What do we do
Kiewiet.co is a group of proudly South Africans that organically came together to produce fine hand crafted products, all made from reclaimed and up-cycled oak wood. Located in the heart of the winelands on a farm between Paarl and Stellenbosch.
Wine barrels deliver a prominent looking yellow oak, slightly stained pink by the penetrating red wine. The lids of the barrels are used to make round cheese boards, bread boards, serving trays and coffee table tops. The staves of the barrels are either cut into smaller lengths for making cutting blocks, or are glued together as is, to give the barrel shape to the many different oak bowls available. Certain furniture pieces are also made from the curved barrel staves, like our flagship Lovers bench and oak chair.
The 2 colours of reclaimed oak, together with the many different shapes and sizes they come in, serve as building blocks for producing our array of upcycled wine oak products.
The founder and owner, Anthony Laubscher – or Kiewiet among friends – is a passionate young man who lives for expressing himself through different mediums by reconstructing “new” from “old”.
Our History
After completing university and unable to secure a job, Anthony reverted to skills taught to him by his carpenter father, to do odd home renovations and mostly woodworking. He started by employing one of the local unemployed youngsters residing with him on the farm, where he lived as a student, and so in turn, had to teach him the same skills required for woodworking.
As the business slowly grew, this became their blueprint employment. With each new farm member joining the group, the existing members were tasked to teach new comers by way of ‘show and tell’. This system kept everyone a teacher and a student, with everyone checking on everyone, and all responsible for the final quality, or overall productivity.
The team has since grown over the years, and now boasts with a full-time production team of 7 friends, 2 temporary youngsters, an assistant, and owner Anthony. Kiewiet, a nickname given to Anthony as a child, was eventually chosen as the company name. Today Kiewiet.co refers to the collective group of individuals manufacturing quality crafted products from reclaimed oak wood.
