Where Does Our Wood Come From?

The Journey of Our Wood

Every picture frame we make in our London workshop starts off inside a tree.

Wood is a natural product, and the tree it comes from is as individual in terms of its characteristics as human beings are; colour, grain pattern, texture, hardness or softness, size and shape of knots, can vary, do vary, even in the same plank. The timber we make our frames from comes from the vast managed forests in the USA and Canada, where many new trees are continually planted for every tree they harvest. 

And yes, occasionally, rarely we find bullets in the timber.

From Forest to Workshop

When the raw timber arrives in the UK, usually coming into the country via the Essex ports, it makes its way to “our” timber yard by truck – we spent several years finding a yard that we liked. For starters, it had to be an FSC accredited yard, which means all the wood is traceable and comes from sustainable forests and reputable sawmills. 

It also had to be client-focused and accessible, as we like to visit the yard and choose the wood for each job personally. When a client places an order with us for, let’s say, a beautiful walnut round (or oak, beech, tulip, cherry, sapele, ash, etc.) picture frame, one of us takes the train up to the yard and spends an hour or so taking out huge planks of wood from the shelves one by one until we find the plank(s) that we feel are perfect for the project in hand. 

This means width, thickness, colour, as well as the overall characteristics – we visualise how the plank would look once carved and polished, which parts we would use – it’s a skill we have developed over many years, seeing the finished frame already inside the plank, a bit like a sculptor who can already see the artwork inside the block of stone just waiting to be revealed.

Sustainable Practices and Low Carbon Footprint

Once we have our plank of wood, we carry them back on public transport (yes, really!) to keep our carbon footprint as low as possible. The tree has been cut down and can no longer suck in carbon from the atmosphere, but that carbon still remains locked inside the wood. And many more trees have been planted in its place.

Our Commitment to Quality and Sustainability

We stick to a set selection of wood types, almost all from North America: sustainable, traceable, a trustworthy supply chain, as low a carbon transport footprint as possible, and when back in our workshop, we will carve, shape and polish this wood into beautiful picture frames that will give many lifetimes of pleasure. Bullets included. Born in America, made in London.