Wood: A Living Furniture Material

A Skovby furniture range is all made from handcrafted natural timber. This sustainably grown resources comes from well-run plantations throughout Europe and North America where they only harvest the quantity of wood equal to that which is planted every year.

One of the most inspiring aspects of this natural resource is the unique features inherent in every tree and timber plank that comes from each tree.

It’s a Living Material

Even after felling, wood is a living material. It is affected by the humidity in air and temperature.

Wood used for furniture production has been dried to be in balance with the average indoor climate - i.e. a room temperature of approx. 20 deg. C and an air humidity of approx. 50%. In Denmark the air humidity varies from the driest winter period to the most humid in summer between approx. 40 and 65%, which causes the humidity of the wood to  change from 8 to 13% - i.e. a difference of 5%.

Wood has the ability to absorb and emit moisture depending on its surroundings. As a result wood will expand in moist periods and contract in dry ones. In other places of the world there may be even larger fluctuations in temperature and air humidity.

This applies for both veneered and solid furniture, but especially solid furniture is sensitive to such fluctuations.

A Colourful Life

Some wood sorts change colour after unpacking. Sunlight triggers this process. The more sunlight, the more change in colour.

If you want to delay the process, do not expose your furniture to direct sunlight. In order to avoid markings from dishes, vases etc. make sure to move them regularly. When supplementing your Skovby furniture, please be aware that there will be a colour difference between new and previously purchased items.

To Knot or Not

Wood has knots. This is not a flaw but simply the natural marking of where the branch was attached to the trunk. Each piece of furniture is therefore unique as the graining, structure and color are created – designed – by nature.

This is precisely what makes wood so fascinating and well suited for furniture.

Minor variations in color and structure can therefore not be considered a flaw but indicate that each single part comes from different cuttings in the log or from different trees.