Our story — Meet Apinya
I moved to Berry in 2019 after 24 years working in procurement for a large Sydney construction firm. The plan was to slow down, grow vegetables, and figure out what came next. What I did not expect was to spend most of that first year in a rented shed on Kangaroo Valley Road, teaching myself how to work with linen and recycled timber from a mill outside Nowra. My Thai-Australian background means I grew up watching my mother make things with her hands, nothing wasted, everything considered. That stayed with me even through decades of spreadsheets and site visits. Berry gave me the space to actually act on it.
Before Creston Goods, my entire working life was about sourcing materials for other people's projects. I knew how supply chains worked, which suppliers were reliable, where corners got cut. I spent the better part of two decades negotiating contracts for concrete, steel, and glass. It paid well and I was good at it, but by 2017 I was driving two hours each way to Parramatta three days a week and the work had stopped meaning much. My husband Declan had already left a marketing role in Surry Hills. We sold the house in Leichhardt in March 2018 for more than we ever expected, and that gave us the runway to actually make the move.
Creston Goods started properly in early 2021, not as a plan but because I had made enough pieces to fill a trestle table at the Berry monthly market. I sold out in about three hours and a woman from Bowral asked if I had a website. I did not. I spent the next six weeks building one and calling my old procurement contacts to find a linen supplier who could work with small runs. I found one through a woman I had known at a trade show in 2009, now running a small importing operation out of Marrickville. First proper wholesale order was 40 metres of fabric. That felt enormous at the time.
These days the workshop is a converted dairy outbuilding on our property, about 80 square metres. I do most of the making myself, with help from two locals a few days a week. Orders go out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I still drive to the Nowra mill every few months to pick through what they have. It is not a fast business and I am not trying to make it one. At 56, I am more interested in making things that last than in scaling up for the sake of it.
— Made slowly, in a shed outside Berry. — Apinya, Apinya Nantanon
Journal
A drive to Kiama and what I found there
I spent a Tuesday driving down the coast looking for linen I could actually stand behind, and it took longer than I expected.
Before I moved to Berry I spent 22 years in procurement for a mid-sized logistics company in Sydney. You would think that background would make sourcing for a small home goods business straightforward. It does not. The scale is completely different, and the conversations are different too. Big suppliers do not want to talk to you when your first order is 48 units. So earlier this year I started driving. Just following leads, stopping at workshops, drinking a lot of bad instant coffee in industrial estates.
The lead I was following on that particular Tuesday came from a woman I met at the Berry markets in January. She mentioned a family who had been importing and finishing European flax linen out of a small warehouse near Kiama for about twelve years. No website, almost no social presence. I wrote the name down on a receipt and it sat on my kitchen bench for six weeks before I finally went.
The warehouse is on a back road about four kilometres inland from the coast. The couple who run it, Marek and his wife Joanna, came out from Poland in 2011 and have been working with the same two mills in Lithuania ever since. The linen they showed me had a weight of 185 grams per square metre, which is heavier than what you find in most homewares shops. It drapes differently. It actually softens with washing rather than just going limp.
We talked for nearly two hours. Marek pulled out sample after sample from a shelving system that ran the full length of one wall. Natural, undyed, a warm oatmeal, a deep slate. I kept coming back to the natural and the oatmeal. They were the ones that looked right for what I was trying to do with the Creston table linen range, something that sits on a table without demanding attention.
I placed an initial order for 60 metres that afternoon. It felt like a lot for where the business is right now, but I have used 40 of it already. I will be back in Kiama before winter.
How I wash the linen napkins, honestly
People ask me about care instructions more than almost anything else, so here is what I actually do at home, not the safe version.
The care card that goes out with every set of Creston linen napkins says 40 degrees, gentle cycle, line dry. That is not wrong. But it is also not quite what I do with my own set, which has now been through the wash somewhere around 80 times since I hemmed the first batch in late 2023. I thought it was worth writing down what actually happens in my laundry, because the gap between care card instructions and real use is where a lot of people get nervous about natural fibre goods.
I wash mine with the regular household load, usually at 60 degrees, because I want them clean. Food napkins collect oil and wine and the occasional smear of whatever I was cooking, and 40 degrees with a gentle cycle is not always enough. The linen has not suffered for it. The colour on the natural undyed ones has shifted very slightly warmer over time, which I like. The slate ones have faded by maybe 10 percent, which I also like.
