AHEC joined forces with Vogue magazine to present the results of the Natural Born Collective, AHEC’s creative collaboration with Polish design and timber engineering students from two key Polish universities. The graduate students worked under the guidance of renowned designer Tomek Rygalik to create four beautiful tables made with repurposed American Red Oak, from the Natural Born Red Oak chair project presented at the end of last year.
Building on the success of Natural Born, the design and engineering students received an in-depth material workshop and had the chance of visiting the furniture manufacturer Swallow’s Tail to learn more about working and designing with American Red Oak. The AHEC team developed a video summarizing the project, which was premiered at the online event with Vogue, and which has been shared as a press story in Poland and around Europe.
The online event with Vogue also provided an opportunity to develop a series of talks with key Polish designers and thinkers, focused on wider topics such as the importance of sustainable design. The speakers included AHEC’s European Director David Venables and some of AHEC’s recent collaborators, such as designers Maria Jeglinska from the Connected project, who talked in length about her experience designing with American Cherry and Magda Hubka, from Swallow’s Tail, who talked about her work with American Red Oak. The event had a duration of 2.5 hours and was streamed live through Vogue Poland’s social media channels. The recorded event has already had more than 28,000 views and counting!
For more information on the American Hardwood Export Council and our promotional activities around the globe, visit us at www.americanhardwood.org. For membership information, contact Tripp Pryor at tpryor@ahec.org or visit www.ahec.org.
