Sustainable Design of Wooden and Other Forest Products:

Besides doing the Cradle to Grave analysis to understand our environmental effects, which should be standard practice for any consumer product, we have the following special cases;

  • The logistical cost benefits of making things where the resources are:

  1. How much of the log is being used?

  2. Moving to a mill or to the port (transport waste)

  3. Making a piece of furniture

  4. Consuming in the neighbourhood

  5. Exporting the product

The same principle applies to food, textiles, personal care, and anything else.

  • Contributing to the local economy: From the "Chinese Take Away" conversation with Catherine Mackenzie from over 2 decades ago (2004)

"How much does a member of a forest community get when a log is exported?"

The equivalent of $17/m3 of Chanfuta, including the part-time labour as a lumberjack, loading the truck, and the 20% community share of the timber licence fee.

"And Allan, how much is made with the same log if it were at Mezimbite?"

From the lumberjack, to the sawmill, dryer, and the carpenters, then of course there is all the second recovery from branch wood, and the up-cycling of trim and off cuts ... all that equipment needs maintenance, staff have to eat lunch, new trees propagated and planted, it is about $2,000.

  • Building a culture of giving back when you use a resource.

  • Classic design and heirloom quality craftsmanship (we use the masculine to denote status, not to gender discriminate, so women craftsmen are Craftsmen and earn exactly the same).

  • If it takes 200 years for the tree to grow back to a good commercial size and quality, then the piece of furniture you make from it needs to last at least that long ... so no gimmicks.

  • An aesthetic derived from being frugal.

  • And of course, doing and paying attention to the Life-Cycle Analysis (Cradle to Grave) for each product and process, which covers almost all the basics.

A hand holding a polished, reddish-brown wooden bowl outdoors, with large green leaves in the background.
A large wooden dining table with matching chairs outdoors on sandy ground with sparse grass.
A man stands next to a large, carved wooden panel outdoors surrounded by green foliage.
String of white beads on a decorative wooden surface with a geometric pattern.
A man wearing a navy blue cap and coat with a musical instrument, a trumpet, in his right hand, standing with one foot on a wooden chair against a colorful abstract mural background. 
Hugh Masekela 1939-2018