LeaveTree Kitchens & Furniture

Long description

Each year approximately 8,8 million hectares of natural wood disappears: this is more than twice the size of the Netherlands. These woods are cut for the production of different commodities, including paper, furniture and kitchens. One small piece of furniture requires the cutting of at least one tree, and 30% of the tree is not even used for the production and thus classifies as waste!

This is why I invented LeaveTree material: this is 100% natural material that has the same strength and characteristics as MDF and can be widely used in the production of sustainable kitchens and furniture. LeaveTree is made of different waste materials that are left over in nature or in agriculture: mostly hay (combined with a unique nature-based glue) but also wood dust, straw, autumn leaves and vegetable and fruit waste. The goal is to organize the production in such a way that LeaveTree products are affordable for a larger audience.

Next to sustainability, this project is also socially relevant. I arrived to the Netherlands as a refugee myself in 2015 and after a few years I succeeded in setting up a kitchen company independently without any funding. The company currently only hires other refugees in order to make use of their talents that are often overlooked at the Dutch labour market. Also after upscaling the company, I want to focus on hiring as many refugees and disabled persons as possible. In that way, my company has a two-fold impact.

Additional Images