Reclaimed Tasmanian Leatherwood Furnishes R.M. Williams' Global Flagship

When R.M. Williams opened its first global flagship at 345 George Street, Sydney, in December 2023, the brief was clear. Every surface had to say something about craft, longevity and Australian provenance. A big part of that story is sitting in the furniture.

The store's bespoke pieces were designed and handmade by Made By Morgen, working with reclaimed Hydrowood Leatherwood recovered from beneath the waters of Lake Pieman on Tasmania's west coast.

A flagship built around craft

R.M. Williams has been making boots by hand since 1932, and its new Sydney home was designed to show that heritage at full scale. The brand's in-house design team, led by Paul Giangelli, worked with Australian architects ACRD to shape the space.

The result is a store where each category has its own room to breathe. Wardrobe-style fixtures hold the apparel, a boot salon sits at the back and a rotating art program runs through the space. You can read more about the fitout in R.M. Williams' own store opening story.

For a brand built on the idea of goods made to last, the furniture needed the same character. It had to be honest, hard-wearing and unmistakably Australian.

The maker behind the pieces

Made By Morgen is the furniture studio of designer and maker Nick McDonald. The studio builds handcrafted furniture designed to be kept for generations, with a strong focus on ethical production and longevity.

For R.M. Williams, the studio created a range of bespoke pieces for the George Street store, which also serves as the company's global headquarters. The work included:

• A display cabinet for the original riding saddle of founder Reginald Murray Williams

• The boardroom table for the company's headquarters

• Seating and soft furnishings upholstered in R.M. Williams leather, sourced during a research trip to the brand's Adelaide workshop

• A collection of pieces including a credenza, sofa, armchair and stool

Pairing the brand's own boot leather with a timber of real Tasmanian provenance gave each piece a story customers can feel when they sit down or run a hand along the grain.

Why Hydrowood Leatherwood

Hydrowood timber comes from forests that were flooded in the 1980s to create Lake Pieman for hydro-electric power. For decades those trees sat preserved in deep, cold water. Today Hydrowood recovers them using specialised underwater harvesting equipment, bringing high-quality Tasmanian timber back into use without felling a single standing tree.

Leatherwood (Eucryphia lucida) is a native Tasmanian species best known for the honey made from its flowers. As a timber it is prized for its fine, even grain and warm, pale tones, which made it a natural partner for R.M. Williams' tan and chestnut leathers.

For Made By Morgen, the material checked every box on the brief. It is reclaimed. It is distinctly Tasmanian. It also carries a provenance story as strong as the brand it was built for.

Explore the full range of Hydrowood timber species or read more about how Hydrowood recovers timber from Lake Pieman.

From Sydney to stores around the country

The George Street flagship was one part of a wider program. Over the same period, Made By Morgen worked with ACRD and the R.M. Williams design team on flagship refits in Claremont and St Georges Terrace in Perth and Rundle Mall in Adelaide. Each store has its own design, with Hydrowood timber running through the furniture as a common thread.

It is a great example of what reclaimed Tasmanian timber can do in high-traffic retail, where materials need to look exceptional on day one and keep looking that way for years. It sits alongside other Hydrowood retail and public projects, from the Levi's store fitout to the wall cladding on the new Spirit of Tasmania.

See more in our projects gallery.

Bring Hydrowood into your next project

Want a piece of your own? Made By Morgen takes custom furniture commissions in reclaimed Hydrowood timber.

If you are an architect, designer or maker specifying timber for a fitout, visit our Specifiers portal, check how to buy or get in touch with the Hydrowood team to talk species, grades and availability.