The latest issue of National Hardwood Magazine features stories on Wyrmwood Gaming, Middle Tennessee Lumber, High Point Market, the Montreal Wood Convention and much more.
NEWS DEVELOPMENTS NEWS
NEWS DEVELOPMENTS NEWS ABOUT NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL HARDWOOD CONSUMERS INCLUDING MERGERS, PLANT EXPANSIONS & ASSOCIATION ACTIVITIES CALIFORNIA-BASED WOODSY ANNOUNCES FIRST PRODUCT AND PRE-SEED ROUND TO TAKE ON FAST FURNITURE Woodsy, a Los Angeles, CA-based furniture startup, manufacturing affordable, solid wood furniture, announced its first product on Kickstarter recently, surpassing its funding goal in six hours. Woodsy also announced a pre-seed round led by angel investors. Woodsy manufactures in the U.S., using Walnut, Maple and Cherry sourced from the U.S. Woodsy Desk is the first product from a brand poised to turn the fast furniture industry on its head, according to a company press release. Woodsy Desk assembles in five minutes, transforms into any type of desk you want, and is made of 100 percent solid wood here in America, the press release stated. Using a hybrid workforce (on-site and remote workers), Woodsy Desk can be manufactured in America in under an hour and reduces CO2 emissions by 80 percent. The Woodsy team took years to prototype and validate the market for Woodsy Desk. With Woodsy Desk released, Woodsy is looking towards the future. They plan a catalog of 64 pieces. For more information, visit www. getwoodsy.com. BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRA- TION INVESTS NEARLY MILLION TO STRENGTHEN WOOD PRODUCTS ECONOMY As part of its goal of investing in rural America, the Biden-Harris Administration recently announced that .7 million from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will fund projects to strengthen the wood products economy and promote sustainable forest management. This investment supports a crucial link between resilient, healthy forests and strong rural economies and jobs in the forestry sector, especially in communities that depend on national forests and grasslands to grow and thrive, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture press release. Forest restoration creates byproducts like small diameter timber and woody biomass, which has historically been of little market value. Thanks in part to USDA Forest Service investments in innovative wood products, this material which may have been discarded, can be made into many types of wood products. This move provides million to establish, reopen or improve businesses that purchase and process these byproducts from projects on federally managed lands or tribal lands at risk of wildfire, insects and disease. More than two thirds of the funded businesses will use byproducts from forest restoration and hazardous fuels reduction on landscapes identified in the Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy. To learn more, visit www.usda. gov. REMODELING MARKET SENTIMENT EDGED UP IN FIRST QUARTER OF 2023 The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released its NAHB/ Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index (RMI) for the first quarter of 2023, posting a reading of 70, edging up one point compared to the previous quarter. The NAHB/Westlake Royal RMI survey asks remodelers to rate five components of the remodeling market as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” Each question is measured on a scale from 0 to 100, where an index number above 50 indicates that a higher share view conditions as good than poor. The Current Conditions Index is an average of three components: the current market for large remodeling projects, moderately sized projects and small projects. The Future Indicators Index is an average of two components: the current rate at which leads and inquiries are coming in and the current backlog of remodeling projects. The overall RMI is calculated Please turn to page 62 12 JUNE 2023 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE www.RealAmericanHardwood.org www.RealAmericanHardwood.org JUNE 2023 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE 13
