Urban Trees Get a Fresh Start as Furniture

Quick Smiles:

• Thousands of felled city trees are being transformed into furniture with local history.
• Fallen & Felled saves timber that would otherwise be chipped or burned, turning it into lasting pieces.
• Each item carries a unique story, with some wood bearing marks from historic events.

Furniture maker Bruce Saunders saw possibility in the trees lining London’s streets. Noticing that most hardwood was imported despite the city’s abundance of trees, he co-founded Fallen & Felled to rescue urban timber destined for waste.

“There are enough trees in London for it to be designated a forest,” says Saunders.

Fallen & Felled transforms these trees into furniture, preserving both material and memory. Saunders and his team believe that when a tree’s life ends, its story can continue through new creations.

“It’s nice to think that a tree has seen history, perhaps hundreds of years of history. Who knows what it’s witnessed? We like the idea that when its life is over, that history can continue,” says Patrick Welsh, who joined the company in 2020.

Some wood even documents the past—like a kitchen counter slab marked by wartime shrapnel, to the delight of a historian client.

Other timber from old golf courses or city streets lives on in cabinets, counters, and tabletops throughout London. Fallen & Felled’s approach helps reduce carbon emissions significantly; in 2023, they rescued 120 city trees, preventing around 122 tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere.

“When trees grow in forests, they can wait decades for a free spot of sunlight to appear in the canopy. In the urban environment, they grow much faster, so fairly regularly you get more colour in the timber – what we call flaming,” Saunders explains.

The team values the unique character found in urban wood, seeing beauty where some see flaws. Fallen & Felled is now preparing to relocate to Camden, reinforcing its commitment to giving city trees a second life.

“The simple truth is that trees die: they don’t last forever. If one is going to come down, we’d prefer to turn it into something new,” Welsh shares.

Fallen & Felled’s work proves that with creativity, sustainability can bring new stories and beauty to our daily lives.

Keep rooting for positive change—discover more inspiring stories in our next issue!

Source