Benjamin Baldwin Makes Wooden Stuff That’s Good for Your House and Good for the Planet

When Benjamin Baldwin set out to open his new woodworking studio, he had two clear goals in mind: make some of the most quietly stylish chairs, tables and beds this side of Scandinavia, and take care of the planet in the process.

The result of those dual ambitions is Baldwin Studios: a one-stop online shop for the environmentally minded aesthete in need of sustainably made furniture and tableware.

“Making things has always been a part of who I am and what I do,” Baldwin says while stepping Broadsheet through his range of minimalist wooden goods, which includes everything from low-rim plates to banquet-sized dining tables. “But I’m equally passionate about sustainability.”

Passionate may be an understatement. After enrolling in an industrial design course at university, Baldwin imagined a life as a busy furniture maker. “But when I saw the massive environmental impact of the industry, I took a step back.” For the next decade Baldwin worked not as a designer but as a conservationist, including a lengthy stint as a base manager (and occasional ship repairer) with Sea Shepherd.

It was fulfilling work, but the urge to create never fully dissipated. To scratch that creative itch, Baldwin began making furniture in his downtime, focusing on simple designs he could produce with minimal environmental impact. The few buyers lucky enough to score a Benjamin Baldwin stool or chair from this era can attest to their craftsmanship, but output for the part-time operation was understandably slow. That is, until two years ago, when Baldwin decided to go all in on furniture-making, opening Baldwin Studios with a full suite of handmade products.

“I offer almost every item of furniture that you’d need for your house,” Baldwin says, seemingly surprised by the extent of the range he’s managed to put together as a one-person operation. Each piece is made from reclaimed wood, which Baldwin sources from local Melbourne timber yards, and all waste is recycled, if not re-used: plates and bowls, for instance, are made using offcuts from larger items.

The maker says that what unifies his collection is its simplicity. “I like minimising every element down to its most basic form,” he tells Broadsheet. “All my pieces try to fulfil a need in the simplest and most functional way, and I use a lot of utilitarian forms and minimal structural elements to communicate those functions. That means staying away from overly complex joinery and any kind of ornamentation.”

That insistence on simplicity helps Baldwin steer clear of trends. Timelessness is the goal – for environmental reasons as much as stylistic ones. “There’s no point making something that’s going to last a long time if the next generation isn’t going to want it,” Baldwin explains. “Sustainability isn’t just about what your products are made from. It’s about lasting aesthetics.”

These aesthetics are on full display with Baldwin’s latest “product” line: a series of artworks made from acrylic paint on linen canvas. “Painting is something I’ve been doing since I was a kid,” he says, “but I’d always kept it separate from my design practice.”

That thinking started to change during the pandemic, when Baldwin found himself painting more and more “just to structure my time”. Slowly, he came to realise his art and furniture were guided by similar principles: “simple structural forms, arranged and orderly”.

By incorporating art into his studio work, Baldwin is chipping away at the designer’s credo that form always follows function. Which makes sense: if we’re going to save the planet, we may as well try to fill it with nice-looking things. “I’m really inspired to introduce more and more colour into my work, and experiment with finishes,” Baldwin says. “It feels nice.”

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