From the Forest

The From the Forest display features projects that engage with questions around environmental stewardship and the sustainable use of wood and other plants. The pieces, by designers such as Playfool, Formafantasma, Gitta Gschwendtner, Mac Collins, Sebastian Cox, Fernando Laposse, Marjan van Aubel and James Shaw, prompt us to think about material use and its consequences, encouraging engagement with a topic that is now at the forefront of the debate around the climate crisis. Forests store carbon, purify water and air, and ensure natural biodiversity. But responsibly harvested wood can also provide livelihoods for people and be environmentally beneficial. As a material for making, wood is energy-efficient and sustainable and it even stores carbon after the tree is felled. From the Forest is part of the Make Good: Rethinking Material Futures programme, which invites practitioners from different disciplines ranging from science, design, forestry and academia to share research, knowledge and skills. Supported by the designer and furniture maker John Makepeace OBE, the programme encourages ideas of stewardship of natural resources and considers the responsibilities of designers and consumers towards the natural world in a time of climate crisis. Starting in 2022, Make Good is a ten-year project that encompasses an annual display, symposium and programme of acquisitions dedicated to looking at the use of renewable, natural materials and the future of sustainable forestry in connection to design and architecture.