Country Pick
2017 /
/ Professional
Habitree
In 2016, Habitree launched a stylish and eco-
friendly Christmas tree made from Kebony, a
beautiful wood recommended by leading
architects. Danish designer, Jonas Støvring,
first developed the idea while working for a
microbrewery in Denmark which used Kebony to
build premium boxes for packaging their beer
bottles. The process of manufacturing these
boxes left the distillery with excess wood,
with which Jonas created a small tree as a way
of recycling the spare materials; the
resulting product was so striking that the
designer teamed up with entrepreneurs Søren
Bach and Jan Strandkvist to establish Habitree
as an individual start-up company.
Comprised of overlapping stacks of Kebony
wood, these unique and beautifully crafted
trees provide the ultimate alternative to the
typical Christmas Fir. The bespoke trees are a
minimalist, stylish and sustainable addition
to any household or workplace. Available
online the Habitree can be individually shaped
by the designer and decorated with candles or
more traditional decorations during the
festive season.
Kebony was selected by Habitree for its
aesthetically clean finish and sustainable
credentials. Developed in Norway, the patented
Kebony technology is an environmentally
friendly process, which modifies sustainably
sourced softwoods by heating the wood with
furfuryl alcohol - an agricultural by-product.
By polymerising the wood’s cell wall, the
softwoods permanently take on the attributes
of tropical hardwood including high durability
and dimensional stability, without the need
for tropical deforestation or environmentally
damaging treatment. The Habitree is produced
from FSC®-certified Kebony wood types.
As the Habitree can be reused each year (or
can be used all year-round) it reduces the
number of trees cut down each year during the
Christmas period. As such this unique indoor
tree is created for those who enjoy
Scandinavian design and want to celebrate
Christmas sustainably.
Photo Credit: Kebony
