Organic Transformations - ecoDECO

snake island furniture, reclaimed wood, sustainable furniture, Patrick Loubert, Tyler Ganton, Angelo Travernaut

If you're looking for a unique piece of furniture with a great story, you need venture no further than Snake Island. Snake Island Furniture, a local upstart is reclaiming, reusing, and re-envisioning distinctive pieces of wood rescued from Toronto's wind and deadfall. (save the trees!) With the lowest possible environmental impact in mind, no new wood is ever cut for their artful creations. They begin with the natural material at hand and channel a clean, modern aesthetic to produce one-of-a-kind funky furniture that shows respect to the tree's original form.

Unique materials, innovative design and old world craftsmanship transform the once 'waste' trees into organic contemporary beauties. Their arborist claims the wood as local trees are cut down for removal. These imperfect slabs of blight-stricken butternut, majestic black walnut, burley cherry, Russian olive as well as Toronto Island's distinctive weeping willow are carefully rescued, then formed and finished by their master cabinetmaker with exacting standards of quality and finish.

Snake Island is a collaboration of Tyler Ganton, an eco passionate arborist, Patrick Loubert, designer and creative entrepreneur (also co-founder of Canadian film production company Nelvana), and the skilled craftsmanship of cabinetmaker Angelo Travernaut. "Usually these 'waste' trees are chopped into chunks and end up in landfill," says Tyler. "I realized that if we cut them bigger and lowered the pieces gently, we could save some to use. We mill and dry them ourselves; the gas we use to transport them is the same as if we were going to the dump." Patrick says: "One thing that separates us at Snake Island is that our natural wood is local and reclaimed rather than virgin forest shipped from Indonesia"

Look for unique coffee tables, sideboards, media units, stools, and dining room tables. They even produce bowls, which are really pieces of functional art - distinctive as the natural growth tress they come from, their bowls are hand formed and polished to organic perfection. Sealed with hemp, walnut, or tung oil, they are perfect for fruit, salad or simply bringing the outside in.

To further our adoration:

For every piece they sell they plant a tree! Check them out at: www.snakeislandfurniture.ca