If you’ve been following us on our journey of ridding South African waterways of water-thirsty, alien-invasive trees, then you’ll be familiar with our Amanzi Conscious Collection, which gives our customers a chance to be a part of our quest to rehabilitate natural environments – by choosing to make their furniture with a collection of alien invasive woods (thus increasing the demand for their removal from local waterways).
We’re always on the lookout for more invasive species that we can add to our collection and so far, we’ve gathered up four stunning solid woods: Cottonwood, Blackwood and Camphor – with our most recent wood being River Red Gum.
Image: www.woodsolutions.com.au
River Red Gum is an Australian-born wood and has a dark brown colour with rich, striking red undertones shining through. It is distinguished by its ‘fiddleback’ pattern – originating from its wavy grain.
This wood, however, is a major invasive in Western Cape rivers as it grows particularly well in this region. And ever since it was introduced to South Africa in the mid to late 1800’s, it has spread like wildfire!
Thankfully, efforts are underway to target this invader. Just take a look at our example below, of a clearing operation at the Breede River (carried out by the Working for Water foundation) and its consequent replenishment.
Beyond discovering River Red Gum as a wood suitable to use in our Amanzi Conscious Collection, we were pleasantly surprised to discover its incredible resilience and durability when testing it as a wood for outdoor furniture.
Above image shows Danish oil used to prevent River Red Gum wood from absorbing the rain.
And its appearance…well, it’s unreal! It’s all-natural beauty, and while some OILS may enhance its brilliant red colour – the red inherent in the wood does all the heavy lifting.
The allure of River Red Gum is twofold: by sourcing this wood locally, rather than importing it, we are able to offer luxury solid wood furniture at competitive prices, and we are also able to stick to our core philosophy, which is respect for the environment in all we do!
If you’d like to show your respect for the environment, then make sure you shop sustainable furniture – stop by at your nearest Homewood showroom and get a first-hand feel of this stunning solid wood (samples will be available in our showrooms towards the end of May).
