Our Story
From rebuilding South Devon’s forest legacy, to creating a new wave of timber creations, our story began long ago, and continues with our current goals.
HOW WE GOT HERE
Our home is Woodlands Yard in South Devon. It was once the driving force of Britains rural regeneration hopes for forestry and timber.
Timber was milled here, hundreds of foresters were trained here and new silvicultural techniques were pioneered. The yard is nestled on the side of North Woods, which is a nationally important living library of tree work.
WOODLAB'S JOURNEY
Over the centuries, British woodland cover has diminished and become more fragmented, causing a decline in biodiversity. Timber imports have risen whilst the English timber industry declines, with fewer young people entering to learn the ways to care for our trees, and produce or cut timber.
Our founder Al was a student of new forestry economic models and in 2014 travelled across the world researching new ecological forestry methods.
Woodlab Studio was founded in 2023 as the most recent member of a family of initiatives that have been pioneering new ways to help regenerate British woodlands and nature more generally, since 2015.
After years spent travelling, researching, modelling and piloting, Al sought to commandeer a knackered old tractor shed in Woodlands Yard, that he’d had an eye on for some time, with the intention of starting a WoodHub.
Our work began life with the intention of teaching people wood skills, supporting those working in the timber sector, and to act as a hub to bring together professionals that can help get more local timber to market. The primary goal was to help more woodlands become healthier and more ecologically-managed.
We then began bringing our artistic backgrounds to the table and channelling them into producing wonderful wooden objects. Later we challenged ourselves to see if we could create a 220m² eco-home using only diseased wood from our woodland or other similar local timber. The short answer to that story is… nearly.
Little Barton Rise was born and is where we show off our skills to clients now and again.
DON'T BRAG
Over the years at Woodlab Studio we collected some of the finest makers around. We don’t like to ’name drop’ but many of them have cut their teeth making wooden things for some ‘big names’ you definitely would have heard of.
Come and see who makes the whole thing work.
Call us on 01803 868 978 to talk about your project.