Papa Theo: Sustainable and Fair Trade Furniture for your Home
19 October 2009
We at Papa Theo believe in building trusting relationships with our skilled wood carvers in Bali, Indonesia. We contribute to the community as well as sourcing our packing materials and having our brochures printed locally.
There is no fair trade mark or label yet developed for furniture products and limited guidelines to follow, so we create our own principles based on a trusting relationship and our ethos as a company.
We now exclusively use Mango wood which is a sustainable resource. Mango trees are large trees grown for their fruit and they can reach up to 100 feet in height and 5 feet in diameter.
However, once the Mango trees reach this kind of size they do not produce fruit. So, farmers cut down these trees to make way for new fruit bearing Mango trees and sell or use the wood from the older trees to provide additional income for the plantation. Typically, due to the very nature of the Mango tree the forests are continually replenished.
Harvesting Mango wood also prevents other types of tree from being use, such as Teak and Mahogany.
Mango wood comes in a number of different shades from very light to very dark so can be used as an adept replacement for more endangered woods.
Mango is a hardwood with a pronounced grain which Papa Theo use for its various mirrors, pillars, candlesticks, lamps, shelves & pelmets, corbels, occasional furniture and smaller items such as trays and towel racks.
Due to the unique relationship with our wood carvers we can personally vouch for the difference we make to their community, for example we donated to the building of a family template and were invited to the opening ceremony.
We visit our team in Bali twice a year and we shall be posting more pictures of our visits in our new blog!
