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Friday, March 29, 2024

From farm to table (literally)

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A local manufacturer makes it possible and, more importantly, sustainable to produce home accessories and other items made of wood. 

From farm to table (literally)
Assorted pizza boards and shot and wine glass racks.

Sustainably Made by Marsse Tropical Timbers takes things into its own hands by putting up its own tree farm to provide sustainable wood for its projects and others. And staying true to its name, the offcuts of its production process find their way into the fine kitchen and home accessories.

Sustainably Made’s Mara Sebastian recalls how they established Marsse Tropical Timber Plantation Inc. in Umingan, Pangasinan. “The farm was founded in 1992, but we started planting in 1990 our nursery, so it was about 30 years ago. And we did our first harvest when the trees reached 20 years old, so that’s about 2012,” she relates.

“We mostly plant Honduras Mahogany and Indonesian teak as foreign wood species. And we also plant southeast Asian Gmelina, which is a white colored wood, and then there are the local species kamagong, narra, molave, but we can’t harvest those, because there’s a moratorium on harvesting local species,” continues Sebastian. 

After its first harvest, Marsse started producing architectural wood for flooring, kiln-dried lumber, and processed wood, among other products. But then there was so much waste. 

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“We produced flooring and furniture—mostly big pieces. And then, we noticed we had a lot of offcut pieces, trees that aren’t straight, or knotty wood; those trees that the wood manufacturers don’t like to buy,” shares Sebastian.

They then created a “no wood wasted policy” for their production, and used wood scraps and rejects to create unique consumer products for home or personal use. These include gourmet kitchen accessories such as cheeseboards, pizza boards, grazing platters, service ware, and bowls. Other popular items are candleholders as well as cellphone and tablet holders with different motifs and patterns.

Sebastian says they try different finishes and techniques to enhance the designs of the pieces. “We use the Lichtenberg technique, it’s a wood-burning technique where you run about 3,000 or 5,000 volts of electricity into the wood, and each wood will have its own unique fractal pattern and color, depending on where the electricity wants to flow.”

But more than just design, Sustainably Made’s mission is to let consumers know that the wood they use are mindfully harvested. 

From farm to table (literally)
Some of Sustainably Made’s products from offcut wood pieces include (clockwise) Log candleholder, Stomp candleholder, Gmelina serving boards and nesting plates, and assorted cellphone and table holders.

“For us, we really say our products are unique—it goes from our tree farm to your home, so you know exactly where the wood comes from—a tree farm registered at the DENR,” Sebastian stresses. “Not everyone can say that their wood came from their backyard.”

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