National Hardwood Magazine - May 2023

AHEC REPORT
NEW NORDIC DESIGN PROJECT “THREE” TO PROMOTE
RED OAK, MAPLE AND CHERRY
As part of our ongoing promotion of underutilized
species of American Hardwoods,
AHEC is working with three designer-makers
from the Nordic regions – Norway, Sweden
and Denmark – in a three-timber making
challenge. They will create a final piece/
object in either Red Oak, Maple or Cherry
to be showcased in an exhibition that will
be held at 3daysofdesign in Copenhagen in
June 2023. The project aims to shine a light
on these timbers’ versatility, aesthetics, and
technical performance.
To kickstart the project, AHEC hosted a
workshop in Copenhagen to meet the designers
involved and provide them with a
technical briefing for Three. During this session, the designers
were randomly allocated one of the three timbers
to work with and briefed on its performance and characteristics
to help inform their design process. Hand samples
and copies of ‘A guide to sustainable American Hardwoods’
were supplied to the designers to provide further
information and reference points.
As part of the design phase, each designer will now
carry out experimental research into their allocated material,
testing its properties and learning more about how
it can be used. They will document their experiences
and process of working with the
material and this content will be used as part
of the exhibition. The 3daysofdesign event
in Copenhagen is the latest in our outreach
to European design, continuing the work of
recent projects like SLOW and Natural Connections
for the Madrid Design Festival earlier
this year.
From 2010 to 2015, the average value of
Red Oak lumber exported to Europe was $8.5
million per year. After years of outreach to the
European industry through design projects,
technical seminars, and industry networking,
the United States doubled our European Red
Oak market to an average of $19.9 million from 2016-
2020, and since 2021, the market has doubled again -
reaching exports of over $37.5 million in Red Oak lumber
to Europe in 2021, and over $56 million in 2022. That’s 50
percent from the previous record high. Compared to the
average value from 2010 to 2015, this growth from $8.5
million per year up to over $56 million has added over
$125 million in new Red Oak exports to Europe since
2010. n
BY MICHAEL SNOW,
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
AMERICAN HARDWOOD EXPORT COUNCIL,
STERLING, VA
703-435-2900
WWW.AHEC.ORG
18 MAY 2023 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE www.RealAmericanHardwood.org