Context

The proposal seeks to provide a new market outlet for local types of wood in Catalonia with special and unique characteristics due to their beauty (often perceived as imperfections or defects, due to the presence of knots, large diameters, holes, rot and colouration, taper and curvatures, cankers and warts, etc.). Thus, in this context, the current destination of this wood does not generate any kind of productive economy for forestry (no or low price). That is why this innovative project offers an alternative for these woods, firstly, giving them the visibility they deserve and ‘dignifying’ them, and secondly, orienting them towards a ‘specialised’ market and retailers who value the uniqueness of wood just as it is, with its defects and imperfections as a source of beauty and differentiation, turning them into ‘unique pieces’ where the end customer is willing to pay the added value for the uniqueness of the raw material and its processing and final transformation. This added value will improve the forestry economics and orient forestry towards participation in a market that seeks product diversity and values proximity and short distribution circuits. The development of the project is based on the innovative process in the value chain from purchase, preparation (minimum pretreatment - sawing in the form of boules, avoiding the standard sizes already offered on the market) and drying, to marketing (with new formulas to connect supply and demand and sales channels) for this type of wood with special characteristics