Our story — Meet Pawandeep
I moved to Berry in March 2019 with two suitcases, a lease on a weatherboard cottage on Kangaroo Valley Road, and no real plan beyond stopping. Twenty-six years in logistics management in Sydney — the last eleven with a freight company out of Botany — and I was done. The commute, the KPIs, the Sunday-night dread. My wife had passed in 2017 and the city just stopped making sense after that. A friend told me about the south coast and I drove down one weekend in winter. The light on the escarpment that afternoon was enough. I put a deposit on the cottage three weeks later and handed in my notice the week after that.
Before Berry, I spent most of my adult life moving other people's things around the country. Container logistics, mostly. I knew freight rates, warehouse audits, customs paperwork. I could tell you the lead time from Guangzhou to Port Botany on any given month. What I couldn't tell you was how to slow down, or what I actually liked making with my hands. Growing up in Parramatta in the eighties, my father ran a small print shop on Church Street. I used to sit in the back after school watching him set type and cut paper. I never thought much of it at the time. Forty years later, sitting at a kitchen table in Berry with nothing scheduled, I thought about it a lot.
The first thing I made was a set of notebooks. I found a paper merchant in Marrickville who stocked recycled stock and drove up with 15 kilograms of it in the back of the Subaru. Cut them by hand in the cottage, stitched the spines badly, sold six at the Berry Farmers Market on a Saturday in August 2019 for $8 each. Not a fortune. But a woman bought two and came back the following week to say her daughter had filled the first one already. That was the moment. Not the money, not any grand idea about building a business. Just that notebook, filled. I registered the business the following month and started working out what else belonged on the table beside it.
These days Alderton Goods operates out of a small shed behind the cottage, about 40 square metres, which is plenty. I work with a couple of local people, source where I can from Australian suppliers, and sell mostly online with a table at the Berry market most months. It is not complicated and I do not want it to be. I am 57 and I have had complicated. This is the part where I make things I think are worth making and send them to people who actually want them. That is enough.
— Made slowly, in Berry. — Pawandeep, Pawandeep Singh
Journal
Finding a paper supplier who actually called back
After 27 years in commercial property, I assumed sourcing recycled kraft paper would be straightforward, and I was completely wrong.
I spent most of February on the phone to paper merchants, which is not how I imagined my first summer in Berry would go. The house needed painting, the garden was a mess of kikuyu grass, and I was chasing down MOQs for kraft notebook covers instead. When I left the city I told myself the supply chain stuff would be the easy part. It turns out 'recycled kraft in natural brown, minimum 200 units, delivered to a Shoalhaven postcode' is a sentence that makes a lot of reps go quiet. Three of them never called back at all.
The fourth call went to a small paper merchant operating out of Marrickville who I will not name here because I don't think they want the attention, but they were the only ones who actually engaged with what I was trying to do. They had a 90 gsm unbleached kraft board that was close to what I wanted, and they were honest that the texture would vary slightly between runs because of the recycled fibre mix. I appreciated that. I had spent nearly three decades in an industry where nobody admitted anything varied until it was already a problem.
We went back and forth on weight. I had originally specced 120 gsm because I wanted the cover to feel solid in the hand, something that holds its shape on a desk rather than flopping around. The Marrickville supplier talked me down to 100 gsm, pointing out that a 120 gsm cover on an A5 notebook starts to crack at the spine after about 40 page-turns if the binding isn't done right. That was useful information I did not have. The Koala Kraft Notebook cover is now 100 gsm and the spine has held through every test copy I've put it through.
The binding itself is done by a small operation in Wollongong, which I feel good about for no particularly rational reason other than it's 45 minutes down the Princes Highway and I have met the person doing the work. She's been bookbinding for 22 years and she showed me exactly what happens when the cover stock is too rigid. She folded a sample in front of me and the thing cracked clean along the score line. I bought her a coffee and drove home thinking about how much I didn't know when I started this.
The first proper production run was 150 units. That felt like a lot at the time. I stored them in what used to be the dining room because the garage gets damp from the east-facing aspect and kraft paper does not like humidity. We sold 38 in the first two weeks, mostly to people in the Shoalhaven area who found us at the Berry markets. I have not touched the dining room table since.
