Blackwood grows tall in the cool, wet forests of Tasmania and southern Victoria. Freshly cut it is a pale gold; with age and handling it deepens to a rich brown with a quiet sheen that furniture makers have prized for generations.
On the rosary
Blackwood beads are light in the hand and warm to the touch. Because the grain is even, each bead polishes to a soft glow rather than a hard shine, and the colour continues to mature with years of use. Occasionally a length of fiddleback figure appears and the beads seem to ripple in the light.
Why we chose it
This is the timber of kitchen tables and church pews across the south-east. It carries the sense of ordinary, faithful life — the rosary prayed at the sink, in the car, at the end of the day.
