Joyfully Connected – The Meticulous Craftsmanship of Werkstatt Joinery

Connecting seamlessly like the timber they meticulously craft, Tobias Scharschmidt and Boris Babic of Werkstatt Joinery enjoy a common devotion to elevated artisanal joinery. Product of their expert workmanship and over 40 years of collective experience in the trade, the recent genesis of their own business sees the pair establish themselves and their products as a notable high-end force within Australia’s design landscape.

Sharing parallel backgrounds, Tobias and Boris were both born in Germany and worked as joiners upon completion of school. Each having spent the last 14 years in Australia working for different businesses, their paths fruitfully converged through a mutual friend,
with the duo forging a strong bond from their first meeting. “We started working on little projects together soon after,” Tobias recounts of their friendship and professional partnership. “It was good fun, and we enjoyed working together as we both understood each other without much talking. The jobs would just flow; we perfectly complemented each other with our different experiences.”

German for ‘workshop’, Werkstatt represents the duo’s roots.

Eager to see their passion come to light, the two made plans to open a joinery shop of their own, though Tobias’s boss at the time was hopeful to hold onto his skill set and suggested Boris join the company so the pair could manage its workshop together. Fortified by a year of heading the joinery business, Tobias and Boris enthusiastically solidified their vision and embarked with a wealth of experience and robust partnership to form Werkstatt Joinery, based in Banksmeadow close to Sydney’s CBD and the Eastern Suburbs.

German for ‘workshop’, Werkstatt represents the duo’s roots. Having studied foundational skills in Germany, the joiners were taught to fashion pieces of furniture from scratch, without the use of CNC machines. “This is a skill that is not commonly practiced,” Tobias tells, due to the ubiquity of CNCs. Whilst Werkstatt does also use the machines, their traditional knowledge “helps a lot to engineer and come up with ideas to create and finalise projects,” says Tobias. Emerging as a destination for deftly constructed designs, Werkstatt Joinery specialises in high-end residential and hospitality fit-outs, as well as bespoke furniture. For the pair, the joinery process begins well before the first panel of wood is chosen. Client collaboration seeds the designs, with visions mulled over carefully to ensure dream projects are realised with methodical precision. Finished in premium timber, veneer and polyurethane, each project that leaves the workshop is the consequence of discerning material and hardware selection, scrupulous fabrication and a sincere love for the craft.

Finished in premium timber, veneer and polyurethane, each project that leaves the workshop is the consequence of discerning material and hardware selection, scrupulous fabrication and a sincere love for the craft.

Represented in the treatment of each piece is respect and elevation, along with the delivery of distinct joy that Tobias and Boris affectionately radiate through their work. With their sights set on enriching the future of Werkstatt as a brand one day offering its own furniture designs, the manifestation of attentive knowledge, luxe offerings and steadfast dedication joins perfectly in concert for the partners.