How I actually use the Eucalyptus Pen Set every day
I built this pen set because I needed something that worked on recycled paper without bleeding, and here is what I learned testing it.
People sometimes ask if the Eucalyptus Pen Set is just decorative, which I understand because the packaging leans that way. The soft green barrel and the botanical print on the box do a certain amount of work that says 'gift item' rather than 'workhorse stationery'. But I designed these to be used. The ink formula took four rounds of sampling to get right, specifically because recycled paper is more porous than virgin stock and a standard ballpoint will feather on it within a few words. The pens in the set use a medium-viscosity oil-based ink that sits on top of the fibre rather than sinking in.
I write my daily list in one of these pens every morning, usually at the kitchen table before the light shifts off the Braidwood ranges to the west. I write small, probably 8 to 10 words per line, and I've found the 0.7mm tip is the right width for that. The 1.0mm option in the set is better for longer runs of text, lecture notes, meeting notes, anything where you're writing fast and don't want to press hard. The difference between the two tips is more obvious than I expected when I first got the samples back from the manufacturer.
The manufacturer is based in Guangzhou and I have been working with them for about 14 months now. I know some people would prefer the pens were made in Australia, and I looked hard for a domestic option before going offshore. There are no pen manufacturers left operating at scale in Australia that I could find. What I can say is that the quality control on these has been consistent across two production runs totalling 1,800 units, and every batch is tested on 90 gsm recycled stock before I accept delivery.
For people who use the pen set with the Koala Kraft Notebook, the combination that works best is the 0.7mm tip for ruled pages and the 1.0mm for the blank pages at the back. The blank pages in the notebook are slightly heavier stock, 100 gsm versus the 80 gsm ruled pages, and the thicker ink line reads better on them. I don't think I would have figured that out if I wasn't using both products myself every day rather than just looking at them.
One thing I tell people at markets: don't leave the pen uncapped in a hot car. The oil-based ink gets thin when it warms up and you'll get a blob on the first stroke when you come back to it. Give it a test scribble on the inside cover of whatever you're writing in. It clears in about 3 centimetres and then writes cleanly again. That's not a defect, it's just physics.
What December wrapping looks like at our house this year
The wattle along Kangaroo Valley Road is already flowering in patches, and I have been thinking about how the Bush Blooms Gift Wrap Set came together.
It is the first week of December and the garden smells like heated eucalyptus oil from about 10am onwards. The silver wattle on the back boundary flowered early this year, probably six weeks earlier than it did last year, and there are eastern rosellas in it every afternoon pulling at the blossoms. I moved to Berry in January 2023 and I am still surprised by how much the seasonal markers here differ from a Sydney calendar. In the city, December meant end-of-year work functions and traffic on the M5. Here it means the Christmas beetles are back and the grass is going brown along the road verges.
The Bush Blooms Gift Wrap Set came directly out of my first spring in Berry, watching what was actually flowering in the bush around the house and thinking that none of the gift wrap I could find anywhere reflected any of it. The designs are based on three species: Acacia floribunda, which is the white sally wattle common along the Shoalhaven River corridor; Callistemon citrinus, the crimson bottlebrush that grows along the creek at the bottom of our block; and Xerochrysum bracteatum, the native everlasting daisy that comes up on the dry ridge above the house every October without fail.
The illustrator I worked with is based in Hobart and she came up through botanical illustration, which meant she was interested in accuracy rather than decoration. We went through 11 rounds of revision on the wattle alone because the way the phyllodes attach to the stem is specific and she wanted to get it right. I was not expecting to care that much about botanical accuracy when I started this, but I did end up caring, and I think it shows in the finished sheets. Each set includes 3 sheets at 50 by 70 centimetres, which wraps a standard shoe box with enough overlap to fold neatly.
Printing is done in Melbourne, soy-based inks on FSC-certified paper, and the run for this season was 400 sets. I did the first 60 quality checks myself at the kitchen table with a loupe I borrowed from a neighbour who does jewellery repairs. The colour registration on the bottlebrush was slightly off on 7 sets in that first check batch and I pulled them. That's a rejection rate I can live with. In commercial property, a 1.2% defect rate would have been considered excellent. In something I put my name on, it feels about right.
