Woodland Wonders – AHEC Unveils Forest Tales at Triennale Milano
The American Hardwood Export Council’s (AHEC) Forest Tales exhibition, helmed and curated by Studio Swine, recently debuted at Triennale Milano during the Milan Design Week. Showcasing 22 handpicked designs from 14 countries, the show aimed at spotlighting three underused American hardwood varieties – maple, cherry and red oak – noted for their exceptional carbon-neutral and carbon-negative properties.
Forest Tales, AHEC’s latest exhibit, was open for viewing between 3 and 12 June at Triennale Milano. Whilst the fact that it had on display 22 globally sourced and sustainable furniture designs was remarkable in itself, what was even more remarkable was the way it was presented. Studio Swine pioneered a distinctive mountain-like installation of wooden crates – the same ones used to transport the furniture – giving each piece equal pride of place.
The ‘cratescape’, modelled on the opening scenes of the film Citizen Kane, was designed as an anamorphic projection, perceptible only when viewed from a distance. Each crate was painted as part of a larger forest scene, informed by the landscape where the hardwoods originated.
The show, which aimed at pushing three underused American hardwoods – namely maple, cherry and red oak – into the limelight, featured designs by both established and emerging designers, including Heatherwick Studio’s biophilic Stem table in maple; Taiho Shin’s expanding and glue-less shelving systems; Maria Bruun’s Nordic-style stackable stools; Simon Gehring’s upcycled three-wood chair; and Studio Swine’s own steam-bent red oak creations evocative of the Ming Dynasty. Against a backdrop of depleting European hardwoods, the show served as a manifesto for change, calling stakeholders to embrace hardwoods that grow at a faster rate than they are harvested.
In a bid to minimise waste, AHEC and Studio Swine were intent on keeping Forest Tales as material-efficient and close to carbon-zero as possible.
The 22 designs were bound by one overarching theme – they each belonged to one of four AHEC projects: Connected; Discovered: Designers for Tomorrow; Slow Design for Fast Change; and A Seat at the Table. Whilst Connected tasked designers with creating tables and seats in response to the pandemic-imposed isolation, Discovered: Designers for Tomorrow was a platform for emerging design talents from around the world. Slow Design for Fast Change was tailored for young designers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland to craft furniture and objects underpinned by sustainability, longevity and craftsmanship, whereas A Seat at the Table was a collaboration with Italian furniture maker Riva 1920 that invited a clutch of emerging Italian designers to design innovative and sustainable solid wood tables.
In a bid to minimise waste, AHEC and Studio Swine were intent on keeping Forest Tales as material-efficient and close to carbon-zero as possible. Consequently, they made the crates multipurpose, using them to ship, store and display the exhibits. And so, when the festival came to a close and everything was put neatly back into its box, there was nothing left to discard – fittingly echoing its ethos of minimum waste.
