Our story — Meet Markus
I spent a decade in Sydney working in finance. It was one of those jobs where you blink and it's dark outside, the kind that makes you feel like you've spent more hours in boardrooms than in your own home. Around 2017, I started noticing I wasn’t quite myself anymore. It wasn’t just stress; it was the constant hum of being stretched too thin. One night, I missed my niece’s birthday dinner because of a last-minute meeting, and that was the tipping point. I realised the life I was working so hard to build didn’t actually exist outside my office walls.
Before this, I didn’t know much about making things. I grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne, and my family wasn’t exactly handy. But I knew I wanted to try something completely different, something slower. I took a woodworking course in 2018—just a weekend workshop in Redfern—and it felt like my shoulders dropped a whole inch. After that, I started tinkering in my own time. My first project was a wobbly coffee table made from scrap pine. It wasn’t much, but it gave me a sense of accomplishment I hadn’t felt in a long time.
Ridgeway Goods started small. I moved to the Barossa in late 2019, trading my city apartment for a rental with a shed out back. I spent six months figuring out how to turn my hobby into something sustainable, using my savings to buy a secondhand table saw and some Tasmanian oak from a local mill. I made a few pieces for friends and family, and slowly, word started to spread. By early 2021, I’d shipped my 100th order. The name Ridgeway comes from an old walking trail near where I grew up—it’s a reminder of where I started and how far I’ve come.
These days, Ridgeway Goods is based out of a proper workshop here in the Barossa. We still keep production small and personal. I work with a small team to make things that feel durable and grounded, using materials sourced from Australian suppliers whenever we can. It’s not the life I imagined when I was sitting in those Sydney meetings, but it’s the one I’m grateful for every day.
— Thanks for reading this far — Markus, Markus Mueller
Journal
An Unexpected Treasure in Tasmanian Oak
The Tasmanian Oak for our lounge tables comes from an old acquaintance with a knack for understatement and perfect timbers.
I met Ian during a stretch of work-related trips to Launceston, back in my suit-wearing Sydney days. He was a friend of a friend and ran this small timber operation out near Scottsdale. Back then, I thought Tasmanian Oak was some designer term — turns out it’s just what Australians call three species of eucalypt. Ian talked about wood like it was wine. ‘This batch has a bit more tannin staining in it, that’s where the character is,’ he said, running his hand across a board like it was a piece of silk.
Years later, when I started Ridgeway Goods, I remembered Ian and gave him a call. To my surprise, he was still milling, still stubborn about not expanding. His words were, ‘If I can’t fit it in the shed, I don’t mill it.’ He picks up salvaged wood, usually from forestry sites, though sometimes he gets lucky with weather-felled trees. We’ve been sourcing from him since we launched the Tasmanian Oak Lounge Tables. He doesn’t rush a thing. Each plank gets air-dried for 12 months before it even sees the kiln.
Some weeks, the timber arrives with a little handwritten note. One said, ‘This lot came from near the Blue Tier trail. Leaves are good for tea if you’re curious.’ I’m hopeless with tea, but it made me think about how connected he is to where his materials come from. That’s the kind of thing I lacked sitting at a Sydney desk all those years — the roots of things, the stories in the material itself. The lounge tables are my excuse to hold onto that.
Ian’s timber can be tricky to work with. The air-drying means it’s more stable, but you still get the odd surprise knot or curl that a more industrial process would iron out. I’ve come to love the unpredictability. The workshop always has to pause and think for a second when something unexpected turns up, deciding how to work with it instead of against it. It’s slower, but it feels honest. You can’t rush timber. That’s one of the first things Ian told me.
Next time I’m down in Tassie, I hope to visit Ian’s shed again. It’s been 18 years since I first walked through it, but the smell of sawdust and the sound of the planer hasn’t left me. If I could bottle that smell, I’d wear it every day. Maybe that’s what keeps me making tables.
Keeping Cool in the Barossa Summer
Summers here are fierce, and lightweight layers like our organic cotton bedspreads are my go-to for surviving the heat.