I wrapped my own Christmas presents in the Bush Blooms paper this year, which I realise sounds like an advertisement but is genuinely just how it happened. My daughter is coming down from Sydney on the 22nd and I wanted the table to look like where I actually live now, not like I bought wrapping paper at a servo on the way back from Nowra. That distinction matters to me more than I expected it would when I left the city.
Getting the Sydney Skyline Paper Clips right took longer than expected
A paper clip shaped like the Harbour Bridge sounds simple until you try to make one that actually holds paper without tearing it.
I want to explain what happened with the Sydney Skyline Paper Clips because the first version was genuinely bad and I think being honest about that is more useful than pretending the product arrived fully formed. The original sample came back from the manufacturer with a profile that was too faithful to the actual bridge silhouette, meaning the arch came to a relatively sharp apex and the two towers had squared-off tops. On paper, as a shape, it looked exactly right. Clipped onto a stack of paper, the apex dug into the top sheet and left a small puncture after about 24 hours of pressure. I found this out by leaving a sample clipped to a document on my desk overnight.
The fix required rounding the apex by 1.4mm and reducing the tower height by about 0.8mm, which sounds minor but changed the visual silhouette enough that we had to go back to the illustrator to sign off on whether it still read as the bridge. She said yes, it did, and I trust her eye more than mine on that. The revised sample came back 6 weeks later and I clipped it to a 20-page document for 48 hours. No puncture, no marking on the paper beyond the normal impression any clip leaves. That was the version we went to production with.
The clips are nickel-plated steel, 32mm in length at the base, and they hold up to about 15 sheets of 80 gsm paper comfortably. Beyond that they start to splay open at the mouth and lose grip. I put this information on the packaging because I would want to know it. There are also three other shapes in the set: the Opera House roof shells, the AMP Tower, and a flat silhouette of a ferry that I added at the last minute because it felt like a Sydney thing that wasn't already on a thousand tea towels.
The Sydney Skyline Paper Clips are the product I get the most questions about at markets, usually from people who work in offices and want something on their desk that doesn't look like it came from a Officeworks bulk bin. I understand that feeling. I had a desk in a Sydney CBD tower for most of my working life and the stationery on it was entirely functional and entirely forgettable. The clips cost more than a standard box of Gem clips, and they are slower to clip on with one hand, and I think both of those things are fine.
We sold 84 sets in the first three months, which was more than I projected and meant I had to reorder earlier than planned. The reorder came back with a very slight difference in the nickel finish, slightly warmer in tone, which I noticed immediately and most customers probably won't. I have kept one of each batch side by side on my desk. They look good together, actually. The variation is small enough that it just looks like light hitting metal differently depending on the angle.
Customer reviews
Simone R. — Surry Hills, NSW — 2024-03-11 — 5/5
Solid notebook, no complaints
Ordered the Koala Kraft Notebook on a Tuesday and it showed up Thursday — faster than I expected for standard shipping. The cover is sturdy and the paper doesn't bleed with fountain pen ink, which is the main thing I care about. Will be buying a few more as gifts.
Tom B. — Brunswick, VIC — 2024-06-22 — 4/5
Great pens, packaging could be tighter
The Eucalyptus Pen Set writes really smoothly and the bamboo feels good in hand — not cheap at all. One of the pens had a loose cap when it arrived, but I emailed the team and they sent a replacement out the next day without any fuss. Docking one star for the initial issue, but the customer service made up for it.
Anika P. — New Farm, QLD — 2024-08-05 — 5/5
Perfect desk accessory
Bought the Sydney Skyline Paper Clips as a small gift for a colleague moving into a new office. She loved them — they're a decent weight and actually hold a stack of pages without bending. Delivery to Brisbane was quick and the packaging was neat.
Lachlan M. — Fremantle, WA — 2024-09-17 — 4/5
Good product, WA shipping took a bit
The Corkboard World Map looks great on the wall — the cork is a decent thickness and the frame went together easily. Shipping to Fremantle took eight business days on standard, which is on the longer end, but it arrived in perfect condition with no corner damage. Worth the wait.
