Using Wood
Borders Forest Trust encourages and promotes the use of locally sourced hardwood timber through its trading subsidiary Woodschool and retail arm buyDesign .
Woodschool
I ntroduction
In the early 90's sustainable resources especially hardwood was a European and Worldwide concern and was receiving a lot of attention. It was also a local problem to us in the Borders. The Dutch Elm disease had got a grip and thousands of trees were being burnt on site. These could have been debarked, milled and used as a commercial source for end use. What remaining hardwoods were achieving a very low price, which meant in some cases that replanting, was not economic. Many of the end uses were and still are very basic and ignored the fantastic structural and aesthetic qualities of the material.
No Butts, a partnership between Tim Stead MBE a sculptor and furniture maker and Eoin Cox MBE an archaeologist was formed to be catalytic in drawing an awareness to the problem and asked a wide range of organisations to focus on a test project to look at regional solutions in developing the use of low grade hardwoods. It was amazing that timber from all over the world was widely available in all forms in the Borders yet a plank of kiln dried Border hardwood was unobtainable.
One of the first aims of the project was to make hardwood in useable forms available and actively seek the involvement of the local community in providing workshop facilities as well as inviting the creative input of young designers and makers. Increasing numbers of graduates in the disciplines of furniture, sculpture, architecture and landscape were leaving college or university with good skills and entrepreneurial ambition. They were being and still are thwarted by the daunting prospect of an impossible financial burden to "start up". The idea of an incubator unit with the necessary support would be unique to Scotland if not to Europe as a whole.
No Butts at that time had No Clout, just two individuals who felt obliged and fired up enough to try and make things happen. We couldn't have begun to start if we hadn't received very positive feedback from the many people we talked to. There was equally no way an idea could develop without a bit more than just moral support.
The Vision
WWF UK encouraged us to throw in our concept / vision to the fast emerging Millennium Forest For Scotland group and was to be hailed as a flagship project. Further local consultation and a realisation that many other groups and people could become involved led to the establishment of the Borders Forest Trust. Woodschool was formed to address the economic restoration of our local woodlands and to act as a demonstration of best practice for timber utilisation in the Borders and beyond.
Attempts at reforestation had resulted in monocultures of exotic conifers generally without developing traditional woodland management practices. We were looking at integrated farm/forest land use and involving the people in the landscape. We had 80% of Scottish hardwood timber going out of the country to be processed and importing 90% into UK Crazy imbalance ecologically and economically! It was time to do something about it. Woodschool had to become more than just concept and a woolly vision, we had to show people our interpretation of sustainable development.
The Woodschool strategy proposal was to :
Validate the ecological, social and commercial potential of our concept
Examine the hardwood stock available in the Borders
Examine existing groups working in comparable fields
Investigate a site for development
Initiate a timber bank of locally grown hardwood
Attract a creative talent pool of designers, makers, architects, foresters to join us
Develop products from waste timbers for greater value added
Examine the market strategy for hardwood consumption
Encourage other sustainable practices in the area and beyond
Establish a coordinated mechanism for suppliers, buyers and end users
It was foreseen that an educational role for such a centre was essential by demonstrating good sustainable working practices and providing a focus for research and prototyping of new product. Built into the Woodschool concept were many non-monetary considerations to address social, environmental and cultural benefits that might make the establishment of this project a focus for new wood related markets and job opportunities. These had to be related to identified and existing expertise and provision and to firmly re-establish a woodland culture.
Ten Years On
So ten years ago we had no premises, no timber, no makers and no customer base ! Woodschool was to reopen the door for this kind of wider social involvement and market stimulation. Very little was known about traditional management or timber usage in the Borders other than from some farm and woodland estates. It was know however that most of the benefits were leaving the region! The success of all of the above depended on the co-operation and active commitment of growers, users and consumers to create an example of appropriate action at an appropriate scale for the Borders and beyond. There was a divide between the level of awareness and the level of action amongst many of the environmental and education bodies. The formation of BFT was a response to this through local consultation as an increasing importance was being placed on the different values that could be achieved.
Woodschool now has ten fulltime resident designer / makers. We have four full time employees processing and manufacturing and we have no space left. We have had twenty designer / makers go through the workshop and are all still in business all working in Scottish hardwoods.
We have processed 3,500 tonnes of local timber and have been catalytic in the generic promotion of Scottish timber suppliers, processors and end users. Woodschool has become an exemplar of timber utilisation and has become a pivotal business in supporting Scotland woodland culture.
buyDesign is the Woodschool showspace, and is the place to view the work of over twenty local wood using makers. On display are the award winning Woodschool product ranges include the Teviot, Reiver and Bowhill furniture collections all made from our beautiful local timbers such as elm, oak, ash, sycamore, beech, alder and birch.
www:woodschool.ltd.uk
www.buydesign-furniture.com
tel 01835 830740