The Barossa summer is not for the faint-hearted, or for heavy quilts. We hit 40°C regularly, and the nights don’t always cool down enough to make a dent. You learn fast how to adapt, especially in an old stone house like mine, where ducted air-conditioning feels like cheating (and costs a fortune). One of my summer saviours has been the organic cotton bedspreads we started making two years ago. They’re just heavy enough to feel like a proper cover but breathable enough not to stifle you in the heat.
I used to think any old cotton would do, but there’s a big difference after you’ve slept under organic cotton for a few nights. It somehow feels softer, though not in that slippery way — more like it’s lived a life before it arrived on your bed. We work with a supplier near Geelong who sources cotton certified by GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard). It’s woven in small batches and dyed using low-impact dyes. Nothing fancy, just practical choices that happen to feel really good on hot nights.
Most weeks right now, I’m washing the bedspread twice over — once just to clear the inevitable dust that blows in when I leave the windows open at night, and once because the dogs have claimed it as their spot by morning. Luckily, it dries in about an hour on the clothesline, even on days when the humidity spikes. I’ve started appreciating these afternoon drying rituals as a kind of unconscious rhythm to summer living.
I’ve also learned to keep my bedroom as minimalist as possible in summer. The bedspread’s soft natural colours — a kind of muted clay and a pale sage green — mean I don’t need much else in the room. A big jug of water on the bedside, a fan that’s seen better days, and the occasional pile of books I’ll finish ‘eventually.’ When it’s this hot, clutter feels unbearable.
There’s a shorter window for sleep in summer — up late, up early to garden or get to the workshop before the heat kicks in. That bedspread makes those hours count, though. One year, I might try to escape the heat entirely and head south for the whole season. For now, though, I’ll settle for the occasional breeze through the bedroom window and the gift of a good night’s rest.
Why We Switched to Recycled Leather
Our wallets are now made from recycled leather — here’s what that means and why it fits the way we work.
When we first started making wallets, I thought leather was leather. You’d pick a hide, cut it, sew it, and that was that. It only took a few months in for me to realise how messy and resource-intensive the industry is. Full-grain leather is beautiful but comes with a huge demand for water, land, and chemicals. There’s also so much waste — tanneries throwing out offcuts because they don’t meet a certain standard or size. It’s not something I could ignore once I started looking, so we began exploring alternatives.
Recycled leather caught my eye last year when I came across a producer in Melbourne who was repurposing offcuts into new material. They take scraps, grind them down, and mix them with natural latex to create a solid sheet. It comes in thinner rolls than traditional hides, but it’s remarkably tough. There’s about 85% leather content in the final product, so it keeps the feel and flexibility I like in a wallet without needing a whole hide per batch. For context, each roll weighs about 12kg and makes around 50 wallets.
Switching wasn’t entirely smooth. The recycled leather behaves differently under the sewing machine compared to full-grain hides, so there was a bit of trial and error in the workshop. The first prototype wallets looked great but ended up too rigid. After a few adjustments to the stitching process, though, we found a balance that worked. Now the wallets have the same durability we started with but without the environmental baggage.
A side benefit I wasn’t expecting is how consistent the recycled material is. Natural hides can vary a lot — small scars, different thicknesses, and the occasional oddity from how the animal lived. There’s none of that unpredictability here. That’s saved us hours of time in cutting and prepping the material, which means I can put more focus into the final finishing details.
I still have a few old full-leather wallets lying around, but the recycled leather ones are the ones I carry personally now. They’ve been through six months of pocket abuse so far — notes, coins, receipts, and all — and they’re holding up just fine. No cracks, no complaints. That’s about as much proof as I need.
Autumn Cleanup and Bamboo Tools
Autumn in the Barossa means the leaves pile up fast — here’s how I use our bamboo kitchenware outside its usual spot.
