October 14, 2013 by Janet McKay

At LEAF, our mandate is to engage residents in urban forest stewardship. In our book, that includes thinking about what happens to the wood when a tree comes down! Each year, our urban communities produce massive amounts of wood and much of it is currently wasted. The loss of millions of ash trees in the GTA due to Emerald Ash Borer, creates an even greater urgency to find solutions to using this valuable wood locally.

 

Brothers Dressler chair

Elbow “Ollie” Lounge + Work Chair by Brothers Dressler

 

Paus + Grun Woodwork

Keela by Paus + Grün Woodwork Design

 

Kevin Amour

Truss table by Kevin Armour

 

These are photos I took at the IIDEX Woodshop Exhibition, which I visited in late September. This inspiring exhibit featured the winning designs of a competition that challenged designers to create items made from locally salvaged urban ash wood. It featured the work of 15 established designers and wood workers based in Toronto and demonstrated how beautiful and useful items can be made from wood that is too often treated as waste.  The wood was generously supplied by Urban Tree Salvage, one of Canada’s largest manufacturers of salvaged materials and suppliers of reclaimed lumber and timber.

 

If you didn’t get a chance to see it, the work will be on display in the Rotunda at Toronto City Hall from October 23 to 25, 2013!

Update: You can now see the entire collection on at the IIDEX website.