Considered homeware · Braidwood NSW
Washed linen and pure beeswax, made in a workshop at Braidwood in the Southern Tablelands. Cloth that creases on purpose and candles that smell of nothing but honey — the two things a long dinner actually needs.
Stonewashed European flax linen, 165–190 GSM, cut and hemmed here
Linen does not wear out so much as give in. Four or five years of dinners and it stops feeling like fabric and starts feeling like the table.
On why we wash every metre before it is cut
100% Australian beeswax, cotton wick, no fragrance and no paraffin
Beeswax burns slower, warmer and honey-coloured — and it is the only wax we have found that smells like something without being scented.
Poured by Marianne Voss at Braidwood, in batches of forty
Heavier weights, plainer hems — the pieces that get wet and washed
The workshop
Thornhill Goods started because we could not find a tablecloth we were willing to spill wine on. Everything at the price we wanted was polyester dressed up as linen; everything in real linen was sold as an heirloom and priced so nobody dared use it.
The workshop is a converted machinery shed on the Braidwood side of the Kings Highway, about two hours inland from the coast and forty minutes from Canberra. There are three of us. We buy woven flax linen by the roll, stonewash it before a single cut is made, then cut, hem and press each piece here. Washing first is the whole difference: the fabric does all its shrinking and softening before you own it, so a cloth that fits your table on the first night still fits it after twenty washes.
The candles are Marianne's. She keeps hives out past Bombay and has been pouring beeswax for longer than this business has existed — tapers dipped rather than moulded, pillars poured in batches of forty, wicks pure cotton and nothing else in the wax. Beeswax is roughly four times the cost of paraffin and burns about half again as long, which is most of why a taper here costs what it does. Batch colour shifts from pale gold in spring to deep amber late in summer. We do not correct it.
Nothing here is decorative. The bread cloth is the weight it is because a lighter one lets a loaf go hard by morning. The apron ties long enough to wrap and knot at the front because that is how people actually tie them. If a piece does not earn a place on a table that gets used four nights a week, we do not make it.
Elise ThornhillFounder · Braidwood NSW
One rate anywhere in Australia, no minimum. Orders are packed and dispatched from Canberra in 2–4 business days.
Email us within 7 days with a photo and we replace or refund it. A dropped stitch or a cracked candle in transit is ours to fix.
Washed linen wrinkles from the moment it comes off the line, and beeswax varies in colour by season. Both are the material, not a fault.
Questions
Anything not covered here — hello@thornhillgoods.com or 0417 662 305. One of the three of us answers.
No, and we would rather you did not. These pieces are stonewashed so they fall in soft creases instead of sharp ones — that texture is what you are paying for. If you want it flatter for a particular night, pull the cloth from the dryer slightly damp and lay it straight on the table; it will settle within an hour. A cool iron on the reverse works too, but the effect lasts about one dinner.
Barely. Every roll is stonewashed before cutting, which takes the bulk of the shrinkage out — expect another 1–2% at most over the first few washes, which is why our cut sizes run slightly generous. Listed dimensions are the finished, post-wash size.
Warm machine wash to 40°C with a mild detergent, no bleach and no fabric softener — softener coats the fibre and stops linen breathing, which is the one thing it does better than cotton. Line dry in shade, or tumble on low and take it out slightly damp. Red wine and olive oil both lift with cold water and dish soap if you get to them the same night; both set permanently if you use hot water first.
The tapers run about 8 hours a pair, the pillar about 60. Beeswax is a low-drip wax by nature, but any candle drips if it is moved while lit or sat in a draught — carry the holder, not the candle, and keep them clear of an open window. Trim the wick to 5 mm before each burn and the flame stays small and even.
Because they are the same wax at a different time of year. Spring wax comes out pale gold, late-summer wax closer to amber, and there is often a faint bloom — a chalky white film — on beeswax that has sat a few weeks. Bloom is a sign the wax is unfiltered and real; wipe it with a soft cloth if you would rather not see it, or leave it.
It does. The tablecloths, runners and napkins are 165 GSM, which drapes over a table edge instead of standing off it. Tea towels and the bread cloth are 190 GSM — heavier, more absorbent, and they survive being wrung out. The apron is 220 GSM because a lighter one clings when it gets wet.
Everything is packed here and dispatched from Canberra within 2–4 business days. After that it is standard parcel post: usually 2–4 business days to Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, 4–7 to Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart, and up to 10 to Perth, Darwin and regional addresses. We send a tracking number the day it leaves.
Not on change of mind, no — we are three people and every piece is cut and hemmed to order, so we cannot resell a returned cloth. What we do cover is faults and transit damage: tell us within 7 days, send a photo, and we replace it or refund it. If you are unsure about a size, email the dimensions of your table before you order and we will tell you which cloth fits.