Working with Wood festival, Knysna

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..

Fine design and craftsmanship from Fechters on display

Traditional skills from Timber village