Autumn is probably my favourite season here. The mornings are crisp enough for a jumper, and by 3 PM, the light has that honeyed glow I’ll never get tired of. There’s also an endless supply of work to do in the garden. Between the grapevines, the gum trees, and all the ornamental nonsense I thought was a good idea when I moved here, I spend most weekends raking leaves or tending to compost. This year, I’ve started using some of our bamboo kitchenware as makeshift tools, and they’re holding up surprisingly well.
The bamboo tongs are particularly good for picking out small bits from the compost heap — stubborn sticks that don’t break down, or the avocado pits I always forget to crush beforehand. I’ve also been using one of the bamboo spoons to stir the leaf mulch pile. It feels ridiculous, like something you’d see in a slow-living magazine, but the truth is I just like how tough they are. Bamboo doesn’t warp the way wooden utensils sometimes do after a few wet days.
I tested the utensils pretty hard during the design phase, but I’d always pictured them indoors. The ones I use outside have seen mud, gravel, and the occasional over-curious magpie. A quick rinse with the garden hose, and they’re good as new. They were originally meant for stirring stews and flipping pancakes, but it turns out bamboo has a real talent for the messier jobs, too. That’s nice to know, especially since some of these utensils have been kicking around for over three years now.
The compost heap is about halfway to finished, and the bamboo tools are still going strong. If anything, I feel a bit guilty for not giving them better care — the occasional rub of oil would probably do them good. But there’s something gratifying in seeing them hold up under rough treatment. They’re not precious objects, and that’s the point.
I’ll probably retire these current outdoor tools at the end of autumn and treat myself to a fresh set for the kitchen. There’s a kind of poetry in that cycle — tools worn down by one season, replaced for a new purpose, and left to rest. If only the grapevines were that straightforward.
Customer reviews
Emily C. — Newtown, NSW — 2024-05-12 — 5/5
Beautiful and sturdy table
I bought the Tasmanian Oak Lounge Table and it’s perfect for my living room. The wood grain is stunning, and the assembly was super simple.
Jake R. — Brunswick, VIC — 2024-02-28 — 4/5
Nice bedspread
The Organic Cotton Bedspread feels soft and breathable. Only reason for 4 stars is that the colour was slightly different from the photos.
Sophie W. — Fitzroy, VIC — 2025-01-15 — 5/5
Compact and functional wallet
I ordered the Recycled Leather Wallet and it’s been great. It holds all my cards securely and looks sleek.
Ben T. — Paddington, QLD — 2024-11-07 — 5/5
Perfect gift set
The Bamboo Kitchenware Set made a fantastic housewarming gift. The utensils are lightweight but durable.
Mia K. — Adelaide CBD, SA — 2024-08-21 — 4/5
Warm throw blanket
The Merino Wool Throw Blanket is very warm and cosy. It sheds a little at first, but overall it’s worth it.
Liam H. — Glenelg, SA — 2025-02-03 — 5/5
Amazing quality
I’ve been using the Tasmanian Oak Lounge Table daily, and it’s held up beautifully. Delivery was also faster than expected.
Olivia S. — Bondi, NSW — 2024-03-16 — 5/5
Worth every dollar
The Organic Cotton Bedspread is lightweight but keeps me warm on cooler nights. It’s become my favourite bedding.
Ethan B. — South Melbourne, VIC — 2024-12-10 — 4/5
Good wallet, minor flaw
The Recycled Leather Wallet is stylish and functional, but I wish it had one extra card slot. Still happy with the purchase.
Returns
We offer a 30-day return policy in compliance with Australian Consumer Law. If you’re not satisfied with your purchase, you can return it for a refund or exchange, provided the items are unused, in their original packaging, and in resalable condition.
Please note that sale items, custom orders, and gift cards are not eligible for returns. For hygiene reasons, certain items like bedding or textiles must remain unopened to qualify for a return.
Once we receive your returned item and assess its condition, refunds will be processed within 5 business days. Shipping fees are non-refundable unless the return is due to an error on our part. If you have any questions about our returns process, contact us for assistance.