Why MonoWood exists
Most people choose their things carefully and then give no thought at all to what those things sit on.
The power strip and its tangle live on the floor behind the desk. Tissues come in a cardboard box with a brand printed across it. The hot pan goes down on a folded tea towel. The tea is in the foil bag it was sold in. None of it is a disaster — it just doesn't match the care that went into choosing anything else in the room.
A dining table, a desk, a dresser top: three surfaces a person actually uses every day, and usually the three least considered surfaces in the house.
That gap is the whole reason MonoWood exists.
We make solid wood things for the top of those surfaces — trivets that store as an object and come apart under a hot pan, tissue boxes cut from one piece rather than assembled from panels, a slatted box that swallows a power strip, canisters that seal twice, a reading rest that raises and turns. Useful objects, in a material worth looking at.
Three rules we don't move on
Solid wood, never veneer over particleboard. On solid wood the grain runs through the corner and onto the next face; on a veneered box it stops at a seam. You can check that on any piece we sell the day it arrives.
The wood is named. Walnut, ebony, cherry, ash, maple, beech — every product page says which species the piece is actually cut from, and which part is which when a piece uses more than one. We don't write "wood" and leave it there.
Wood wax oil, not lacquer. Oil sits in the grain instead of sealing a film over it, so the surface stays matte, stays open, and can be wiped back years later. A lacquered piece looks newer on day one and worse on day four hundred.
How it's made, honestly
We're a small design studio in Hong Kong, started in 2025. We design and specify every piece — the proportions, the species, the wall thickness, the magnets, the tolerances — and a hardwood workshop we work with in China builds it to that spec. We're not going to tell you we're the ones at the bench. We are the ones who decide the corner has to be solid, and who pull a sample when it isn't.
We're a new studio. We'd rather earn a place on your table than claim one.
— Jack, founder, MonoWood Studio
Buying from us
- Returns are handled in the United States — Jersey City, New Jersey. Nothing goes back overseas. 30 days from delivery, no restocking fee.
- Free shipping on US and Canada orders of $79 or more; under $79, a flat $7.99. Tracked on every order.
- Duties are prepaid. Orders to the US and Canada ship delivered-duty-paid; nothing extra is collected on delivery.
- Damaged in transit? Send a photo within 7 days and we replace it free — no return needed.
- Nothing here is a pre-order. Typical delivery 6–10 business days, tracked — 1–3 business days to pack and dispatch, plus 5–8 business days of transit. Engraved pieces are personalized after you order, so dispatch can take up to 4 business days.
- A real person answers every email, usually within one business day: info@monowoodstudio.com
MonoWood Studio was founded in 2025 and is operated by MonoWood Hong Kong Limited, a registered Hong Kong company (Business Registration No. 79328186).
We design and specify our range; a hardwood workshop we work with in China builds it to that spec. Orders are dispatched from our fulfillment partner in China, shipped duty-paid, with returns handled from our New Jersey address.
Shipping, returns and engraving details are in our Shipping Policy, Refund Policy and FAQ. For anything else, write to us — info@monowoodstudio.com