On 28 October the ADI Design Museum in Milan hosted the official prize ceremony for the FSC Furniture Awards, the competition created by Forest Stewardship Council® to support companies and dealers who choose FSC certification for their wooden products.
The label identifies the sustainable origin of wood, ensuring sourcing from correctly managed forests, in keeping with rigorous standards in relation to the environment, the society and economics, established and evaluated by the Forest Stewardship Council International. Italy is in second place in the international rankings and in first place for Europe for FSC Chain of Custody certifications.
The fourth iteration of the FSC® Furniture Awards selected the Polish company Gala Meble to receive the prize for sustainable sourcing policies in the field of wooden furnishings. The same prize in the Dealers category went to the German T&S Home & Living GmbH. Two Danish companies took prizes in the Brands category: Kvist Industries A/S (Producers) and llva A/S (Dealers).
The award for best communication (promotional activities, web and social network ad campaigns on FSC certification) was one by the Italian firm Stosa, a family business specialized in kitchens (Producers), and the French company Pier Import (Dealers). The FSC Producer of the Year award went to Hammerbacher, based in Germany (Indoor) and the Italian Euroform K. Winkler (Outdoor). Finally, the FSC Dealer of the Year in the German group Otto.
Prior to the ceremony, a discussion was held on the figure of wooden furniture, moderated by Antonella Andriani, Vice-President of Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI); Omar Degoli, President of the Circular Economy group of European Furniture Industries Confederation (EFIC); Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile; Jeremy Harrison, Chief Markets Officer of FSC International; Diego Florian, Director of FSC Italia.
How did the initiative begin? Thanks to its versatility, strength and readiness for different types of workmanship, as well as its intrinsic beauty, wood is one of the materials most often utilized in the world of furnishings. This is why in various countries and regions, including the European Union and the United Kingdom, standards are being developed and applied to ensure sustainable sourcing of the material. As reported by lnterpol, illegal cutting of forests represents 50-90% of all forestry activity in the main tropical supply areas (Amazon basin, central Africa, Southeast Asia): this is equal to about 15-30% of all the timber on the global market.
On the wave of the motto “Better living, healthy forests,” in 1993 the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) was formed as a non-governmental non-profit organization that promotes responsible forest management all over the world, through an international network that involves NGOs, environmentalist and social groups, native communities, forest ownership, industrial companies that work with and market wood products, large retail groups, researchers and technicians, for a total of 900 members.
Since 1994 FSC has initiated forestry certification as a parameter of responsible management of the forests of the world. In 2001 FSC Italia began, as a non-profit association that shares the objectives of FSC International on the market of forestry products (wood, paper, cork).
