Best use of Local Timber

New Competitions Launched for 2011!

We have three brand new awards to make this year, all designed to encourage and promote excellence and good practice.
For more details about these exciting awards click here

Working in collaboration with British Woodworking Magazine this award looks to promote the use of local resources to produce pieces that have added meaning beyond their basic function.

It is an exciting prospect for many people to have a piece that has been conceived, designed and made locally by an artisan. Part of the reason for this is that one can speak to the designer-maker in person and understand their inspiration and the stories behind the piece. To be able to extend this understanding further with the origin and history of the timber, sometimes down to its precise location as a tree, will inevitably therefore serve to add to a client’s enthusiasm and emotional attachment to their purchase.

The use of local materials has obvious benefits for the designer-maker’s local economy and environment. The proper felling, processing and drying of wood are skilled trades that are important to preserve to ensure the continued effective management of the woodlands, forests and landscapes that we all enjoy. By using local materials in bespoke work, our exhibitors are ensuring that it is used beautifully, in an item that will be cherished and kept for generations.

The award is open to all exhibitors and judged by a panel during the show, with the criteria including design, species selection, use of timber, craftsmanship and provenance of the wood used. Points will be awarded to entrants who go out of their way to source timber locally and/or find out where their timber comes from.

In 2011 we had a very encouraging number of entries with some truly stunning pieces of design and craftsmanship. Our judges named Erich Fichtner as their winner for his ‘Scalloped Blanket Chest’ made using timber from windblown Irish trees. The very individual scallops make the most of the prominent grain of the London plane from Lismore Castle to create a fantastic natural detail, whilst the black walnut from The Lake House provides fantastic contrast.

Two other entries were highly commended. Peter Hall & Son Ltd. entered a writing table where the uncomplicated design allowed stunning rippled olive ash to shine alongside its Cumbrian green slate top. Dylan Pym’s cabinet ‘The Pumpkin’, in elm from Millfield Park in Hackney, was also singled out for its quirky design, great provenance and completely local production that included its finish in linseed and beeswax from his smallholding.