Why Wood? Part 3: Stewardship of the Land

When you first start making things from wood, it is easy enough to go to a timber merchant, or even a DIY store and find some timber that is suitable for what you need, which is how I started making furniture, skate ramps and planters for the garden when I was a teenager. The problem is, that as you develop a deeper connection to the material, you start to question, what species is it I’m working with? where did the tree live? And how was the woodland that it grew in nurtured?

When you then start to explore the woodland and forestry industry to answer those questions, and see how timber is harvested as a commercial crop, it’s impossible to ignore the obvious impact that you’re making is having on the planet. When you see a tree being felled, a weight of responsibility crashes to the ground with it. You know that from the timber, you need to make something to the best of your abilities, you need to make something that is worth making and you need to make something that lasts.

The connection back to the land that I feel through woodlands resonates with a small turn of phrase that I happened upon in my grandfathers diary. He was a farmer, and he wrote about ‘stewardship of the land’, knowing that as he was using the land he owned, he needed to be conscious that he was a guardian of it for future generations. Sustainability it seems, runs in my blood.

So when it comes to sourcing our wood, the way the land is managed where it grows is fundamental.