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, + 41 more and are located in: Australia"
About
Australian Woodwork is a small, family-run business that specialises in the retail of fine woodwork, made by Australia's leading artisans and designer/makers utilising sustainable, Australian native timbers.
Australian Woodwork was started 16 years ago by Gregory White and Sarah Davidson, with a stall at Sydney's Rocks Markets and an idea to bring together the fine Australian woodcraft seen in our travels at many country galleries. Aware of this rich vein of skill and artistry that quietly existed, we thought that the local and overseas markets would appreciate it too. We proceeded to open our flagship store in Sydney's Darling Harbour in 2000, followed by our Hunter Valley Gallery in 2005. These are both now closed, which has allowed us, joined by our son Ben, the freedom to concentrate on our online shop. Here, customers will find the same wide range of products made by the many talented woodworkers with whom we have worked over the years.
Australia has some of the best timbers in the world, well known for their beauty and durability, encompassing a variety of colour, grain and hardness that make them suitable for many purposes - from railway tracks and bridges through to fine furniture and homewares. We have a broad range of products, from turned wooden bowls, chopping boards and salt & pepper mills to jewellery boxes and chess sets; from hand carved birds to writing pens and rocking horses, all made using traditional techniques but with modern technology. Good contemporary design is of the utmost importance in our choice of products, ensuring their durability and longevity, guaranteeing they will be cherished and kept - the antiques of the future.
Latest images
Press releases
16/03/21
Why Australian Woodwork is going green in 2021 (Because isn’t it time we all did?)
2020 was a watershed year for the planet, with the covid-19 pandemic making us question fundamentally how we live. Pollution, climate change, our stretched global supply chains, being dependent on imported goods, all these came to our attention-demanding re-evaluation. As a result, this year we have decided to go all out on making our packaging as close as possible to 100% ecologically sustainable. Everything we use will be made from recycled material and will be biodegradable or recyclable or both, plus all our packaging with a few exceptions will be Australian made.
Being green can be complicated
As Kermit the frog famously said, being green isn’t easy! - all the different categories and terms floating about are confusing so here is a summary of what they all mean.
Made from recycled materials means just that - your new unused package has been made from recycled materials, usually plastic or cardboard which would otherwise have gone into landfill.
Recyclable means that the item can be recycled for further use such as above and can be dropped into your recycling bin.
Bio-degradable means that the box or packaging can be broken down by microorganisms that naturally occur in the soil, landfill and compost bins, and turned into organic matter.
What packaging does Australian Woodwork use exactly?
We use Australia Post as our delivery service because, in a huge country like Australia, a continent, in fact, it is the only system that services the entire country. We also use mostly Australia Post packaging (read more here about their ecological milestones) and it is mostly green and ecologically responsible, for example:
Australia Post satchels - Australian made from 80% recycled plastic and conditionally recyclable.
Australia Post boxes - Australian made Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified mailing boxes, meaning the materials can be traced back to healthy, sustainably managed forests PLUS they are recyclable or even better, bio-degradable.
Australia Post padded bags - Australian made from 80% recycled plastic and conditionally recyclable.
Green bubble wrap - Australian made and tinted green for easy identification, this bubble wrap is recyclable in your recycle bin AND fully bio-degradable; naturally occurring microorganisms found in soil, landfill, and home compost bins can break down this eco-friendly product and turn it into fertiliser.
Gift boxes - Australian made, our new gift boxes are made from 100% recycled cardboard and are fully recyclable and even better, bio-degradable.
Tying up the gift box - our only imported packaging products are our natural hemp cord or raffia and we would buy Australian made if we could. However, these products are fully recyclable and bio-degradable.
What we can’t fix at the moment - our current stock of packaging tape is not recyclable but we are planning to replace it with a more eco-friendly product by mid-2021.
What else is Australian Woodwork doing to help the environment?
We are reusing!
These days we all know that the environment needs our care and respect - we have all seen the photos of seas of plastic and with that in mind, we reuse as much packaging as possible. Our suppliers come from all over this wide land and we receive many boxes and parcels at our warehouse, so reusing the bubble wrap, butchers paper, cardboard and tissue that arrive with our beautiful products is a great step towards reducing landfill where packaging makes up 23% of the content.
And we hope you will too
We hope that our customers will also reuse their packaging; our gift packaging is sturdy enough to be reused a few times, as are our hemp cord and raffia ties. And if your order arrives in a cardboard box it can be used many, many times over.
While most of our major packaging milestones are in place, there will be a period of transitioning from our old stock of gift boxes and ribbon to our new 100% recycled, compostable range which we plan to achieve by mid-2021.
Everything you see here in our storeroom is bio-degradable and made in Australia
For more information visit our website www.australianwoodwork.com.au
or email us at info@australianwoodwork.com.au
Or call Greg or Sarah on +61 2 66451702
18/08/20
Sassafras timber, beautiful and sought after, but getting pricey
Australian Woodwork features the best of Australia’s designer/makers working in native timbers, all sustainably sourced and harvested - but ever-popular Sassafras is becoming scarce.
Blackheart Sassafras, from the cool temperate forests of Tasmania, has always been highly prized for its dramatic figuring which occurs randomly and can’t be cultivated, hence its rarity. It’s all due to a fungus which makes its way through the tree leaving behind a trail of dark chocolate through the pale golden timber.
Seven years ago Tasmanian forestry locked up large areas which had been a source of good Sassafras - nothing wrong with that, let’s hear it for the environment - but this led to two things,
1. Special Blackheart Sassafras became even harder to get, and
2. Available stocks were bought up in large quantities by speculators who saw, rightly, that these would be a great investment.
Much of this stockpiled Sassafras is exported for high prices that squeeze small-time craftsmen and woodworkers - the woodworkers who make our products, and who use less than 3% of selectively harvested timber like Sassafras and Tiger Myrtle.
For now, our craftsmen have some stocks of Sassafras left but as those remaining stocks run out the price of all our Sassafras items will go up. Our woodworkers predict price rises of around 30% when they are forced to compete with the big guys in the marketplace.
In that time-honoured marketing phrase - Buy now while stocks last! That rare and prized Blackheart Sassafras timber is going, going, UP!
Visit our website www.australianwoodwork.com.au
Or contact Greg or Sarah on info@australianwoodwork.com.au or call +61 2 66451702
