Crafted from the original Taubmans factory.
Before it became a dining table, this timber spent more than a century inside one of Australia's most recognisable factories.
Most Australians know the name Taubmans.
For generations, it coloured our homes, schools, workplaces and public buildings. But long before the paint left the factory, something else had quietly been doing its job.
The timber.
For more than a century, enormous Australian hardwood beams helped support the original Taubmans factory in St Peters, carrying the weight of one of Australia's most recognisable manufacturers.
Today, it has the opportunity to become part of someone else's story.
A place that never stood still.
The story begins long before Taubmans.
The land that would eventually become 75 Mary Street was originally part of a 470-acre grant made in 1799. Over the following century, St Peters transformed from farmland into one of Sydney's great industrial suburbs, shaped by brickworks, factories and manufacturing.
In 1901, brothers George and Nathaniel Taubman established their first paint and varnish works here. What began as a small local operation grew into one of Australia's largest paint manufacturers, with the St Peters factory playing an important role in that journey.
The factory produced paint and varnish for Sydney's growing suburbs through much of the twentieth century.
The buildings weren't designed to impress.
They were designed to work.
Heavy Australian hardwood beams carried machinery, production and generations of workers. Every bolt, every saw mark and every scar was earned through decades of honest use.
Yet today, those practical buildings have become part of Sydney's industrial heritage.
Recovering history.
Walking through the former factory for the first time, we knew this wasn't an ordinary recovery.
As walls came down and roof timbers were exposed, remarkable Australian hardwood began to reveal itself.
Every beam was different.
Some carried enormous bolt holes.
Others still held traces of machinery that had disappeared decades earlier.
It quickly became obvious that this wasn't simply reclaimed timber.
It was Australian history you could still touch.
More than one life.
When paint manufacturing eventually ceased, the buildings didn't disappear.
They simply found another purpose.
Mechanics.
Furniture makers.
Design studios.
Artists.
Coffee roasters.
Breweries.
More than seventy creative businesses eventually called the site home as Precinct 75, giving the old factory another life while preserving its unmistakable industrial character.
Now the site is changing once again.
As Precinct 75 evolves into a new mixed-use neighbourhood, parts of the former factory are being carefully dismantled while significant heritage buildings are retained as part of the redevelopment.
It was during this transformation that we were given exclusive access to recover the remarkable Australian hardwood becoming available from the site.
Not to preserve a factory.
But to preserve the stories held within it.
Every beam tells a story.
When we recover timber like this, we aren't simply collecting old hardwood.
We aren't collecting old timber.
We're collecting evidence.
Old bolt holes where machinery once stood.
Saw marks left by tradespeople decades ago.
Weathering created by generations of use.
These aren't imperfections.
They're proof that this material has already lived a remarkable life.
They deserve to remain.
Meet Alma.
The first chapter in this remarkable timber's new life is Alma.
Named after Dave's Nanna, whose dining table always seemed to have room for one more, Alma is designed to do exactly the same.
It feels fitting.
Timber that once supported thousands of working lives will now support thousands of family moments.
Family dinners.
Quiet breakfasts.
Long conversations.
Christmas lunch.
The ordinary moments that eventually become family history.
The First Collection.
At present, we've recovered enough timber to create just six more Alma tables.
These first six tables aren't limited by marketing. They're limited by the remarkable timber we've recovered so far.
As more of the former Taubmans site is carefully dismantled, we'll continue recovering the timber and designing new limited collections - both indoor and outdoor - that celebrate different chapters of this remarkable place.
No two collections will ever be exactly the same.
Each will tell a different part of the story.
Own a piece of the story.
If you'd like one of the first Alma tables crafted from the original Taubmans factory, we'd love to hear from you.
Each Alma is individually handcrafted and built from timber recovered from the original Taubmans factory in St Peters.
When these first six are spoken for, the next collection will begin as more remarkable timber becomes available.
Enquire about Alma →
Were you part of the Taubmans story?
Perhaps you worked at Taubmans.
Perhaps your parents or grandparents did.
Perhaps you worked at Precinct 75, visited the cafés, ran a business there or simply remember the old factory.
We'd love to hear your story.
Old photographs.
Documents.
Memories.
Every story helps us better understand this remarkable place and preserve not only the timber, but the people connected to it.
If you have a story to share, we'd love to hear from you (in comments below).
Because one day, someone will run their hand across one of these tables and ask,
"Where did this timber come from?"
Our hope is that the answer tells not only the story of the building...but the people who made it matter.