“A tree is our most intimate contact with nature.” ~ George Nakashima

Our school/workshop is located in the grain silos of the old malting factory in Woonona, between the heritage-listed Illawarra escarpment and the beach. The silos were decommissioned in the 1970s and have since been renovated into a variety of workspaces that house steelworkers, woodworkers, and an upholstery studio. The workspace is an eclectic mix of industrial machines with a full collection of hand tools from old Stanley planes to Berg chisels as well as a full range of Veritas tools. Students have access to beautifully crafted Australian-made tools by Chris Vesper of Vesper Tools, Colen Clenton  and Ian Wilkie. It is a fully equipped professional woodworking studio where the tutors Stuart Montague & Ed Oliver when not teaching are crafting and restoring furniture.

The classes are project based: After the first initial lessons where using the basic hand tools for marking out, cutting and planing timber are taught, we start on your project. The initials projects are there to introduce to the workshop and to teach hand skills as well as introducing you to the machinery. We have a range of first projects mirror frame, wooden mallet, chopping board and a jewellery box. As your skills increase, further projects include dining tables, cabinets, chairs, and stools. The Illawarra Woodwork school also offers weekend & 5 day workshops in chair making, spoon carving with Carol Russell, netsuke carving with Hape Kiddle and greenwood furniture making in house.

The Illawarra Woodwork School supports the NDIS scheme and is currently a provider for all ages. Please contact Stuart Montague for a chat in how The Illawarra Woodwork School can support the participants of NDIS.

WOODFEST aka The Illawarra Festival of Wood is organised by the Illawarra Woodwork School.

The Illawarra Festival of Wood began in 2017 - 19 and after a hiatus during lockdown IWWS reinvented IFoW to become Woodfest. Woodfest is a smaller more intimate version of IFoW at the iconic Bulli Showground. The festival is a mixture of workshops, timber sellers, furniture makers and other market stalls. The date for 2025 is 18th & 19th October, if your interested email Suzanne Montague, woodfest.aus@gmail.com