I do not use fabric softener. This is the one thing I am consistent about. Softener coats the fibres and over time it makes linen feel waxy rather than soft. The softness you want from linen comes from the fibres relaxing through repeated washing and use. That process takes a few months. People sometimes email me in the first week saying their napkins feel stiff. I tell them to wash them twice more and report back. It always resolves.
I line dry almost always, but I have put them in the dryer on a warm setting in winter when the humidity in Berry makes line drying a two-day project. The dryer does speed up the softening. It also means more ironing if you care about that, which I mostly do not. I fold them slightly damp and they sit flat enough for the table.
The short version is: linen is more resilient than the care instructions suggest. Treat it like something you intend to use, not something you are preserving.
What the back room actually looks like on a Tuesday
I set up a workroom in the old sleep-out at the back of the house and most days it looks like a fabric bomb went off in there.
When I first told people I was going to make table linen from a house in Berry, a few of them pictured something romantic. A light-filled studio, fabric draped across a long wooden table, everything in its place. The reality is a 3.4-metre-by-4-metre sleep-out with one east-facing window, a cutting table I built from a solid core door on trestles, and a Juki industrial straight-stitch machine I bought secondhand from a sailmaker in Nowra for $620.
The Juki is the right tool for linen. It pulls through 185-gram cloth without complaint. I tried two domestic machines before I gave up and made the trip to Nowra. The sailmaker, a man called Denis, spent about 40 minutes showing me the tension settings and foot pressure before he would let me put it in my car. That was generous of him. I still think about that when the machine does exactly what I need it to do.
A typical Tuesday in there starts around eight, after I have walked down to the main street and back. I cut first, always. Cutting requires the clearest head. I use a rotary cutter and a 120-centimetre quilting ruler, and I cut everything on the straight grain because linen will tell you immediately if you did not. Then I hem. The napkins have a double-fold hem, 1.5 centimetres, pressed and stitched. Each one takes about four minutes once I am in a rhythm.
I can do around 30 napkins in a full day if there are no interruptions, which there usually are. The phone, the dog, a delivery that needs signing for. Realistically 20 to 24 is a good day. I do not have staff. I have considered it and I am not ready for it yet. There is something about doing all of it myself that still feels important at this stage, maybe because the first 22 years of my career involved managing other people's work rather than doing my own.
The sleep-out smells like linen and machine oil. In winter it is cold until about ten. I have a bar heater under the cutting table and I wear a fleece I bought at the Kangaroo Valley op shop for four dollars. It is not glamorous and I mean that as a straightforward description, not a complaint.
Autumn in Berry and what the table looks like now
By March the light here is completely different to summer, and I have noticed it changing the way I set the table even for ordinary weeknight dinners.
I have lived in Berry for just over two years now. The first autumn I was still unpacking boxes and barely noticed the season. This one I have been paying attention. The mornings are cooler by the middle of March, the light comes in lower through the kitchen windows, and the fig tree in the back garden, which I did not plant and do not entirely understand, drops its leaves in a way that feels almost deliberate. Everything slows down a little. I find myself cooking differently, longer braises, more root vegetables from the Kangaroo Valley growers at the Saturday market.
What I have noticed about autumn specifically is that it changes my relationship to the table in a way summer does not. Summer here is casual. Dinner happens outside, things are quick, nobody wants a set table. By March I want to actually lay the table. Not formally, but with some attention. The linen napkins come out every night instead of just on weekends. The beeswax candles I started stocking alongside the table linen get lit by six o'clock.
The beeswax came about because I kept being asked about it at the markets. People would pick up a napkin and then ask what I put on the table with it. I did not have a good answer for the first year. Then I found a small apiary near Gerringong, a woman called Sandra who keeps 14 hives and pours her own candles in a shed behind the house. We have been working together since September. The candles are not decorative objects. They burn for a long time and they smell like warm wax, which is a real smell rather than a manufactured one.
I did not move to Berry to run a home goods business. I moved here because I was tired and I wanted a slower life and I could not figure out what slower actually meant for me after two decades of a career that was defined by speed and volume. The business came later, almost by accident, because I had a sewing machine and a contact and too much time on my hands in the first winter. Two years on it is real enough that I think about it most days.
The table at the moment has the oatmeal linen and Sandra's candles and whatever I picked up at the market on Saturday. That is the whole picture. It is enough for a Tuesday in March.
