SUSTAINABILITY

Every company has to appear to be doing their best, and every website will have a wishy washy section boasting sustainable credentials which doesn’t really mean much apart from using FSC timber. The truth is. Using FSC, PEFC or other stainable sourced timber is not a choice or an effort. All timber imports are governed by the UKTR and set the standard for all timber imported into the UK. All wood you can buy in this country is UKTR approved. It’s actually a very big effort to buy wood that is not approved by a legitimate governing body in this country.



It's no secret the building industry is awful for plastic waste, packaging and transportation mileage. It accounts for around 40% of global carbon emissions and as a part of this industry we are dedicated to lessening our impact wherever we can.


 Although we use a lot of sheet goods which we rely on importing from Europe. We do however use a very large amount of timber from a local sawmill which is not just milled locally but the trees are grown and felled right here in the UK. While its not always possible to source all of our timber from the UK due to the scale of a job and availability of the species of timber, we still use British suppliers and the oak will usually come from France and the poplar from America. Our sheet goods are at present coming from Lithuania.

We like to be completely transparent with our sourcing and are always trying to cut miles from plantation to workshop!

But that's not it...


We calculate waste very carefully and nothing gets thrown away. 


Our offcuts heat local homes through the winter and our sawdust either goes on the compost or to a local campsite for the composting toilets.


We try not to use exotic hardwoods. 


Is a truck load of sapele from the Congo really sustainable? or is there a person with an fsc stamp and pistol pointing at them to then transport it halfway across the globe.


(We are not perfect and did a job out of American red cedar recently)

I cycle to meet customers at any jobs I can and also pick up my consumables on a normal bike, not an ebike, usually after dropping my eldest at school.


The bubble wrap we use is recyclable, made from recycled material and we have been using the same roll for almost two years now to transport jobs as well as using old throws and clothes as rags and transport protection.


The paint and lacquer used is water based, not solvent based. 


Most of all. The products out of the workshop are built to last. 


I go on about it because it’s a big deal. Our carcass’ are plywood.. solid wood. A lot of my competitors use mr mdf, chipboard or egger (which is one of the above at the core)


A lot of people use iron on edging. We use 5mm solid timber. Far more resilient to knocks and never peals away.

We are always looking to do things better. So while I’m keeping my eyes and ears open to advances in sustainable practices I urge anyone who knows something I don’t to please further educate or correct me if I’m wrong.


In my personal life we have a small holding and grow as much of our own fruit and veg as possible. 


Our workshop is in Cornwall, built by me and everything is made from the raw materials right here. We don’t buy in carcass’s or drawer boxes from big companies in china made from inferior Chinese birch ply and just stick our markup on it.. we hand build everything. Out of the best materials we can. Every detail is looked over and put together with a trained eye.

Does all of this make our product more expensive…


Yes it absolutely does. A bespoke handmade kitchen requires a lot of highly skilled labour but the cost difference in my opinion is easily worth it for something you use every single day. 


A holiday lasts 10 days. Your kitchen can last a lifetime.


I don’t want to sell you another kitchen (in the same room!). My aim is not to push harder and harder for profit.. not a popular opinion to have in this day and age. 


It’s to be honest, work with good people and make great furniture that will be here when I’m long gone and to be a part of British industry, create well paid jobs and become an asset to the Cornish economy.


If you would like to be a part of this, feel free to call or send over an email.


Thanks for reading this far!


Ross

SeaSaw Designs

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