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https://www.positive.news/society/capital-grains-the-urban-trees-getting-a-second-life/>
"Furniture maker Bruce Saunders was stumped. He’d lived in London for more than
40 years, surrounded by parks, streets and leafy suburbs bursting with a rich
mix of trees.
Why, then, did he have to travel 70 miles to find British-grown timber? And why
was 90% of the hardwood sold in the UK imported?
“There are enough trees in London for it to be designated a forest,” says
Saunders. “But the reality is, tree surgeons working in the city can’t afford
to store the wood they’re felling: they have to slice it up for firewood or
chip it for biomass.”
Saunders is aiming to plant a new narrative through Fallen & Felled (FAF), the
timber company he founded alongside his architect wife, Antje. Specialising in
timber sourced in and around the capital, the company is saving fallen urban
trees from meeting a fiery end, transforming what would otherwise have been
wasted into something lasting and purposeful.
“I’ve always found it strange that you can have hundreds of people protesting
about a tree when it’s living, but as soon as it hits the deck it’s worth
zero,” Saunders says. “It’s like: ‘Hang on a minute – that tree can be turned
into stuff that might last another hundred years.’”
Saunders’ first act of arboreal salvage came almost a decade ago when he
spotted a London plane getting the chop near his home in Camden. The tree
surgeon was only too happy for him to take it.
From there, he blagged his way into more timber, at one point securing 12
lorry loads that had been felled during HS2 works. Lifelong pal and marketing
guru Patrick Welsh joined the business in 2020.
“We sell wood with a story,” Welsh says. “It’s nice to think that a tree has
seen history, perhaps hundreds of years of history. Who knows what it’s
witnessed? We like the idea that when its life is over, that history can
continue. People can use its wood and become part of its story.”"
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
