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About the Founder

Ewelina E. Pankowska

Founder, Designer and Maker

My vision is to redefine and evolve what is currently recognized as sustainable furniture.

I have been designing & making furniture for 8 years and have not been able to stop challenging the current furniture industry. Every design is focused on comfort, quality, longevity, ease of repair, creative expression, production ethics, and preserving our natural world. Each necessity shapes my furniture ideas and results in designs that are evolving and improving with every year of wisdom.

I studied at OCAD University with a major in Environmental Design, and minor in Furniture Design. The many skills I gained there are tools I use everyday, but they do not compete with knowledge I learned from my entire life experience. Most importantly, I did not create Reforest Design without reflecting every person, place and thing of my entire journey, thank you.

I hope to teach and I hope to learn. 

Doing the Research

THE FORESTS NEED YOUR HELP

Sustainable design preserves earth's forests on which all life depends, and reduces global waste.

 

One and a half acres of forest is cut down every second, half of the worlds tropical forests have been cleared in only 100 years, and there is 9.8 million tons of furniture waste created every year. With the furniture industry responsible for approximately 15% of Earth’s deforestation and contributing to toxic wastelands, Reforest Design takes on the responsibility to find a balance between humanity and Earth through sustainable design.

Defining 'Sustainability' is challenging, and applying it even harder. Engineering pillars that will hold the sustainable ground becomes the first task. This means researching the needs of the people, planet and economy. Over 98% of large businesses fail at sustainable initiatives because it is really hard to move backwards. Starting with a sustainably defined ground is critical for success and reflected in the 96% success rate of 'new' sustainable launched products.

All the numbers and facts may be scary or have no meaning at first, but to be sustainable, is to be aware. Meaning comes with understanding, and it is why we use research as a tool to find wisdom.

"Research tells us true stories we never heard"

Below are true stories told by research

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The Facts
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Defining Sustainability

Reforest

DESIGNS for the FAR FUTURE

Production  

HANDMADE ON SALT SPRING ISLAND BC, CANADA

The production team will grow with furniture demand, right now it's just Ewelina. At a small scale, all parts are cut by hand with a router, jigsaw and table-saw. With high demand some parts are cut with a CNC machine, but that only reduces 50% of the workload, the rest is still done by hand. This includes holes, hardware, sanding and finishing (oil-wax). If the demand is still not met, even with the CNC, 'Emergency Pete' joins Ewelina at the studio.

Templates and jigs are designed to assure accuracy with all hand-work.

*Furniture pick-ups are offered for Victoria, Vancouver and Salt Spring Island, please inquire.

[MAIN CAST]

Direct Reforest Team

Ewelina E. Pankowska

Founder

Design, Production, Finishing, Packaging, Shipping, Photography, Graphic Design, Website Design, Content, Copywriting, Social Media+

[Team has a vison to expand]

[SUPPORTING CAST]

Indirect Reforest Team

Starting from the soil.

Like credits for a movie, this list is very long and elaborate. Click below to see all the details:

REFOREST TEAM: Soil to Consumer

THE TRUTH, THE MAGIC TRICK, THE WHOLE STORY

Values exposed through transparency,
not just models & icons.

Instead of posting icons of values and an elaborate business model in the About page, Reforest Design would like to offer something better: Transparency; see all the actions, intentions and values for yourself. This business has no secrets. You will find the standard summary of our many values in the 'Seed and Vision' page, but we welcome you to explore all the pages of the story (website, social media+) and challenge us with your questions.

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More on TRANSPARENCY
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The SEED and VISION

Reforest Design is

100% Transparent

Ask us a Question

THE LIST THAT WILL NEVER STOP GROWING

Sustainable benefits of Reforest Design

 

"Reforest furniture does not end up in the landfill."

Sustainable benefits:

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  • Wood-Free Material:  Reforest Design uses bamboo (a grass), which has greater strength than most hardwoods, is naturally anti-bacterial, can be harvested within 1-5 years, grows back when cut, and produces 30 percent more oxygen than a tree during its lifespan. Bamboo helps us preserve forests, no trees are harmed by our furniture.
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  • Natural Finishes: The protective solution used on all bamboo surfaces is a plant-based oil-wax polish. It is applied by hand with a cloth, and could easily by re-applied in the future without the hassle of sanding. Most finishes in the industry are made of toxic urethanes that make restoration inconvenient, resulting with furniture in our landfills. Our non-toxic user-friendly finishes make it easy to care for furniture over the years, no professional help necessary.
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  • Quality Materials & Hardware: Bamboo has the compressive strength of concrete and tensile strength of steel; compressed into a sheet material, it is close to invincible. Each part is made of a solid thick slab that could be sanded down over time to remove any dings or scratches. The slabs are matched with simple hardware of the best quality to ensure lifetime durability.
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  • Design Evolution through Research: This business is just a seed and counts strongly on consumer input to design pillars for the sustainable ground. All designs are shaped by consumer needs & the earths needs; listening and learning becomes our expertise. This also means that our designs will always be changing with those needs. Unlike most businesses, Reforest Design is well equipped for change and it truly makes it stronger. Tell us what you seek, tell us your story. 
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  • Lifetime Repair Service: Each major part of the furniture does not attach permanently (with glue), it uses hardware. This allows each piece to come apart for refinishing or replacing. Imagine an easy and convenient solution to a broken table leg; this furniture will last generations. A lifetime product may be hard to imagine with the ever-changing needs of our society, and in turn design, but we accept this reality and use it to our advantage. To offer a timeless product, all our furniture is designed for CNC machine production. In the future, each part will have a code so it could be reproduced even hundreds of years from now. Even if you are tired of your wonky legged 50 year old table, the leg could be replaced and given to someone who needs it - not the landfill.
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Lifetime Warranty: All manufacturing defects are covered by our warranty. This does not include regular wear & tear, abuse or weathering. Please not not hesitate to inquire of the details, even if it is a piece you've owned for many years. We would like to support you as best as we can.

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Free Shipping: A part of sustainability is learning your needs and undoubtedly, shipping fees are intimidating and often misleading. When your package weights 65lbs, it is natural to fear the shipping fee. To make your life a little easier, offer instant transparency for relief, and free you of the time you will spend making calculations, we account for shipping fees in our price. International fees do not include duties & taxes.

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  • Zero-Waste Design: All furniture is specially designed to reduce the 9.8 million tons of furniture waste that is created every year. The signature design of 'Lifetime Repair Service' parts allows for a product that will last centuries. Reforest Design furniture does not end up in the landfill. On the studio end, all bamboo waste is repurposed; many scraps are used for small projects and the ones that are too small are used to heat a cabin in the winter.
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  • Carbon-Neutral: One of our sustainable missions is to preserve our forests. Unfortunately, as most businesses, we still carry a carbon footprint through shipping practices. To offset our carbon footprint we will donate yearly to tree-planting organizations.
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  • Locally Manufactured: All of our furniture is handcrafted on Salt Spring Island, BC in Canada with some help from a CNC machine.
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Details.

  • Materials:

Bamboo Frame (FSC, CE, CARB and ISO Certified)
Natural Oil-Wax Polish (ISO Certified)

  • Design for Shipping (flat-packed):

Most items come flat-packed for assembly with hardware that is simple, easy and intuitive. This allows us to ship our furniture across North America and easily repair interchangeable parts.

  • Design for Luxury and Charm:

Our aesthetic design is inspired by Scandinavian, Contemporary, Mid-Century and Japanese furniture.

 

Visit all our pages for more details.