Urban Tree Salvage

While reading one of the recent house features on Design*Sponge, I was intrigued my a Toronto company they listed as a source: Urban Tree Salvage.  I looked it up and it is a super cool company that makes furniture and accessories out of Toronto trees that have to be cut down.  An admirable business model that is backed by some gorgeous design.

Here is some of the copy from their website:

When a tree comes on hard times, whether it be insect infestation, storm damage or urban development, we do our best to rescue it. In the GTA alone, this includes over 9,000 trees a year. We select from these trees based on characteristics like species and quality. Then we bring the logs a short distance to our facility. With a sawmill and kiln we create useable lumber.  This lumber is placed in our kiln to reduce moisture and be heat treated to stop the spread of insect and disease to living trees.

As some of the oldest members in our city, trees are rich with stories.  While we prepare the lumber we begin to unfold these tales.  Buried within we’ll often find concrete, bricks, metal spikes and other artifacts. These objects remind us that people, roads and urban development invaded the space of trees, not the other way around.

Working together with environmentally conscious and design-curious customers we build made-to-order items. We include the end user in the entire process. Selecting wood types, drawing designs and adding the unique personal details that make a piece of furniture a piece for conversation are all done together. What we create in the end is environmentally friendly and functional art that is cost comparative with anything else in the market.

 I see from their media page that I am late to the game in finding them- they are green design darlings in Canada, and rightly so!  Check out their site (which has an online store for accessories) here.