Moulding Our Woodland

‘Moulding Our Woodlands’ uses wood shavings; an otherwise waste by-product from existing woodland practices and utilizes the inherent properties of the material throughout the process, from its energy output to its self-bonding capability. By developing a method of moulding wood, this project demonstrates an achievable batch production for cost effective products. By increasing the commercial potential of our unmanaged woodlands as a renewable resource, the project looked to bridge the gap between bespoke craft and the mass market. Pippa says: ‘As a designer I am inspired by the challenge of a sustainable future and how this must change our everyday outlook towards design’ continuing ‘Objects have stories that have impact far beyond the end consumer. It is with this consideration that my projects are developed. My work explores the potential of functioning solutions that harness ecological processes and materials without compromise.’ For nine months Pippa was based in a 45-acre woodland, North Cumbria, consisting mainly of British hardwoods. This woodland represents only 0.0028% of the 649,000 hectares of unmanaged woodland in England today. The ‘Moulding Our Woodland’ project tackled the complex economic challenge of creating a sustainable and commercial process for this previously vital National resource. Researching the diverse and historic ways we have met our daily needs from woodlands, Pippa crafted an on-site process that brings local greenwood back into contemporary relevance, making it ecological, economical and flexible. To demonstrate the key attributes of this moulding process Pippa designed a table leg. This everyday component was chosen as it must be made similar every time, it must be strong and the process should generate numerous components within a reasonable period of time. Potential applications for this process go much further than the table leg, as the material is strong, polymer free and biodegradable. It uses parts of the tree that would otherwise be unusable and the process generates uniformed parts in an economic time frame.