Sign in with Google
Sign in with email
For its latest range of furniture, American design studio Earth To People looks to the past to design for the present and the future. The studio's debut furniture design collection, Salvage & Sap, comprises a sconce, a floor lamp, a table lamp, an armchair and a chair design, crafted in 2024. Continuing the series, the studio unveils a stool, two wall sculptures, a side table and another floor lamp this year.
In contrast to synthetic glues used in most mass-produced furniture, the practice uses pine sap as an adhesive for the collection's wooden furniture pieces. Founded by Jordan & Brittany Weller in 2023 in New York, United States, Earth To People has bases in Texas and British Columbia, and is driven by ancient stewardship, along with a love for hand-crafted designs.
According to the studio, the utilisation of tree sap as glue dates back to 45,000 years, possibly 2,00,000 years ago, making it one of the earliest glues ever used. Reviving ancient techniques of harvesting sap, the studio collects accumulated sap from a fallen tree, estimated to be over 300 years old, by chipping away its surface. The furniture designers hew and plane a single slab of wood by hand, carving wooden dowels from the remaining wood to make fasteners. Using repurposed cedar wood and salvaged aluminium, Salvage & Sap underlines the importance of sustainable design.
"Trees usually produce more sap than needed to heal wounds, so it proves to be an incredibly renewable resource. As the sap rolls down the trunk of the tree, it collects considerable debris, dirt and other wood pieces, so it is heated up in a pot until it becomes liquid before being filtered through metal mesh and a cheesecloth. The result: a purified pine resin and potent glue," the project's press release explains.
Grown up in British Columbia—where a long history of unethical and harmful logging practices led to damaged ecosystems and destroyed habitats— Jordan values transparency and sustainability. "In our current era, consumers rarely know where the wood that makes their furniture comes from. With Earth To People, special care has been taken to ensure comprehensive tracking, pinpointing each log's provenance with precise GPS coordinates," as the press release states. After extraction, the wooden slabs are naturally dried alongside the Mamquam Blind Channel in British Columbia's Squamish. From sourcing the materials to processing and crafting them, the American designers rely on sustainable practices, being mindful of the impact of their actions on the environment.
The series' contemporary designs—comprising a floor lamp, sconce and table lamp—are a nod to the ancient, strenuous practices of extracting and processing metal, which resulted in the repurposing of the materials.
The Sap designs minimise wastage of resources by utilising all parts of the tree, featuring roughly cut cedar slabs and shingles, stitched with hand-woven cedar bark cordage. For the Sap wall sculptures, a pair of wooden elements is placed in dialogue with each other while highlighting the natural knots and grains of wood. The Sap stool is an angular intervention that uses sharp angles for visual impact, while the Sap side table has a cuboidal geometry with layered surfaces.
The rough, unfinished aesthetics of the product designs embody its labour-intensive craftsmanship, prioritising their utilitarian nature. By intentionally exposing the joinery of the elements, Earth To People emphasises the use of tree sap as a binding agent. Combining traditional crafting techniques with a contemporary approach, the sustainable designs highlight the inherent qualities of the materials. Employing this approach down to the smallest details—such as cushions made of organic cotton, hemp canvas and cedar shavings—the practice challenges careless extractive practices and underlines our responsibility towards the environment.
What do you think?