Customer reviews
Priya M. — Surry Hills, NSW — 2024-03-14 — 5/5
Solid quality, fast delivery
Ordered the Signature Item on a Tuesday and it was at my door by Thursday — didn't expect that. Packaging was clean and sturdy, nothing rattling around. Really happy with it and will order again.
Tom B. — Brunswick, VIC — 2024-05-22 — 4/5
Good product, minor delay
The Second Item is exactly as described on the website, which is refreshing. Took about six days to arrive in Brunswick, which was a day or two longer than the estimate. Not a big deal — the product itself is great.
Sarah K. — New Farm, QLD — 2024-07-09 — 5/5
Really pleased with this
I bought the Signature Item as a gift and the recipient loved it. I appreciated that the gift note was actually handwritten, not printed. Will be coming back for more.
Marcus D. — Fremantle, WA — 2024-09-03 — 4/5
Does what it says
Ordered the Second Item after seeing it recommended in a local group. It arrived in good condition and does exactly what it's meant to. Shipping to WA was about eight days on standard, which tracks.
Jess R. — Fitzroy, VIC — 2024-11-17 — 5/5
Genuinely good stuff
I've ordered from Creston Goods twice now and both times the experience has been straightforward — no drama, good communication, items arrive well packed. The Signature Item is a regular in my home now.
Lena W. — Hobart, TAS — 2025-01-08 — 4/5
Happy with my purchase
Wasn't sure how shipping to Hobart would go but it arrived within five business days, which was better than I expected. The product is well made and the materials feel solid. Would buy again.
Daniel C. — Paddington, QLD — 2025-02-20 — 5/5
Quick reply when I had a question
I emailed before ordering to ask about allergens and got a clear, helpful reply within a day. Ordered the Second Item after that and it arrived faster than I expected. Good people running this.
Anita F. — Norwood, SA — 2025-04-11 — 4/5
Mostly great, one small thing
The Signature Item looks and feels exactly like the photos suggest. My only note is that the care instructions on the insert were a bit small to read — worth putting online too. Everything else was spot on.
Shipping
We ship all Creston Goods orders Australia-wide using Australia Post for standard delivery and StarTrack for express. Standard orders typically arrive within 3–8 business days, while express orders are generally delivered within 1–3 business days. Metro areas including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth tend to land at the faster end of those windows. Regional and remote locations — including parts of WA, NT and rural NSW — should allow for the full timeframe. Orders placed before 2pm AEST Monday to Friday are dispatched the same day. Orders placed after that cut-off, or on weekends and public holidays, go out the next business day.
Shipping costs are calculated at checkout based on your location and chosen delivery method. Orders totalling $99 or more qualify for free standard shipping. All prices on our website are inclusive of GST, and no additional tax is applied at checkout. We pack every order with care to make sure it arrives in the same condition it left our workshop in Berry, NSW. We use minimal, recyclable packaging materials — nothing excessive, just enough to keep things protected in transit.
If your order arrives damaged, please take clear photos of both the packaging and the product before doing anything else, then contact us at hello@crestongoods.com.au within 48 hours of delivery. We'll work with you to sort it out quickly — whether that's a replacement, a refund or a claim lodged with the carrier. We can't accept damage claims reported after 48 hours, so please check your order as soon as it arrives. Tracking details are emailed automatically once your order is dispatched.
Returns
If you're not satisfied with your purchase, you can return it within 30 days of the delivery date. To be eligible, the item needs to be unused and in its original packaging with all labels and inserts included. To start a return, email us at hello@crestongoods.com.au with your order number and a brief explanation. We'll confirm eligibility and give you the return address. Please don't send anything back without hearing from us first, as unannounced returns can get lost or delayed in processing. Change-of-mind return postage is the responsibility of the customer.
Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law are separate from our store policy and always apply. If a product is faulty, not fit for purpose, or doesn't match its description, you are entitled to a remedy regardless of whether a change-of-mind return window has passed. In those cases, we'll cover return postage and offer a replacement, repair or full refund depending on the nature of the issue. Please contact us as soon as you notice a problem so we can assess and resolve it without delay. We take product issues seriously and will always work to make things right.
Once we receive and inspect your return, we'll process your refund within 5–7 business days. Refunds are issued to the original payment method only. Depending on your bank or payment provider, it may take a further 3–5 business days for the funds to appear in your account. We'll send you a confirmation email once the refund has been processed. Sale items and gift cards are not eligible for change-of-mind returns. Products that have been opened, used or are missing original packaging will not be accepted for return under our store policy, though your Australian Consumer Law rights still apply if there is a genuine fault.