Why Wood? – by Hazel Russell

Wood is the material of choice for all our products.  Aesthetically it is beautiful and every has its own grain pattern.   Practically wood is naturally antibacterial, it self-sterilises and has been used as a tool for eating food since the dawn of humankind.

At the Wood Life Project, we use only British hardwoods – in particular, beech wood – as it is native to the UK and has been used for cooking utensils for generations.

Beech wood is naturally antibacterial and self-sterilises.  It is far superior to the plastic equivalents.

This is due the lignin present in the wood.  Lignin contains a significant number of phenolic constructs that enable it to act as an effective antioxidant.  In addition, wood surfaces dry quickly, directly reducing the ability for bacteria to grow.

Wood also contains antimicrobial compounds.  In traditional medicine, in many different countries, these alternatives to antibiotics are used to control infectious diseases.

Responsibly sourced wood also helps to tackle climate change.  It does this by removing CO2 from the atmosphere as well as reducing carbon emissions.

Wooden products store the carbon that the growing trees have removed from the air (one cubic metre of new wood removes just less than a tonne of CO2 from the atmosphere).

Trees will only stop absorbing carbon when they reach maturity.  This is when we harvest our wood.

It is of paramount importance that our brand upholds the highest of standards when it comes to the harvesting of our wood, and as such our sawmills are bound by EUTR regulations, as well as holding Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, and will soon hold the Grown in Britain (GiB) certification too. In order to maintain the chain of custody for each of these accreditations, we are in the process of gaining our own certifications.

 We believe that there is no better material to use than wood for our products, what’s not to love?!