Sylva Foundation

Want to join our community of wood based businesses at the Sylva Wood Centre? Our start-up bench spaces are designed to help establish new businesses, providing making space and access to machinery. Visit our blog for details: #wood #furniture #woodworking #woodcentre #startup

Ready to take your first steps into the furniture-making industry? Applications are now open for our 6-week course, offering hands-on training, technical skills, and the support you need to build your confidence and pursue a career in furniture. Whether you’re a recent graduate, career switcher, or looking for an entry point, this programme is tailored for you. The course is part of our Woodworking and Gender Project. For full details and how to apply please see our blog.

We are excited to be working in partnership with Forest Canopy Foundation, Nicholsons and Grown in Britain on an innovative new project known as Biodiverse Farm Canopies (BFC). The project will support biodiversity uplift in England’s woodlands. By enhancing woodland condition through effective long-term management plans, owners can generate valuable biodiversity units, opening a new revenue stream while contributing to local nature recovery. The BFC project is set to address key barriers facing woodland owners looking to enter emerging biodiversity markets in the UK. These include limited awareness, market uncertainty, and high upfront costs of developing investment-ready woodland management schemes. This project is funded by the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund (NEIRF) provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and administered by the Environment Agency. For more details see our blog or to speak to member of the project team, please call 01869 340350 or email info@forestcanopyfoundation.co.uk #forestry #land #woodlands #trees #farming #biodiversity

Last week we attended the film screening and panel discussion on the 'Future of Timber'. This event was organised by Evolving Forests to launch their website and film, funded by Built by Nature. The film highlighted the opportunities to get more timber into building and importantly what this means for our forests.  Sylva’s Director of Operations, Paul Orsi, joined the panel with Kate Davies of Architectural Association's Hooke Park, James Solly of Format Engineers and Tom Bedford of UK Hardwoods Ltd. There was a real interest from the audience and the panel on how to better connect tree growers and timber users. This is not a new issue but nevertheless one that we have not resolved. There was also discussion on the need for more complex and resilient forests and the issues that causes for the timber supply chain. We’d like to thank Evolving Forest and Jez Ralph for inviting us to the event. https://lnkd.in/dUr-vJrc

We recently had the absolute pleasure of hosting our second Woodworking and Gender seminar ‘Carving Change’, and what an incredible experience it was! The weekend was filled with powerful moments. We heard from incredible speakers, including Camilla McLean and Gregory Stone (from Matthew Cox), Brogan Cox (from Sebastian Cox Ltd) and Duncan Doig (Doig Furniture Ltd), who shared valuable insights about creating meaningful change in the industry. Phoebe Oldfield, Dr Lynn Jones, Katy Thompson, and Tereza Kupcikova shared their truly inspiring journeys of challenges, successes, and perseverance. We are so grateful to everyone who attended ‘Carving Change,’ our incredible Wood team Joseph Bray, Phil Gullam and Cathrin Poppensieker, and Woodworking and Gender project steering group and supporters. The event also marked the launch of our new project website and woodworking and furniture-making industry survey - whether you’re a sole trader, educator, student, or part of a larger company, your input is vital to shaping how we engage with education and industry in the coming years. We'd really appreciate you taking a few minutes to complete it. For more details on the event, website and to complete the survey please visit our blog. Acknowledgement statement: The Woodworking and Gender project is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Conran Foundation, The Mila Charitable Trust, Benchmark Furniture Ltd, Vastern Timber Ltd. Thanks to their generous support and National Lottery players, together we will ensure future generations of skilled and resilient women and non-binary woodworkers are able to support the woodworking heritage of this country for years to come.

For the third year in a row Paul Orsi, Sylva Foundation’s Director of Operations, donated two days of his time to support undergraduates and those on degree level apprenticeships at Harper Adams University. The focus this year was on woodland creation (as part of a wider Forestry Module) and Paul was able to show the students how they could use myForest to support their woodland creation assignments and help ensure they propose considered designs for new woodlands. Paul highlighted the opportunities and challenges facing forestry in the UK and the work Sylva is involved with to help meet these challenges and make the most of the opportunities. The sessions focused on how the woodlands we establish now will mature in a potentially very different climate, and how careful design and planning can build in resilience and better outcomes. At the end of the session students were able to generate high quality output maps and plan documents using myForest Woodland Creation Plan, designed collaboratively through an ELMS Test and Trial. Nick Covarr, Lecturer in Forestry & Woodland at Harper Adams University said: "Massive thank you to Paul for bringing his experience and enthusiasm for woodland creation to our classrooms. myForest makes woodland creation and management accessible to everyone and is a great way of supporting our students to articulate their ideas as they develop their knowledge and skills in forestry. Sylva Foundation and their forestry tech solutions are now an integral part of the way we teach woodland management at Harper Adams." For more details on myForest visit https://lnkd.in/eT8ms2CW #woodlandmanagement #forestryeducation

