Crafted Hardwoods: Factory Tour

For the first time, we're opening our factory to the public, as part of Adelaide Design Week.

Come see a world-first Australian innovation: robotics and nano-science turning overlooked timber into architectural-grade hardwood, proudly made in Adelaide. 



About Us


A lot of good timber gets graded out before it ever reaches architecture and design. Upcycling gives that resource a way back in, turning it into specification-grade hardwood with the scale and consistency an engineered process can deliver. The result: more of what we already grow and harvest gets a genuine, long-life use in buildings, instead of a single cycle as pulp, fibre or bioenergy. For design, it means a lot more of that same resource becomes material you can specify: a wider palette, and a genuinely new supply to draw from.

Whilst Crafted Hardwoods is a young company, the technology itself is backed by more than a decade of research and development with partners including Flinders University, Bosch and Henkel. We are the only people in Australia running this process, and the Adelaide production unit is one of just two in the world. Our material has already found its way into architecture, interiors and the hands of makers all across the country, on projects big and small.

About the Tour

Over 90 minutes you'll walk the floor with our team, and see how resources that would otherwise be exported or downgraded become board, linings, flooring, battens, posts, beams and joinery stock. You'll handle the material raw and finished, including the timber behind Jon Goulder's Intersection Table and Grand Designs Australia Pigeon House project. You’ll also be able to see ReFramed, our modular timber glazing system for commercial interiors.

Then the floor is yours. Specification, applications, tolerances, finishes, supply, sustainability, what it costs, what it can't do. Ask us anything.

If you design, build, make, specify, regulate or fund, come see what's possible, then take it back to your own projects, your practice, your procurement. And bring someone who needs to see it too. We're looking for changemakers: people who care about Australian manufacturing, better material choices and the circular economy, and who are ready to do something about it.

Know before you go

• We are a working factory. Closed-toe shoes are essential and we can't let anyone on the floor without them. We'll supply hi-vis, eye and ear protection.

• Numbers are capped per session so everyone can hear and move safely. Book early.

• Plympton is a short drive from the CBD, so allow travel time if you're coming from another ADW event.

• We're hoping to run the production line both days, but there's a chance our robots take Saturday off. Still plenty to see either way.
  
  

Parking

• Parking available on the premises, please enter via James Melrose Road.