Some of the boards from Woodshed Slab. Photos: Supplied.
At first glance, Carolyn and Ron Child might look like any other couple selling handcrafted wares at your nearest Illawarra market — but look a little closer and you’ll discover their cutting and serving boards tell a story of transformation.
For the past decade, the pair behind Woodshed Slab have been turning an environmental menace — the invasive camphor laurel tree that chokes waterways — into stunning kitchen boards that are as sustainable as they are beautiful.
With backgrounds in earthmoving and ceramics, Carolyn and Ron never anticipated how popular the cutting and serving boards would become.
“Ron used to make outdoor furniture just for us or friends and family many years ago,” Carolyn said.
“Everyone kept saying to him, ‘You should start selling it’ and he’d say, ‘Oh, don’t be so ridiculous’.
“We then did sell a few pieces.
“I said to him, ‘I think we should start making boards’ and he said, ‘Boards? Who on earth would ever want to buy a board?
“That was 10 years ago.”
Living in Queensland at the time, but now residing in St Georges Basin on the South Coast, she said the boards took off instantly.
“We decided they were a lot lighter than outdoor timber furniture, so we just stuck with boards,” she said.
“We also put resin in some of our serving boards and we make little ceramic dipping bowls that sit in the boards.”
Ron travels to Tweed Heads every few months to collect a van full of raw materials from a man who sources the timber from the Northern Rivers region of NSW, slabs them and dries them.
“We never know what’s going to be under the dirt and rough timber, but most of the time we end up with beautiful timber,” she said.
“We’ve always known that camphor laurel were very invasive — even though they’re beautiful trees.
“We’ve known they were a problem from northern NSW right up to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.”
Boards with resin and ceramic dipping bowls.
She said camphor laurel was originally introduced to Australia in the early 1800s from Asia.
“It was planted in botanical gardens in Sydney and Brisbane, then became popular as shade trees for schools and lining streets,” she said.
“However, it spread rapidly and is now declared a weed due to its invasive nature.
“Ron and I only use camphor laurel when making our boards due to the high antibacterial level it contains.
“Plus, it is a hard wood, but it’s not heavy like ironbark.”
Carolyn said that meant it was ideal as a lightweight board for everyday use in the kitchen.
She said turning the invasive species into functional and beautiful homewares was a creative solution for an environmental challenge.
“We like to think we are doing our little bit to save the waterways and offer our customers boards with beautiful grain and the peace of mind knowing camphor laurel has high levels of antibacterial properties,” she said.
She said their boards were sold at markets, including Kiama Seaside Market, Markets at the Marina in Shell Cove, the soon-to-launch The Local Table at Reddall Reserve, along with markets at Huskisson, Mittagong and Berry.
While they also received orders to make everything from lazy Susans to bench seats, the focus was the serving and chopping boards, which always received strong support.
“We just did two markets on the weekend and sold 27 boards, so we’re going to be chained to the shed for the rest of the week now,” she said, laughing.
Woodshed Slab will next be at Markets at the Marina in Shell Cove on 27 July. Follow it on Instagram for other market dates.
