This project was done by Denise Merlette, as her diploma project in Industrial Design at ECAL. Merlette seeks to turn what is considered by most furniture designers to be a useless part of the tree, the bark, into a useful resource.

"Barko is a research project aimed at reusing bark as a waste product in the wood industry. It accounts for 10% of the material processed in sawmills and is generally burnt."

"The idea is to recreate a bark-based finish for wooden furniture. The aim of this finish is to reproduce the protective function of bark against all external aggressions. It is applied to wooden furniture to make it more resistant."

"Inspired by ancient processes, I focused on finding solutions based on natural, recyclable products."

Merlette, who graduated last year, has since landed an internship with Erwan Bouroullec. Not too shabby!