Dezeen Magazine

One For Hundred plants 100 trees for every piece of wooden furniture sold

One For Hundred plants 100 trees for every piece of wooden furniture sold

One for Hundred is a furniture brand based in Austria that produces more wood than it uses.

Founders Anna and Karl Philip Prinzhorn are aiming to disrupt the design industry with their environmentally conscious business, which sees them plant 100 new trees for every piece of wooden furniture that they sell.

Their collection, exhibited during Vienna Design Week, is made using only wood harvested from their own forest, located on the outskirts of the city.

One For Hundred plants 100 trees for every piece of wooden furniture sold

"We know that the big dealers in Europe sell a lot of wood to manufacturers in China, especially oak wood, where it is then turned into veneered, often mass-produced and low-quality furniture," Anna Prinzhorn told Dezeen.

"It is then shipped around the globe, where it might end up in one of the big discount furniture stores, maybe even near the forest where the whole process started," she continued.

"This thought made me believe it is time to disrupt and change the way things are done in the furniture industry. We hope we can contribute to this change a tiny bit and offer people a different approach to buying their furniture."

One For Hundred plants 100 trees for every piece of wooden furniture sold

One for Hundred's products include Bar X, a console table featuring crisscrossing legs, and Join, an extendable dining table.

Shadow is a sideboard featuring slatted sliding doors, which create geometric panels when they overlap. There is also a suspended shelving system called Ribbon, and the matching Yogi bench and table inspired by traditional Austrian farmers' kitchens.

One For Hundred plants 100 trees for every piece of wooden furniture sold

Every piece is custom made to order, so is available in a choice of woods, colours and finishes. But each product is always primarily made from solid wood.

"The material plays the lead role in the designing process," added Prinzhorn.

"My aim is to design products that are affordable, customisable and flat-packable. My carpenters and I work closely together to adjust and optimise the designs to make manufacturing as cost-efficient as possible, while at the same time not making any compromises in terms of craftsmanship and high quality."

One For Hundred plants 100 trees for every piece of wooden furniture sold

The couple set up One for Hundred in 2016. They had previously lived and worked abroad, but after returning to Austria they took over management of a forest that has been in their family for seven generations.

They plant a mix of deciduous trees that are typical of our region, including ash and oak.

"The forest we live in has been owned by the family for over two centuries," said Prinzhorn. "So it's our duty and wish to hand it over in the best possible shape to the future generations."

"We want to cultivate sustainable forestry and to bequeath to our three children, not only a blooming natural habitat, but also a functioning, sustainable commercial forest."

One For Hundred plants 100 trees for every piece of wooden furniture sold

Prinzhorn hopes to encourage more designers to adopt the "tree to table" approach.

"The damages climate change has brought to our forest in the past 10 years are real and can be seen every day," she concluded.

"I think we as designers should be fore-thinkers per se and therefore do whatever we can to do business in the most environmentally friendly way possible."

One For Hundred plants 100 trees for every piece of wooden furniture sold

One For Hundred's collection was on show throughout Vienna Design Week 2018, which ran from 28 September to 7 October. It will also be presented at the Blickfang Vienna fair later this month.