Forests take up about 30% of the earth’s surface and come in many shapes, sizes and types. From chilly boreal forests in the north, to temperate forests, dry forests, mangroves, rainforests and more, each forest has specific needs and nuances, and faces its own ecological challenges. Around the world, there are communities and teams of people who oversee forests, ensuring they regenerate and survive. Commercial foresters, indigenous tribes and local foresters all care for them in different ways:...
Dec 11, 2024•33 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Staining wood is a complex and often laborious process that requires careful thought from designers and makers. Considering the complexities involved, and the fact that natural wood is beautiful in and of itself, this Making short explores the benefits wood staining can offer for designers. When done right, staining beautifully enhances the intricate and unique characteristics of wood. To elaborate further on this, architect, designer and educator, Giles Tettey Nartey, joins this episode to disc...
Nov 21, 2024•14 min•Season 4Ep. 7
We’re probably all aware that climate change is having, and will have, a big effect on our forests. Increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and rising temperatures give way to adverse consequences such as droughts and fires, causing rapid tree mortality rates. So, how can we plan for the future to ensure these forests, in the face of climate collapse, are around for future generations? Joined by Leander Anderegg, Assistant Professor at the University of California; Ron Waukau, Fore...
Oct 29, 2024•30 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Trees have been a principal building material for most of human history, with archaeological findings showing that humans were using stone axes as early as 40,000 years ago. With the advent of machinery during the Industrial Revolution making woodworking more efficient and accessible, this Making short episode asks why a designer today might opt for hand working over industrialised techniques. Host Evi Hall speaks to industrial and product designer duo Inma Bermúdez and Mortiz Krefter about why ...
Oct 16, 2024•16 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Our next instalment of Words on Wood revisits education, this time examining whether there is a need for a more robust curriculum around timber and its properties within architecture courses. The guests all straddle the architectural and education spaces and bring some really good insights into areas that are working, and some not so well, within architectural education. Oli and Evi are joined by Judith Lösing, teacher at the AA and director of East Architecture, Kenn Busch , founder of Material...
Mar 21, 2024•23 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Building on the success of previous seasons’ ‘Tree Shorts’, this season introduces a new series of ‘Making Shorts’. These bite-sized episodes zoom into production techniques for timber, providing concise case studies through interviews with designers on the making processes behind specific projects. In this episode, we speak with Norwegian designer-maker Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng about creating furniture with a chainsaw and her experience working with American maple in a recent AHEC project. Hoste...
Feb 07, 2024•15 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Building on the success of previous seasons’ ‘Tree Shorts’, this season introduces a new series of ‘Making Shorts’. These bite-sized episodes zoom into production techniques for timber, providing concise case studies through interviews with designers on the making processes behind specific projects. Travelling to Australia, the first Making Short of the season focuses on CNC milling, tracing its connections to traditional hand carving methods. Designer Trent Jansen and Tanya Singer and Errol Eva...
Jan 12, 2024•19 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Delving deep into the world of wood, featuring unexpected and timely topics from across forestry, architecture and design, the award-winning podcast Words on Wood has returned for a fourth season. A collaboration between the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) and Disegno, Words on Wood launched in 2021 as an upfront and wide-ranging end-to-end exploration of all things wood-related, from forestry and processing to design and disposal. Venturing into the world’s forests, sites of timber prod...
Dec 14, 2023•28 min•Season 4Ep. 1
In the final episode of Words on Wood season 3, we are joined by multi award-winning science and environmental writer, Fred Pearce. Fred’s groundbreaking work covering the natural world spans at least 15 books. We sit down to discuss the topics behind his latest book, “A Trillion Trees”, which gives a fascinating insight to how the world’s forests can be restored without planting and following two key premises: ensuring that ownership of the forests is vested in the people who live in them, and ...
Mar 27, 2023•45 min•Season 3Ep. 5
The series concludes by venturing into ‘The Wooden Hospital’. Starting with the work of architect Ab Rogers, who won the 2021 Wolfson Economic Prize 2021 for his radical approach towards reformulating hospital design, the episode looks at whether our existing healthcare spaces are fit for purpose. Could wood be the key to redesigns that create more humane and compassionate facilities? Featuring a group of designers and architects who are changing the way that healthcare operates, the episodes ex...
Feb 17, 2023•29 min•Season 3Ep. 4
In this bitesize episode, we explore American walnut and all of its properties and uses. The episode features an interview with Mira Nakashima, daughter of George Nakashima and now the creative director of George Nakashima Woodworkers, and gives us a valuable insight in her years of experience working with the material. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 23, 2022•15 min
In this episode we look into the social aspects of wood and how timber education is approached across different levels: from amateur enthusiasts, through to academia and university education. This episode includes an interview with celebrated woodworker John Makepeace and Helen Welch, founder of The London Furniture School, and asks whether design education currently provides students with a sufficiently full, sophisticated picture of wood’s ecological entanglements, the variations between speci...
