as the grown chairs may take as long as 10 years before they are grown, harvested and finished. Full grown are using permaculture ideas to help with pest control and tending the field. Design The chairs are based on 18th century "Shaker" with some mid-century Scandinavian design centering around the idea the function is intrinsic to usefulness. The chairs are grown upside down. Exhibitions The National Craft Centre - Lincoln, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen - Rotterdam, Netherlands Tutti Cortex gallery - Rotterdam, Netherlands Little Moreton Hall - Cheshire, UK - National Museum of Scotland - Edinburgh, UK Bought one of the willow chair prototype. Displayed at New design gallery (Permanent Collection) Process of tree shaping The trees are trained along pre-defined routes following a blue plastic mold. The growing tip is shaped and held in place with small plastic clasps. The trees are gently manipulated to create the exact shape of chairs, tables, mirror frames or lamps. You can't force the trees as a tortured branch dies back and will reshoot elsewhere. The shaping can be inch-by-inch over the span of a few years. One tree has been planted specifically to grow each piece. Some of the pieces use grafting as part of the design. This process of growing the piece take somewhere between 4–8 years. During this time a piece thickens and matures before being harvesting in the winter. Once seasoned over several months the pieces are planed, cleaned back and polished to show the wood grain. Items growing/grown Chairs Tables Lampshades Mirror frames Tree types Gavin Munro company Full Grown uses the following kinds of trees: They mainly use willow as it grows fast and is relatively easy to work with. They like the idea of offering other varieties such as cherry, oak and a personal choice of ash. Partly to give a range of choice for customers and also to spread the risk of disease. Ash is easily prone to getting fungal disease and die back." To grow a finished chair takes about four to five years with willow. It can take nine or more years to grow a chair in oak. Ash Willow Oak Sessile oak Red oak Sycamore Crab apple Hazel See also References British furniture makers Forestry in the United Kingdom