The Dubai Wood Show was held on 4-6 April this year. The event is the biggest trade fair for timber products in the Middle East and North Africa region, although it also attracts visitors from India, Pakistan and East Africa. The MENA region is a key market for Swedish sawmill exports and Swedish Wood attended the trade fair for the third time, together with representatives from Swedish sawmills.
On 9 March Råå Preschool in Helsingborg was declared the winner of the Swedish Timber Prize 2016, one of Sweden’s best known architectural prizes, which is awarded to a building that represents good Swedish architecture in wood and that reflects and improves the times we live in. On Wednesday the prizewinner was presented with the Golden Horse trophy and prize money of SEK 100,000.
For most people, the pine lamp is synonymous with the 1970s. This year, final year students at Carl Malmsten Furniture Studies in Sweden were tasked with producing eight groundbreaking lamps in Swedish pine that are fit for life in 2016. The project is a collaboration between Carl Malmsten Furniture Studies, lighting company Ateljé Lyktan and Swedish Wood.
What happens when a group of Chinese designers visit Sweden, take in the Swedish nature, culture and lifestyle and then travel back to China and create furniture in Swedish pine for Chinese consumers? This was the premise of Swedish Wood’s project “Design for Sustainable Living” and the outcome has been an unusual journey, culminating in the unveiling of unique furniture at an exhibition in Shanghai on 20 January.
Swedish Wood will be announcing the 12th Swedish Timber Prize, in Sweden entitled “Träpriset”, architecture award on 9 March 2016. The jury has considered the 139 entries that were submitted by the deadline in January 2015. The competition is open to any type of structure, as long as wood forms a significant part of the design. It has to be fully completed, no more than four years old and available for the Swedish Timber Prize jury to visit.
China is committed to increasing the use of wood in future construction, as set out in a directive signed by China’s Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Chen Zhenggao. This is the first time that China has issued a directive to increase wood construction, and it represents a major breakthrough for the technique in the world’s largest construction market. The directive states that the use of wood is to be increased in contexts such as rooftop extensions, curtain walls, tourist facilities, schools, hospitals and other official buildings.
Today, Sweden mainly exports spruce to the Chinese furniture industry, but there is an increased interest in using pine for furniture in China. This was clearly noted during the furniture and interior design fair FMC in Shanghai on 9-12 September. The furniture exhibited by leading Chinese manufacturers on Swedish Wood's stand aroused considerable interest. All the furniture was made of knotty Swedish pine.
- Chinese furniture industry embraces Swedish wood Swedish Wood organised in May a study trip to Sweden for several of China's most prominent and large-scale furniture manufacturers between 4-9 May. The trip is part of a project aiming to increase the use of Swedish wood in furniture manufacturing in China. Swedish Wood is responsible formanaging the project in collaboration with the China National Furniture Association (CNFA). Participants on the trip included both representatives of corporate management and furniture designers from the Chinese companies.
His Excellency Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality, showed interest in modern wood building and furniture design in wood by visiting the inauguration of Swedish Wood's pavilion at the Dubai Wood Show, the largest trade fair for wood products in the Middle East. Ten Swedish sawmill companies were participating in the Swedish pavilion; together they represented about 70 % of Sweden's wood exports.
Acoustic calculation tools for timber structures are of major importance for the timber industry in order to overcome any uncertainties regarding prediction of their performance. Welcome to an exciting seminar arranged by the European project Silent Timber Build in cooperation with Swedish Wood and the Swedish Wood Building Council.
