Fawkes and Co.
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Selected work · 01

Eastern Suburbs House.

Full kitchen, dining, library and feature stair joinery for a modernist residence in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs. American walnut, hand-troweled plaster, solid brass. One brief, twelve revisions, eleven months in build.

Location
Eastern Suburbs, Sydney
Year
2018 (built), photographed 2018
Scope
Kitchen + dining + library + stair
Materials
American walnut · plaster · brass
Eastern Suburbs House — dining and lounge with walnut joinery

The brief

A kitchen that belongs to the architecture.

The architect designed a quiet modernist residence around a long north-facing living rail and a central feature stair. Our brief was joinery that wouldn't compete with the architecture — millwork as part of the building, not furniture imposed on top.

We worked alongside the architect from concept stage. Twelve revisions on the island plan. Three timber samples on site, on three different days, at three different times of light. A pre-mill of every cabinet face from carefully selected American walnut so the grain reads as one continuous panel across the full kitchen run.

Concealed cold storage. Touch-latch on every door. A hand-troweled plaster feature wall framing the open fireplace. The brass detailing acts as the only deliberate ornament. The suspended stair is structural walnut on a folded steel spine.

Architect
SkyGrove · Available on request
Builder
Available on request
Photography
Available on request

Material selection

Australian, hand-picked.

American walnut

Quarter-sawn for the kitchen run and library. Hand-selected boards so the grain reads continuously across every drawer face and door. Hand-oiled — no varnish, no stain. The grain darkens slowly with sunlight over the first six months.

Hand-troweled plaster

Feature wall around the fireplace and the central stair landing. Applied wet on wet by a single trowel-hand over three days. The texture catches morning and evening light differently.

Solid brass detailing

Cup handles, edge inlays, and stair tread spines. Machined locally. A living finish — the brass dulls, marks, and patinas with use. The piece looks better at five years than it does the day it's installed.

Process

From sample to install.

Board selection — walnut stock laid out for grain matching

01 · Selection

Workshop carcass build — kitchen cabinet frames on the bench

02 · Workshop build

Hand-finishing — natural oil applied to walnut panels

03 · Hand-finish

On-site install — joinery being fitted at the residence

04 · On-site install

The finished room

Three weeks of install, ten years of use.

Eastern Suburbs House — finished room, wide
Walnut drawer faces — continuous grain run across the island Hand-troweled plaster feature wall, brass detail Suspended walnut stair with brass spine
The piece arrived on a Wednesday morning, was installed by Saturday afternoon, and looks the same today as it did the day it went in. That's the brief, done.

— Architect, Eastern Suburbs residence

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