Priya S. — Fitzroy, VIC — 2024-11-30 — 5/5
Great for gift giving
Ordered the Bush Blooms Gift Wrap Set for a birthday and the prints are genuinely nice — not the usual generic stuff you find everywhere. The paper is thick enough to not tear when you're wrapping awkward shapes. I've already ordered a second set for the Christmas period.
James O. — Paddington, QLD — 2025-01-08 — 5/5
Bought three notebooks, happy with all of them
Picked up three Koala Kraft Notebooks — one for myself and two for colleagues. The order arrived well-packed with no bent corners, which matters when you're giving something as a gift. The kraft cover looks better in person than in the photos online.
Ellie T. — Hobart, TAS — 2025-02-19 — 4/5
Nice stationery, quick to respond
Had a question about whether the pen refills were available separately before I ordered, and Pawandeep replied within a few hours — that kind of response time is rare. The Eucalyptus Pen Set itself is exactly what I needed for my desk. Only minor thing is I'd like a darker ink option.
Nat C. — Norwood, SA — 2025-04-03 — 5/5
Finally a map that looks like it belongs on the wall
I've gone through a few corkboard maps over the years and most look cheap after a month. The Alderton one is holding up well after six weeks of daily use — pins go in cleanly and the cork hasn't started crumbling at the edges. The size is exactly right for a home office wall.
Shipping
All Alderton Goods orders are packed and dispatched from our workshop in Berry, NSW. Standard orders go out via Australia Post and typically arrive within 3–7 business days for metro areas in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. Regional and remote addresses — including rural WA, NT, and parts of northern Queensland — should allow 5–10 business days. If you need something faster, express shipping runs through StarTrack and covers most metro addresses in 1–3 business days. Orders placed before 2pm AEST Monday to Friday are dispatched the same day. Orders placed after that cutoff, or on weekends and public holidays, go out the next business day. A tracking link is emailed to you as soon as the order leaves our hands.
Shipping costs are calculated at checkout based on your location and the weight of your order. Standard shipping starts at $8.95 and express at $14.95 for most addresses. Orders totalling $75 or more qualify for free standard shipping Australia-wide — no code needed, it applies automatically. All prices shown on our site include GST, and your order confirmation will show the GST component separately as required. We pack orders carefully using recycled cardboard and paper fill — no loose polystyrene. Larger items like the Corkboard World Map are double-boxed to reduce the chance of corner damage in transit.
If your order arrives damaged, take photos of the packaging and the item before doing anything else, then email us at hello@aldertongoods.com.au within 48 hours of delivery. We'll work with you to get a replacement out or arrange a refund — whichever you prefer. Delays caused by Australia Post or StarTrack outside our control, such as weather events or peak-period backlogs, are unfortunately not something we can guarantee against, but we'll always help you track down a missing parcel and escalate with the carrier on your behalf if needed.
Returns
We want you to be happy with what you ordered. If you change your mind, you have 30 days from the date of delivery to return an item for a refund or store credit. To be eligible, the item needs to be unused, in its original condition, and returned in its original packaging. Change-of-mind returns are at your cost — you'll need to arrange and pay for the return postage. We recommend using a tracked service, because we can't process a refund for something that doesn't make it back to us. Once we receive and inspect the return, we'll confirm the refund within two business days.
Under the Australian Consumer Law, you have rights that go beyond our standard return window. If a product has a major fault, is not fit for purpose, or doesn't match its description, you're entitled to a remedy — whether that's a repair, replacement, or refund — regardless of our store policy. Minor faults may be resolved with a repair or replacement at our discretion. If you believe your item has a fault covered under the Australian Consumer Law, contact us at hello@aldertongoods.com.au with your order number and photos of the issue, and we'll sort it out promptly without asking you to jump through hoops.
A few things we can't accept returns on: gift wrap sets that have been opened or partially used, any custom or personalised items we've produced to your specifications, and anything marked as final sale at the time of purchase. Refunds for approved returns are processed back to your original payment method within 5–7 business days of us receiving the returned goods. If you paid by credit card, your bank may take a few additional days to show the credit on your statement. Store credit, if you prefer that option, is issued immediately once the return is confirmed. For any return questions, email us directly — we're a small team and we deal with these personally.