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Top Italian Designer Works With AHEC to Promote Red Oak
AHEC’s European office staff recently approached Maurizio Riva, an Italian furniture
designer of international renown, to incorporate red oak into his popular Strong Box
Collection. AHEC Europe arranged for red oak donations through Italian importers and
distributors. The new collection was then displayed at the center of the Riva stand at the
Cologne Furniture Show last January. Although the company currently uses
predominantly white oak and American black walnut, Riva said at the Cologne
Furniture Show that he greatly appreciates red oak’s sustainability and its potential to
take pressure off of less populous forest resources.
Environmental issues are of great concern to Maurizio Riva; as with other Italian
furniture designers, his works use a lot of temperate hardwoods, especially cherry and
walnut. They also used Italian walnut, but supplies rapidly dwindled and these
designers are now cautious about potential overuse of any one species. This makes red
oak’s large supply even more attractive to these designers, especially as China and
several other countries currently share their large demand for walnut.
As important as sustainability is, red oak’s characteristics also made it a good candidate
for future designs.
Riva called the wood the “brother of European and American white oak with a color
that is warm and beautiful.”
He reported no problems in working the wood and compared it to American white
oak. While some of the darker veins were removed, the dark veins common in red oak
are clearly visible in some of the pieces chosen for display at Cologne. All in all, this is a
cooperation that benefited both the American forest industry and the Italian furniture
design industry.
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