WOOD FACTS • timber traits • what is hand made? • what makes us unique?

At Villa & Hut Everything we make starts with the timber …
Good timber makes good furniture. Trash timber makes trash furniture. We only use good timber. Some people, make furniture from exactly the same timber that we use for packing crates. It is usually really, really cheap in price – and it is more often than not, really, really cheap in quality. Villa & Hut don’t compete with people who make furniture from timber that should only be used for packing crates.

Plantation timber
Plantation timber: (farmed wood) Which is certified and legally grown timber from plantation areas. This is controlled farming timber and designed for rapid regeneration. This timber is not necessarily less expensive, as it is very controlled in its characteristics, consistency and quality.

Recycled timber ... used again
(used again) Which is taking timber that may once have been old floorboards, old building supports, old walls, or even strips from an old bridge, and then turning them into something else.

Reclaimed timber ... getting it back
Which is taking an old (often antique) piece of furniture that perhaps has fallen apart, or broken down, and then restoring it back to what it originally was (a day bed, an old bench, or table tops are good examples).

Timber ... legal or illegal?
Villa & Hut only use legal timber. “Legal” means that the timber is controlled right from its source of origin. This timber is certified and is taxed (or levied), which goes towards the policing of illegal culling, toward the regeneration of forests previously destroyed by illegal culling, and toward maintaining a sustainable future for both the timber industry and for forest regeneration. Illegal timbers are not necessarily just rainforest timbers.

They are usually also timbers that aren’t authority approved, haven’t had any taxes or levies paid on them, or are stolen timber that has been diverted. Illegal timber can often be less than half the price of legal timber, and is often used by unethical furniture manufacturers in an attempt to bring down the price of furniture.