Words on Wood Podcast
Welcome to a sampling of the Words On Wood podcast produced by AHEC.
A podcast with episodes that dive into some of the fundamental issues surrounding forests and our relationships with them. Settle in for 30 minutes of cross-disciplinary discussion with conservationists, scientists, designers, and architects. Available anywhere you stream.
S1E1: Welcome to the Forest
Insights into the fundamental issues surrounding forests, and how these impact upon the timber that eventually ends up in buildings, products and furniture, with guests Sebastian Cox and Jameson French.
S1E4: Wood And Wellbeing
Hear about the opportunities to use timber within architecture and design to improve our mental wellbeing and physical health, with guests Alex de Rijke, Asif Khan and Amanda Sturgeon.
S2E1: Building With Timber
Given the opportunities and challenges facing the construction of tall timber buildings, what role does wood have to play in the future of our built environment? Engineer Andrew Lawrence and architect Lina Ghotmeh discuss the complexities of the issues.
S2E2: New Wood Technologies
Wood is an ancient material, but one that is still providing designers with new processes, forms and techniques. In this episode, the podcast talks to designers Sam Hecht, Yves Béhar and Elissa Brunato, all of whom have worked with wood as a cutting-edge material that can continue to reinvent itself. This episode was hosted by India Block and Oli Stratford and produced by Evi Hall.
S2E3: Old Crafts, New Ways
While technology and digital processes accelerate and permeate design, a number of designers have turned towards traditional craft processes to find contemporary modes of expression. Designer Stephen Burks and Orhan Niksic of Bosnian furniture brand Zanat join the podcast to talk about their approaches towards traditional woodwork and how 21st-century design can find fresh social resonances in timeworn techniques.
S2E4: The World Forest Id
Faced with the challenges posed by illegal logging, a global consortium of organizations has now turned to science to find a solution. The World Forest ID is a new initiative that uses georeferenced wood samples to be able to analyze any timber and discover where exactly it was harvested. In this episode, the podcast talks to the people behind the project and dives into the development of this new technology, examining how greater information about provenance may lead to better governance of the world’s forests.
Tree Shorts: American Cherry In Architecture
A bitesize episode exploring American cherry and all of its unique properties, featuring architect Ian Ritchie.
S3E1: Ash Under Threat
Season three of Words on Wood kicks off with an exploration of tree diseases through the lens of ash, looking into the risks posed to this tree species across North America and Europe by the invasive emerald ash borer insect and the fungus responsible for ash dieback disease. How do these threats spread through forests and affect timber and, once they have struck, what happens to the dead and dying trees? We speak to Sheridan Coakley, founder of SCP Furniture, about the recent One Tree project, challenging designers to create a piece using a felled tree suffering with ash dieback, and Emma Hudgins – an expert on invasive species.
S3E2: Thermally Modified Timber With Jan Hendzel And Kirsten Haggart
In episode two, the hosts examine the different ways in which humans have baked, charred and heated wood to create thermally modified timber (TMT). The episode includes interviews with furniture designer Jan Hendzel, timber consultant and researcher Neil Summers, and architect Kirsten Haggart of architecture studio Waugh Thistleton.Words on Wood is hosted by Oli Stratford and India Block, and produced by Evi Hall.
TREE SHORTS: White Oak
In this weeks tree short, we dive into the world of white oak – one of the most popular species across Europe. Host India Block speaks to architecture practice Maccreanor Lavington to find out more about the white oak used in the newly designed Ibstock place school refractory in South West London.
TREE SHORTS: Red Oak
A bitesize episode exploring American red oak and all of its unique features. Host Oli Stratford speaks to designer Tomoko Azumi about her experience working with the timber in her project for Legacy, where she designed a beautiful steam-bent boat seat for Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the Young Vic Theatre.
TREE SHORTS: Cherry
A bitesize episode exploring American cherry and all of its unique properties, featuring UK based designer Mac Collins.
TREE SHORTS: Walnut
In this bitesize episode, we explore American walnut and all of its properties and uses. The episode features an interview with Mira Nakashima, daughter of George Nakashima and now the creative director of George Nakashima Woodworkers, and gives us a valuable insight in her years of experience working with the material.
SPECIAL EPISODE: Kinetic Furniture With Benedetta Tagliabue
To celebrate the launch of Perpetuum Mobile, and the return of Milan Design Week, host Oli Stratford speaks to Benedetta Tagliabue, the director and head architect of the international firm Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT Architects.
Showing as part of the INTERNI Design Re-Generation exhibition event at the Università degli Studi of Milan, Perpetuum Mobile – The Dancing Furniture of Enric Miralles & Benedetta Tagliabue’s home, brings together recreations of nine of the furniture pieces and objects that the architect designed alongside his partner Benedetta Tagliabue for their home in Barcelona, Spain.
The exhibition includes tables, seating and shelving designed between 1992 and 1999, and reproduced in sustainable American hardwoods, but never put into commercial production. Although each piece is unique, they all demonstrate Miralles’ vision of the ‘house in motion’ – a domestic space in which each piece of furniture does not have a defined place or a set purpose, but can be moved or modified to meet the needs of the moment.
SPECIAL EPISODE: Kinetic Furniture With Benedetta Tagliabue
To celebrate the launch of Perpetuum Mobile, and the return of Milan Design Week, host Oli Stratford speaks to Benedetta Tagliabue, the director and head architect of the international firm Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT Architects.
Showing as part of the INTERNI Design Re-Generation exhibition event at the Università degli Studi of Milan, Perpetuum Mobile – The Dancing Furniture of Enric Miralles & Benedetta Tagliabue’s home, brings together recreations of nine of the furniture pieces and objects that the architect designed alongside his partner Benedetta Tagliabue for their home in Barcelona, Spain.
The exhibition includes tables, seating and shelving designed between 1992 and 1999, and reproduced in sustainable American hardwoods, but never put into commercial production. Although each piece is unique, they all demonstrate Miralles’ vision of the ‘house in motion’ – a domestic space in which each piece of furniture does not have a defined place or a set purpose, but can be moved or modified to meet the needs of the moment.