Our Story
“Make it simple, make it well.”
That's the line our founder, Nick McDonald, built Made By Morgen on. After quitting a job in construction, Nick spent six months in a small town on the west coast of Denmark, where he fell for the restraint of Scandinavian furniture: its honesty, its lack of noise. He came home to Victoria and started building pieces in a shed on his parents' property. What began there is now a workshop in Brunswick, still run on the same line Nick brought back from Denmark a decade ago.
Our Story
Design & Fabrication philosophy
What the six pillars above look like day-to-day in the workshop. If a decision doesn't serve one of them, we don't make it.
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Every piece begins with timber we source and trace ourselves, through relationships with local providers built over years. Ask where the timber in your piece came from and how it was harvested, and we can tell you.
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Nothing is made ahead of time. Every piece begins as a real conversation about your space, your brief and your timeline, then it's made to order, which is why it takes twelve to sixteen weeks.
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A tree takes decades to grow. We build our pieces to outlast that: every one carries a 10-year structural warranty, made for whoever owns it in a decade.
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Every line and every joint is there because it needs to be, not because it looks considered.
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Hand-finished joinery, hand-matched finishes, hand-selected timber.
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This starts with the land we make on: we acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we live and work. It extends to the people who make with us, and to what we build: furniture meant to be handed down, not replaced.
Designed & fabricated in Brunswick, Melbourne
Timber sourced and traced to origin
12–16 week lead time
10-year structural warranty
Delivered across Asia-Pacific and beyond by arrangement
Craftmanship in practice
What the six pillars above look like day to day in the workshop.
Timber we source and trace ourselves, matched to the piece before a single cut is made.
Every piece is checked against the same standard before it leaves the workshop.
Joinery, edges and finishes done by hand, piece by piece.
Traditional joinery techniques, supported by CNC precision, handmade prototypes, and digital drawings, improve accuracy and consistency.
We recently captured Made By Morgen’s spirit in a short film
(film directed by RM Williams)
The long view
Three things this comes down to.
Those are the principles we keep testing ourselves against as the studio grows. And this is not finished.
Nothing Goes to Waste
Timber is bought for the project, not stockpiled, and always traced to its origin. We make our own veneer in-house: for certain projects it's a more robust, more durable choice than solid timber, not just a more efficient one, and it means more of each log gets used rather than left as offcuts. Where we can, we choose mechanical fixings over glue: a joint that can be taken apart can be repaired rather than replaced.
What's left over doesn't go to landfill: our clean sawdust is reused in community gardens and for the neighbours, or turned into heating bricks by our timber supplier, some of which burn in the fireplace in our own showroom.
A 10-year structural warranty works the same way. Furniture that lasts is the simplest form of waste reduction.
Nothing leaves the loop
We work with local timber providers, craftspeople, artists, tradespeople, and collaborators, keeping the value of each project within the communities we work in rather than importing at scale.
That extends to the land itself: we acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we live and work. We support the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre through proceeds from our ticketed events during Melbourne Design Week.
And it extends to the people who work here: we have a workshop culture built on formal OH&S, where every team member is consulted and fully involved.
Small and slow, by design
Staying small isn't a limitation; it's the method. It lets us buy timber to the piece instead of the pallet, build to order instead of to stock, and take the time each detail needs instead of producing at scale. Scale any one of those up and the rest stops working.
Behind
Made By Morgen
Nick McDonald
Founder, Designer & Maker
Nick McDonald reflects on how he turned a passion project, which operated out of a small shed on his parents’ property in country Victoria, into a thriving bespoke furniture business based in Melbourne.
Nick’s path to furniture making was anything but an ordinary one. After quitting his job in construction, Nick spent six months in Denmark, hoping travelling would help him discover a newfound purpose in his career. Finding himself in a small town on the west coast of the country ended up playing a pivotal role in his journey. Nick fell in love with the minimal nature of Scandinavian furniture and was inspired to bring some of those design influences back home to Australia, which eventually led to the formation of his company, Made by Morgen.
Anaïs leads business development for the studio: building and holding the relationships with architects, designers and clients that the project pipeline runs on. Her background spans architecture, art and events, and she brings that same range to how she runs marketing, OH&S, HR, Systems & Processes.
