News, Events

‘Using Wood For Good’ Event Review

On  2 March 2023, a delightfully sunny day in Hampshire, Gaze Burvill held a trade event at Lodge Farm entitled ‘Using Wood for Good: Design in the Sustainable Age’. The audience, panel and Gaze Burvill team all engaged in thought provoking discussions about how we can and should be using wood in all aspects of design. Our guests then had a tour of our workshops with insights from our master craftsmen, followed by a lunch prepared by Marco from Delivita on their wood fired oven.


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PROVENANCE

To start the discussion, our host Carole Annett, Interiors Editor of Country & Town House magazine, asked Dougal Driver, CEO of Grown in Britain, ‘Is the sound of the chainsaw a good thing in the British countryside?’ The answer is yes, when it is making our sustainably managed woodlands productive. Unbelievably the UK is the second biggest importer of timber in the world after China, while almost half of our woodlands are under managed and therefore not being utilised for home grown timber.

Goldfinger Co-Founder and CEO, Marie Carlisle, spoke of how they use reclaimed or grown in Britain timber for their products, although recently they have found another supply of timber which comes from urban trees that are felled due to disease, storms and urban development, these would ordinarily get chipped or burned. Marie showed us Goldfinger’s beautiful chopping boards made from flamed beech which have the GPS coordinates of where the tree once stood stamped onto the underside; this, she says, keeps us connected to the history of the tree and it is this emotional connection that always grabs the interest of the customers.

LOCKING AWAY CARBON

When we use timber, whether it is for furniture, home products or building materials, we are locking away the carbon that the tree has absorbed from the atmosphere for the lifetime of the use of the wood. Alex Mowat, Director of Mowat & Company, discussed the problem we have in the UK with lack of enthusiasm for building using timber, saying that we need to get past the idea that using wood as a building material means that it will rot, this is not the case at all.  Although his clients are becoming much more receptive to using wood, especially when they can understand the story behind the timber being used.

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wellbeing

Marie reminded us that it is actually good for your health and wellbeing to be surrounded by wood. Having wooden materials in our interior environment is naturally very therapeutic and Marie likened it to having an extension of the forest into the home, very calming and soothing. Marie referenced a great fact from studies which showed that touching plastics or aluminium raised blood pressure, whereas touching wood kept blood pressure levels the same or even lowered, which just shows the physiological response our bodies have to wood. Interestingly, when she has guests to her workshop, Marie says that they don’t stop touching the products, the different wood surfaces are just so tactile, it’s not something they invite people to do, rather an instinctive reaction that people have to the wood.

Guest Reviews

My eyes were opened to the beauty of wood, the careful sourcing of wood and the design and skill that goes into producing such beautiful furniture at Gaze Burvill. The Event was a chance to meet people who are passionate about what they do and their ethical journey in producing or using wood. I came away inspired and will definitely recommend to clients to buy furniture that will last the test of time and be made from sustainable sources. Karen Rogers, KR Garden Design

A tremendous event with expert lead, informative discussion on wood sustainability which was thought provoking and inspiring as to how we can each play our part in the future. That mixed with a tour of the design and production of such a high end product such as Gaze Burvill was a delight and I would truly recommend the event to all. Davina Cooke, Mida Interiors

Simon and all his team LOVE wood, they use it, don’t waste it. They touch it and care for it. They sell it with their passion and commitment. Andrew Winch, Winch Designs

The day really helped me formulate our work ethos in terms of specifying and supporting British grown wood for our design projects. Tom Hoblyn, Thomas Hoblyn Garden Design

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