Sustainability oak log stack

Sustainability

Sustainability is at the heart of Makers Bespoke furniture. It is in everything we do – whether it is from the sourcing of our materials locally to the machinery we use in the workshop. From our use of uncomplicated design and the authenticity of our workmanship to the processes we use to make it. Or from the way we heat our home and the workshop to the way we dispose of our waste materials. We take natural materials which have been through the simplest of processes and produce useful things that will last a life time and that we hope you will enjoy.

So why is Makers Bespoke Furniture sustainable?

Our wood is locally sourced

We don’t travel too far to collect oak from a couple of wood yards whose wonderful supplies are locally sourced. We use Scierie Desaize in Brittany just outside Rennes, and Scierie Morvan at Meslay du Maine. Both supply PEFC certified oak, thereby guaranteeing quality and provenance.

Oak from renewable sources

We only use wood from renewable sources. Oak trees are treated much like a crop here in rural France. Farmers know the value of it and will always replant for the benefit of the generations to come. As a result whole woods are being planted even just round the corner from us. So oak is treated rather like an investment policy….the French are a canny lot!

French Oak

The French Oak we use is air-dried over several years – a year per inch of depth. Traditionally air-dried oak planks are stacked in layers with oak spacer bars in between each layer. This allows air to circulate and dry the timber slowly over time. The oak will gradually expand and contract according to the weather conditions which will in turn help the wood release any tensions left in it. The oak is then kiln dried for a short length of time before it is ready for use in furniture making.

Visit our blog about French Oak : Qualities & Grading for more detailed information on the oak we use.

All our bespoke furniture is handmade

Very little machinery in the process of the making of our furniture so it is very much handmade . Although, I have to confess, we could actually do with more machinery! But in essence we consume relatively little energy, apart from our own, in the making of our furniture.

All our waste is re-purposed

Any wood surplus to the furniture making process is used to make smaller objects or burned to keep us warm over the winter – tiny slivers make excellent kindling. Local food producers have used our oak sawdust for smoking meat and fish. And the latest ingenious use of sawdust has been to pack out a leaking fishing lake. Anything left after that goes in the workshop burner.

Our furniture will last a lifetime and beyond

Each piece of Makers bespoke furniture is traditionally handmade to be enjoyed for generations to come.

 

Read more about sustainability on Wiki

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