Studio Manager
Anaïs Molé
Marinos Drakopoulos
Industrial Designer & Furniture Maker
An award-winning industrial designer and a perfectionist by nature, Marinos crafts every project to a standard he'd put his own name to. He teaches in Monash University's Furniture and Industrial Design program alongside his work at the studio.
Workshop Supervisor & Furniture Maker
Douglas Maloney
Over a decade in timber, including time honing his craft in Tasmania. As workshop supervisor, Doug makes sure every piece meets the standard before it leaves.
Apprentice
Angus Walker
Angus is training in the workshop under Douglas's supervision, learning a trade that's passed down hand to hand, not from a manual. Craft that isn't handed down to the next person eventually stops.
Press and Partners
We’ve built long-term relationship with some of Australia’s leading architecture & interior design studios, many whom keep coming back, project after project. See below for a non-exhaustive list.
Architecture & Interior Design Studios
Arent & Pyke, ACRD, Annie Bowen, Bates Smart, Cera Stribley, Cheshire Architects, Clare Cousins Architects, Fiona Lynch, Flack Studio, Hecker Guthrie, Jackson Clements Burrows Architects, Kennedy Nolan, Kerry Hill Architects (KHA), NTF Architecture, Mim Design, Rob Kennon Architects, Shaun Lockyer Architects, Simone Haag, Studio Four, Taylor Knights, Tom Robertson Architects, Virginia Kerridge Architect.
Commercial Brands
Fisher & Paykel, In Bed, R.M. Williams, The Local Project, Warwick.
Property Developers
Curtis York, JLL, Milieu Property, Neometro.
Exhibitions
3 Days of Design Copenhagen 2026, Melbourne Design Week 2025, Melbourne Design Week 2026, Craft Victoria, Warrnambool Art Gallery
Broadsheet Melbourne, Design Anthology, Dezeen, Green Magazine, The Design Files, The Local Project, Vogue Australia,
In the press
How it works
Every piece starts with a conversation about the space, the brief, the materials and the timeline.
From there: a fixed quote, a 50% deposit to begin, detailed renders and drawings, then hand-built to order over twelve to sixteen weeks.
We keep you posted at every stage, including finish selection.
Once the balance is paid, we arrange pick-up from the Brunswick showroom or delivery, with installation available for Melbourne clients.
Design & Production Process
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We discuss your requirements, vision including design preferences, Materials, finishes, dimensions, and any specific features you want.
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Based on the consultation, we provide a detailed quotation outlining the costs involved.
This quotation is valid for 30 days.
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To secure your order, a 50% deposit is required.
This deposit confirms your commitment and allows us to start the next steps, including purchasing materials.
We generate an official invoice detailing the deposit and the remaining balance.
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We produce a design that combines all of your unique needs. We will discuss the design with you and make any amendments needed to capture your vision. We create detailed renders and dimensioned drawings, outlining every aspect of your order.
eg. Fisher & Paykel Case Study
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All the products are designed and made in our workshop in Melbourne, Australia, using timbers sourced and traced to origin. We source the best quality timber based on your piece’s specifications and on finish samples. Read more about the timber story.
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Our commitment to sustainable and ethical production practices ensures that each piece is not only beautiful but also made to last. By maintaining local, intimate relationships with providers and employing highly skilled craftspeople, we guarantee unique quality in our work. If applicable, we collaborate with trusted metalworkers, chairmakers or leathercraftmen. We keep you informed at various stages of the production, and discuss with you the finish selection.
Our range of eco-friendly finishes is designed to be simple yet versatile, complementing any design or space. Additionally, we offer the option to match existing finishes, ensuring a seamless integration into your home or project.
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When production is complete, we generate the final invoice for the remaining balance. You complete the payment, which allows us to prepare for pick up or delivery (and installation if applicable.)
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Once your balance payment is done, the final step is getting your custom furniture to you:
- Pick-up: we arrange a time for you to pick up your order at our Melbourne showroom.
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- Shipping: We arrange for delivery to the specified address (at your own expense). For clients in Melbourne, we offer delivery and installation services.
Start a conversation to discuss your project, or book a private visit to see and feel the work at our Melbourne showroom x workshop.
We are open by appointment from Monday to Saturday.
If you're not based in Melbourne, we're still here to help – we're only a phone call or an email away and would love to hear from you.
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