Our Story

Josef Selway & Grace Hurworth are Blue & Grae

Originally crossing paths as co-workers in 2011, Josef and Grace shared a mutual love and appreciation for timeless design, mid-century furniture, architecture, making and consequently, each other. The beginning of Josef's leather-work journey was in fact, at the hands of a dare dealt by Grace, to create a folding leather stool. He accepted the challenge.

Once they became partners in both business and life, it was through brainstorming an anonymous Gumtree username that their conveniently compatible nicknames (Blue, given to blue-eyed Josef, and Grae, coined by Grace's family) joined forces to create a name that stuck. Each Blue & Grae piece is a symbol of this passion and their infallible teamwork; Grace’s attention to detail and out-of-the box design solutions melded together with Josef’s making talent and practicality. Their first creations were born firstly and fore-mostly with function in mind, paired with the classic aesthetic that so inspires them both. 

“For us ‘value’ is about so much more than the monetary designation given to a product, it’s more about its intrinsic value. The value of the skills required to make the products, the value of the community we operate in, the value in supporting our Australian leather industry, and the value of a product that becomes a part of your story as you grow older together.” — Josef and Grace.

Every Blue & Grae piece is constructed by hand from the finest materials, exclusively assembled in the B&G workshop in Brisbane, Australia. They utilise timeless designs, blending utilitarianism with a minimal, classic aesthetic, adapt traditional methods and are always led by longevity. Creating products in this way requires makers with a unique skill set and focus on craftsmanship. Their products are made to order, or in small batches. This results in superior execution, a direct experience with their materials and a unique piece built especially for you. Characteristics that are unseen in regular consumer goods and today's fast-fashion industry. They hope that through their own responsible production and retailing they inspire more people to buy less, but to buy more wisely.

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