Take part in our Woodworking and Gender Equality 2024 Survey Are you part of the UK’s Woodworking or Furniture-making industry? If so, we want to hear from you, whether you are an employer, worker, teacher or student. You are invited to take part in our national survey exploring gender equality. Take the Survey: https://lnkd.in/eTjN_-4a The survey is part of the Woodworking and Gender Project which aims to empower people of marginalised genders to pursue sustainable careers in woodworking, revitalising a shrinking industry and supporting education to build a more inclusive and skilled future. We’re reaching out to people of every gender in the woodworking and furniture industry—whether you’re a sole trader, a joiner, a cabinet maker, or part of a larger company, or work or study in education—because your experiences and opinions matter. We want to understand your career journey so far, and perspectives on your future career: *What opportunities and challenges have you encountered while building a meaningful and satisfying career? *How do workshop and company culture or education influence your job satisfaction, sense of safety, and feeling of being valued? *Has gender identity shaped your experiences in the industry or education? Our Woodworking and Gender Equality 2024 Survey is your chance to share your voice and help us identify ways to create more inclusive and supportive workplaces across the industry. Please take part in the survey. Thank you #gender #equality #diversity #woodworking #furniture #industry

We are delighted to welcome Dr Eleanor Tew MICFor to our trustee board. Eleanor is currently Head of Forest Planning at Forestry England. She studied Biological Sciences at the Department of Zoology, Oxford University followed by a PhD in the Conservation Science Group at Cambridge University. In 2022, she was awarded the Hugh Miller Award for Excellence by the Institute of Chartered Foresters for her Professional Membership Entry application and was shortlisted for the institute’s Professional Forester of the Year 2024. Last year she led a horizon scanning exercise with diverse contributors from across the forestry sector. She was lead author of the resulting research paper (co-authored with our CEO) which highlights opportunities for the next 50 years but also warns of multiple emerging threats to woodlands, including tree disease and extreme weather. Eleanor has technical knowledge and experience in natural capital and ecosystem services, forest resilience and sustainability, and forest planning, and will bring her innovative approaches and strategic thinking to the charity’s Environmental programme. Her academic research credentials will also support Sylva Foundation’s Science programme. Commenting on her appointment, Eleanor Tew said: “I am delighted to be joining Sylva Foundation’s trustee board. Sylva Foundation is a charity that I have long admired and had the pleasure to work alongside, and I am excited to now be more formally involved in the charity’s work. I hope that my experiences bridging academic research and practical forest management will be valuable. I am also particularly interested in supporting our future generations and promoting gender equality, which is central to the Sylva Foundation.” #trustees #forestry #environment

Sylva is now on Bluesky! We abandoned the other place long ago and have been waiting to jump aboard the next good platform. Join us there! Looking forward to sharing news, views and activities as we continue our work nurturing a wood culture, growing a future. #forestry #wood #environment #bsky https://lnkd.in/eDxA3Bi6

We won! We are delighted to announce that our Ebworth Stools collection, designed and manufactured in collaboration with the National Trust, has won the Furniture Production category at this years Wood Awards. The elegant, limited-edition Ebworth stools have been created using trees felled on the Ebworth Estate due to ash dieback – a disease which could kill up to 80% of ash trees across the UK, according to The Woodland Trust. The collection entails three different designs – each inspired by a stool in the National Trust’s collection – and has been produced in small batches by students at Sylva Foundation’s wood school. “From their elegant design and sustainable nature, through to the story which these wooden furniture items tell – charting their journey from woodland to workshop and on to the end user – the Ebworth Stools embody the principles of the Wood Awards” Sebastian Cox, lead judge of Furniture and Objects. By creating beautiful, high-quality products from certified Grown in Britain, the Sylva Foundation and National Trust are bridging the gap between education and practice – while illustrating the importance of active forest management. The Wood School team share this award with three cohorts of Professional Course students who have year on year produced such fantastic quality work, and we thank our client and collaborator, the National Trust, for having faith in our unique furniture making course. Joseph Bray (Head of Wood School) collected the award on behalf of the Sylva Foundation, accompanied by Senior Tutor Phil Gullam. Read more on our blog: https://lnkd.in/eFvyY5H3