National Hardwood Magazine - September 2016

AHEC REPORT CUTTING-EDGE

AHEC REPORT CUTTING-EDGE DESIGN, ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS, AMERICAN HARDWOODS CONVERGE IN AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND Seed to Seat was conceived in late 2015 as a collaborative project with a select group of designers based in Australia and New Zealand. The idea was to introduce these designers to three American Hardwood species, which are less widely-specified in those markets, while challenging them to design a seat using only solid lumber and as little non-wood materials as possible. Five designers were chosen in Australia and these included Greg Natale, one of the country’s most successful interior and furniture designers, and Adam Goodrum, the acknowledged rising star of Australian design. Meanwhile, in New Zealand, highly acclaimed designer, David Trubridge, was chosen to work on the project. In Trubridge’s case, however, the U.S. Hardwood he was challenged to work with was thermally-modified American Ash, as he wanted to explore designing and making furniture for exterior use for the first time. Another key element to this project was environmental profiling of the finished pieces, using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). While preliminary growth rates (for the volumes of lumber used) and carbon storage data for each of the pieces has already been calculated, the full environmental profiles are currently being put together by AHEC’s Environmental Consultant, Rupert Oliver. With the exception of David Trubridge, manufacturing, including full data collection for environmental profiling, was carried out in Sydney in May 2016. Each of the Australian designers were fully engaged in this process too and were able to make last-minute changes to their pieces, as well as to experiment with finishes. The Seed to Seat project then culminated in a customdesigned and built display at Denfair in Melbourne, which ran from June 2-4. Denfair, in only its second edition, has become the most important curated design fair for Australia (and New Zealand) and over the first two days of the three-day show alone, around 10,000 qualified architects and designers visited the high profile event. In addition, a panel session was hosted at the show by one of Australia’s key design media platforms, which featured two of the designers – Adam Goodrum and Anne-Claire Petre, as well as AHEC’s Regional Director, Rod Wiles. This ambitious project involving American Hardwoods and Please turn to page 48 Through collaboration with overseas designers, AHEC introduced them to three American Hardwood species, while challenging them to design a seat using only solid lumber and as little non-wood materials as possible. 14 SEPTEMBER 2016 NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE BY MICHAEL S. SNOW, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICAN HARDWOOD EXPORT COUNCIL, RESTON, VA 703-435-2900 WWW.AHEC.ORG

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