Our Triton team recently visited South Africa to meet
woodworkers and gather information to share on the Triton blog. We met some
interesting and talented woodworkers, from an independent craftsman making
beautiful wooden surfboards, to a modern factory reproducing traditional
designs. We will share their stories with you over the next few weeks.
This is the first of our stories from Knysna, a traditional
timber and woodworking town situated on the coast in Western Cape at the foot
of South Africa. Knysna originally
developed as a timber town to support the growing colony in Cape Town, and the ‘Working with Wood Festival’ was
organised in support of the Knysna Timber Initiative (KTI), a non-profit
association of stakeholders in the timber industry, including local government.
The festival is held at Timber Village, an extraordinary woodyard and craft
centre and a real melting pot of information and ideas for woodworkers. We will take you on a tour round the Timber
Village in more detail in another post.
In addition to the main site, festival visitors were also
able to visit local timber factories in Knysna and surrounding areas to see how
local wood products are made, and to buy locally manufactured items. All aspects of timber production was on show
- from young tree seedlings, timber harvesting and milling technology, to fine
furniture and craft products - all made by local individuals or
businesses. The Working with Wood
Festival hopes to inspire and grow interest in the town’s heritage, and to
spread the word that specialist knowledge and skills both in forestry and fine
timber production are still flourishing in Knysna today..
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| Fine design and craftsmanship from Fechters on display |
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| Traditional skills from Timber village |
