A workshop in nine pieces.
A four year archive of small hardwood objects, made one at a time in a Marrickville shed.
Madera Woodworks Co ran from 2014 to 2018 out of a single bench in Sydney's inner west. Every piece was cut, sanded and oiled by hand, in batches of ten or twenty, until the timber ran out and we started the next one.
This site is the full record. Nine designs, four timber species, four years of off cuts and oil rags. Nothing is for sale anymore. Everything is documented.
The pieces, listed.
Every model we ever shipped, in order of release.
| # | Piece | Timber | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Union bifold | American walnut | 2014 | Archived |
| 02 | Union walnut wallet | American walnut | 2014 | Archived |
| 03 | Union wallet in oak | White oak | 2015 | Archived |
| 04 | Union wallet in cherry | Black cherry | 2016 | Archived |
| 05 | Poquito wallet in walnut | American walnut | 2015 | Archived |
| 06 | Poquito wallet in oak | White oak | 2015 | Archived |
| 07 | Poquito wallet in cherry | Black cherry | 2017 | Archived |
| 08 | Convoy iPhone 6 case in walnut | American walnut | 2015 | Archived |
| 09 | Convoy iPhone 6 case in cherry | Black cherry | 2016 | Archived |
Four hardwoods, sourced slowly.
The catalogue used four species. American black walnut for the launch run and most of the production years, white oak for the lighter Union and Poquito variants from 2015 onward, American black cherry for the late run pieces that aged to a deeper red in pocket, and Tasmanian blackwood for the final batches when the American import line shut down.
None of it was kiln dried in a hurry. Boards sat in the shed for at least four weeks before they touched a saw, and the off cuts went back on the rack for the next project. Read the full sourcing note in the journal.
Walnut · Juglans nigra
White oak · Quercus alba
Black cherry · Prunus serotina
Tasmanian blackwood · Acacia melanoxylon
Notes from the bench.
Design briefs, sourcing decisions, and a few honest retrospectives.
One bench, one set of hands.
Madera Woodworks Co was a one person studio operating from a shared shed in Marrickville from 2014 through to early 2018. The whole project began with a single offcut of American walnut and a half formed idea that a wallet should feel like a tool, not an accessory.
We made small batches, sold them slowly, and answered every email by hand. Customers in Sydney could collect direct from the bench. Anything heading interstate or overseas went out wrapped in calico and a handwritten note. We never wholesaled, never ran a sale, and never made the same piece twice in quite the same way.
The workshop closed in 2018 when the lease ended and the timber supplier we relied on shut up shop. This archive exists so the work has a home. If you own a piece and want to know its batch, write in. The full about page has the longer version, and contact still works.
M. Woodworks · Sydney AU · 2014 onwards