Dec 21, 2022•30 min•Season 3Ep. 3
In this weeks tree short, we dive into the world of white oak - one of the most popular species across Europe. Host India Block speaks to architecture practice Maccreanor Lavington to find out more about the white oak used in the newly designed Ibstock place school refractory in South West London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 24, 2022•16 min
In episode two, the hosts examine the different ways in which humans have baked, charred and heated wood to create thermally modified timber (TMT). The episode includes interviews with furniture designer Jan Hendzel, timber consultant and researcher Neil Summers, and architect Kirsten Haggart of architecture studio Waugh Thistleton. Words on Wood is hosted by Oli Stratford and India Block, and produced by Evi Hall. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 11, 2022•26 min•Season 3Ep. 2
A bitesize episode exploring American cherry and its unique role in the creation of the Susie Sainsbury Theatre by architect Ian Ritchie of ritchie*studio Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 27, 2022•15 min
Season three of Words on Wood kicks off with an exploration of tree diseases through the lens of ash, looking into the risks posed to this tree species across North America and Europe by the invasive emerald ash borer insect and the fungus responsible for ash dieback disease. How do these threats spread through forests and affect timber and, once they have struck, what happens to the dead and dying trees? We speak to Sheridan Coakley, founder of SCP Furniture, about the recent One Tree project, ...
Oct 20, 2022•31 min•Season 3Ep. 1
To celebrate the launch of Perpetuum Mobile, and the return of Milan Design Week, host Oli Stratford speaks to Benedetta Tagliabue, the director and head architect of the international firm Benedetta Tagliabue - EMBT Architects. Showing as part of the INTERNI Design Re-Generation exhibition event at the Università degli Studi of Milan, Perpetuum Mobile – The Dancing Furniture of Enric Miralles & Benedetta Tagliabue’s home , brings together recreations of nine of the furniture pieces and obje...
Jun 06, 2022•30 min•Season 3Ep. 1
A bitesize episode exploring American cherry and all of its unique properties, featuring UK based designer Mac Collins. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 06, 2022•14 min
Faced with the challenges posed by illegal logging, a global consortium of organisations has now turned to science to find a solution. The World Forest ID is a new initiative that uses georeferenced wood samples to be able to analyse any timber and discover where exactly it was harvested. In this episode, the podcast talks to the people behind the project and dives into the development of this new technology, examining how greater information about provenance may lead to better governance of the...
Dec 16, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 4
A bitesize episode exploring American hard maple and all of its unique properties, featuring Danish designer Maria Bruun. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 02, 2021•14 min
While technology and digital processes accelerate and permeate design, a number of designers have turned towards traditional craft processes to find contemporary modes of expression. Designer Stephen Burks and Orhan Niksic of Bosnian furniture brand Zanat join the podcast to talk about their approaches towards traditional woodwork and how 21st-century design can find fresh social resonances in timeworn techniques. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 25, 2021•28 min•Season 2Ep. 3
A bitesize episode exploring American red oak and all of its unique features. Host Oli Stratford speaks to designer Tomoko Azumi about her experience working with the timber in her project for Legacy, where she designed a beautiful steam-bent boat seat for Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the Young Vic Theatre. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 11, 2021•13 min
Wood is an ancient material, but one that is still providing designers with new processes, forms and techniques. In this episode, the podcast talks to designers Sam Hecht, Yves Béhar and Elissa Brunato , all of whom have worked with wood as a cutting-edge material that can continue to reinvent itself. This episode was hosted by India Block and Oli Stratford and produced by Evi Hall. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 03, 2021•30 min•Season 2Ep. 2
A bitesize episode exploring American tulipwood, its properties and commentary from architect Alison Brooks on its use in The Smile, created for London Design Festival in 2016. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 14, 2021•12 min
This second season of Words on Wood sees Disegno’s editors Oli Stratford and India Block navigate the intersections between the worlds of forestry and design and architecture, focusing in on topics including timber construction; experimental uses of wood and cellulose; a world wide timber tracing network; and a look at how designers and makers are bringing fresh relevance to traditional woodcraft practices. With architecture under more pressure than ever to improve the sustainability of building...
Oct 06, 2021•34 min•Season 2Ep. 1
In the conclusion of the first season of Words on Wood , we explore how using timber in architecture and design can positively impact our mental, emotional and physical well-being. With special guests architects Alex de Rijke , Asif Kahn and Amanda Sturgeon , author of Creating Biophilic Buildings . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 19, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 4
In the third episode of Words on Wood we explore the challenges facing the design and timber industries to cut out illegal logging, and how architects and designers can respond, with guests Formafantasma, Constance McDermott and Rupert Oliver . This episode was hosted by Kristina Rapacki and Oli Stratford and was produced by Evi Hall. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 28, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 3
This episode dives into the significance of forests to climate change, their role in reducing carbon in the atmosphere, and the importance of carbon sequestration for architecture and product design, with guests Andrew Waugh , Galina Churkina and Sean Sutcliffe . This episode was hosted by Kristina Rapacki and Oli Stratford and was produced by Evi Hall. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 13, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 2
A look at some of the fundamental issues surrounding forests, and how these impact upon the timber that eventually ends up in buildings, products and furniture.This introductory episode moves between discussion of small-scale forest management with UK-based designer/maker Sebastian Cox , through to the decisions being taken in large-scale forest management in the U.S. with Jameson French , CEO and President of Northland Forest Products. This episode was hosted by Kristina Rapacki and Oli Stratfo...
Mar 24, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 1
