Founded by designer Caroline Olah, Reddie began as an answer to the shortcomings of mass-market furniture. Too often, designers found themselves caught between affordability, quality, and sustainability. “We wanted to build an honest company,” says Australian manager and interior designer, Cass Siow. “Our makers are at the forefront of our story, and we’re transparent about the imperfections of our reclaimed materials and hand-made production.”
Reddie: Design with honesty, confidence and playfulness.
Author
Peter Wood
Photography
Jason Henley
For Sydney-based furniture studio Reddie, design begins with questions. Who made this? What is it made from? Where did it come from? How will it live on? It’s this quiet but insistent curiosity that has shaped the brand’s ethos since day one.
“Ask about the origin of furniture. Honour and acknowledge all makers. Revisit what it means to be perfect. And value the integrity of a piece over precision perfection.”
Those imperfections are exactly what make Reddie’s work sing. In their factory in Central Java, discarded teak beams - lifted from old houses, punctured with nail marks and joist holes - are reimagined as timeless chairs, tables, and storage pieces.
The studio embraces the quirks of reclaimed timber, celebrating the beauty of age and wear while designing for longevity. Their FSC Chain of Custody certification ensures every piece can be traced back to its source, underscoring a commitment to integrity at every stage.
Back in Sydney, that ethos translates into furniture trusted by some of the city’s most adventurous designers. A single design can appear in radically different guises: a velvet-and-stainless steel armchair for a cocktail bar, reimagined in bright powdercoats and bold upholstery for a family dining room. “We rarely make the same piece with the same material combinations twice,” Cass says. “That adaptability is what allows our collections to live across different spaces - playful homes, refined hotels, busy hospitality venues.”
Sydney itself shapes this philosophy. The city’s fluid mix of coastal ease and urban sophistication is echoed in the dual nature of Reddie’s work: relaxed, durable, built for living - but always with an eye to refinement. “There’s a call for design that’s practical and beautiful,” Cass says. “If you can strike the balance, you’re really onto something.”
That balance has carried Reddie beyond Sydney. At London’s Material Matters show, the brand’s sustainable, crafted pieces struck a chord with international audiences, paving the way for a new studio in Europe. Still, the growth remains intentional. Reddie’s expansion is slow, grounded in values of community, sustainability, and craft.
As Cass reflects, Reddie’s story is as much about people as it is about design. She leaves us with this: “Ask about the origin of furniture. Honour and acknowledge all makers. Revisit what it means to be perfect. And value the integrity of a piece over precision perfection.”
Reddie's showroom is located at 406-410 Crown Street Surry Hills. BresicWhitney has partnered with Reddie to source key furniture pieces for the group's newly reimagined Inner West office.
