Crafted Connections

From Commodity to Entity

Craftsmanship does not start in the woodworkshop, but in the forest. By carefully planting, managing, and harvesting trees, a natural product is designed as it grows. Staatsbosbeheer was established to manage forests with the goal of producing as much homogeneous and useful wood as possible. Converting empty grazing land into a site for useful wood production. Currently, forests are expanding faster than they are being harvested and the collective perception of trees as a mere resource is shifting towards recognizing forests as autonomous systems with rights and high ecological and intrinsic value. How do we relate to this shift, from commodity to entity, in a time when the need for local and sustainable materials is becoming increasingly urgent?

From Wood to Furniture during the exhibition

"Crafted Connections" explores the idea that craftsmanship can be used to collaborate with nature. Instead of using homogeneous planks of wood, the craftsman skilfully adapts to the unique characteristics of the wood – split in the forest - letting its natural properties lead his decisions. During the exhibition, a tree trunk is transformed into a piece of furniture made of wooden and ceramic puzzle pieces, glazed with wood ash, as a physical representation of the interaction between humans and nature. The wood is shaped by the craftsman to fit the ceramic elements so that they can be combined like a puzzle without using nails, screws, or glue. The components depend on each other, just as trees and plants in a forest influence—and are influenced by—the management choices made by humans. The project calls for a reconsideration of the relationships between humans and nature, where the craftsman - both the forester and woodworker – are no longer seen as a user of wood but as a participant in a larger natural process and broader ecological network.

About the makers

This project brings together two makers with their personal approach to craftsmanship. Marte Mei, a designer based in Amsterdam, works using her ‘Land-Allyship’ methodology, aiming to form an alliance with more-than-human life in her design processes. In "Crafted Connections," she explores how design can encourage sustainable forest management by responding to the natural properties of materials grown in forests that prioritise biodiversity over productivity. She collaborates with Rutger from Studio van der Zee, a Dutch craftsman based in Austria, where he completed his master’s examination in woodworking. Van der Zee is known for his sculptural furniture pieces, in which he seeks a balance between masterful craftsmanship and the intrinsic properties of the wood he works with. Their collaboration began with the exhibition WOODLAND at Schloss Hollenegg, where the first iteration of their wood/ceramic cabinet was born. To see this project and more of their work, visit their websites, linked in this profile.