From Australia’s Jewish past

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Samuel Berkowitz – a master craftsman with a wonderful legacy

Samuel Berkowitz

Samuel was born on 14 November 1869 in Slonin, Belarus.  His mother died when he was young, and his father remarried a woman who did not care for the children.  Samuel became apprenticed to a cabinet and furniture maker and slept on the floor under the workbench.  When he was required to go into the army, he left the family home and somehow found his way to London, arriving in 1896 where he continued his trade as a cabinetmaker, opening his first shop in Petticoat Lane – ‘S. Berkowitz, Master Cabinetmaker’ – with three employees.

Soon after arriving in London, Samuel married Sarah.   It was a ‘made’ match and may not have been a love match.  Samuel emigrated without his family to Australia in 1912, mainly because the London winters were far too cold for his asthma.  His wife and four children, three boys and a girl, followed a year later and settled in Melbourne.  There were eight children in the family, three of whom died as infants, four who arrived with their mother and only one, a daughter Lily was born in Australia.  The children were not allowed to speak Yiddish in their new country with only English to be spoken.

In 1919, with the help of his three boys, Izzie, Wolfe and Barney, and his daughter Anne, the children worked for no pay building furniture in a small property behind the Prahran Markets.  This was so their father could save and purchase a small factory on Malvern Road.  The family lived in a tiny cottage on the premises.  The business opened its doors as Berkowitz & Sons, manufacturing bedroom and dining furniture. In 1947, the brothers moved into retail and, with the help of their children – each brother having one son – they opened a store at the front of the Malvern Road factory, followed by the Collins Street store in 1949, which by the mid-1950s was booming.  Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the Berkowitz brothers gained a reputation for fine craftsmanship.  Samuel remained heavily involved in the business until the late 1930s and always had a workbench in the factory until his passing.

Between 1962 and 1978 the name Berkowitz was well established and known for its exclusive fine furniture.  Wolfe’s son Lionel opened a store in Little Collins St in 1962.  Interestingly, Lionel seeks a value message when he renames the store “Scott Berkowitz Furniture’’ – the fun fact is that there has never been a Scott Berkowitz in the family!   In 1970 the first suburban store opened in Nunawading, followed during the 1970’s by Preston and Cheltenham.  This expansion continued throughout the 1980s.

In 1987, Lionel’s son Peter, the youngest of four children and the fourth Berkowitz generation began working with the company. Peter started in the warehouse and worked his way up through the sales and buying departments. Over time he moved into sales before gradually taking control of the business. The “Scott” part of the name was dropped as the business modernised into the Berkowitz Furniture enterprise which is what it is known as today.

Peter said of his great-grandfather: ‘’Ever since my great-grandfather started his furniture manufacturing business in the late 19th century, the Berkowitz family name has been associated with beautifully crafted, well-designed, quality furniture”.  “Today, Berkowitz Furniture is renowned for its superior quality of our service and priced to deliver the very best value – a fact of which I am very proud.   As a strong supporter of Australian-made furniture, the company actively promotes the benefits of locally made furniture to its customers’’.

In all the stores, with expansion into Sydney and Adelaide, Peter commented, “The iconic green and gold kangaroo logo is well respected and recognised in our community.  It reflects Berkowitz Furniture’s ideals and our commitment to local manufacturers, and because of this has become central to our store branding and marketing activities’’.

Enter the fifth generation of the family and Peter’s son Justin starts his journey in this amazing business.  This furniture business has grown from a small traditional furniture manufacturer to one of Victoria’s most loved furniture retailers.

Standing still has never been an option for the Berkowitz family.  In 2022, the company created SOFACRAFT by Berkowitz, a range of stylish and comfortable sofas designed and handcrafted in Melbourne. Their next step into the future was in 2023 when they acquired the uniquely contemporary homewares and furnishings retail brand, Fenton & Fenton.

At the last count, the company now operates six stores in Victoria, five in Melbourne, one in Geelong, three in Sydney and one in Adelaide.

On 19 July 1942 Samuel died from a heart condition, asthma, and fluid in the lungs.  Sarah, Samuel’s wife died at the age of one hundred and one in 1973.  Samuel’s empire has been lovingly built and maintained by five generations which is quite an achievement and Samuel certainly left a rich legacy.  The genetic legacies he left were left-handedness and asthma and many of his ancestors were quite artistic – as he certainly was.

The AJHS acknowledges the following references in the preparation of this story:

Peter Berkowitz, Andrew Moricz, and Liz James; My Ancestors – Marilyn Hyams

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