Timber iQ August - September 2017 // Issue: 33 | Page 12

EVENTS
Wood too good to waste
An interactive installation questions the validity of the current
relationship between wood consumption and fashion.
10 AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2017 //
T
– oo Good to Waste – an installation designed by
Benedetta Tagliabue of EMBT, crafted by furniture
makers Benchmark, and initiated by the American
Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) for Interni’s Material
Immaterial exhibition – was on display from 3 to 15 April
2017 at the Università degli Studi di Milano.
As part of Salone del Mobile Milano 2017, the bold
timber installation comprises four individual and unique
pieces, wrapped around the statuesque pillars of the
entrance to the Aula Magna auditorium, transforming at the
hand of visitors to reveal hidden pieces of fine furniture
made from American red oak, soft maple, cherry
and tulipwood.
Contrary to popular perception, not all forests are
disappearing. In fact, the vast American hardwood forest is
a quickly expanding resource and the volume of its
standing timber has more than doubled in the past 50
years. However, due to fashion and colour trends, demand
is too often focused on just a few species, while many
others are underused or left in the forest, which is a lost
opportunity for both design and carbon storage.
According to the AHEC, Too Good to Waste is an
invitation to reflect on the responsible use of these forests
and to discover species and grades of American hardwoods
rarely found in homes or furniture stores in Europe, but
that need to be considered if we want to contribute to a
balanced and sustainable use of the forest. The physical
form of the installation shows the transformation of
hardwood from its rawest form into the fine finish of
cabinetry, expressing how furniture ultimately comes from
the forest.
In the words of Sean Sutcliffe, who co-founded
Benchmark with British design legend Terence Conran,
“Too Good to Waste is about using the forest to its
effective maximum. We are using species that are not
getting the value they should and we are using them to
show that they are beautiful, versatile and useful woods
for craftsmen. The second thing we are addressing is the
grading issue; we, as picky cabinet-makers, have always
been very fussy about using the best bits and that needs to
change if we are to move to a more sustainable way of
living. We are now using knots, sapwood and all sorts of
character that 10 years ago would have been unthinkable
in high end furniture. So here we are showing the grades of
hardwood, that wouldn’t be used normally in joinery or
furniture, and we are expressing it in a way that says, ‘This
is beautiful, look, it is too good to waste!’”
Given that many wood products currently available are
limited to certain colors and hardwood species, it deprives
consumers and designers the freedom and excitement to
Visitors interacting with the installation revealing the hidden
pieces of fine furniture.
experience what comes from using much more of the
material that is available. Through this project, AHEC is
tapping into an important concept that’s very relevant
today: how to make more use of materials that may not be
our first choice to be more sustainable? This project aims to
open a dialogue on these topics.
This project is not only a celebration of all the variety of
species and grades of hardwood that the forest naturally
produces and regenerates, but also an invitation to
discover the piece in the most literal sense: users are
encouraged to touch and inhabit this piece, to interact and
play with it, opening its different components by pushing,
pulling, swiveling and discovering new configurations. Too
Good to Waste reimagines the historic architecture of the
Cortile d’Onore (the courtyard from the Renaissance
period by the famous architect Filarete where the piece is
located), which features many decorative elements and
human figures coming out of the walls.
“We have built a woodland from rough sawn vertical
planks of American tulipwood, cherry, red oak and maple
and out of this woodland we are drawing finished pieces of
furniture. We have kept the vertical stripes of the forest
and extended them into the furniture, transforming them
from the raw state of the tree trunks into the polished
finish of the cabinet maker. Particularly interesting is how
this installation elegantly expresses that furniture comes
from the woods, a direct relationship that people don’t
always make,” adds Sutcliffe.
“Imperfection can make a piece completely beautiful
and unique and I hope this project will convey the message
that you can work with materials that are considered
imperfect and with skills, intelligence and curiosity you
can transform them into something beautiful, unique and
beloved,” concludes Tagliabue.