There’s music in old trees thanks to Robin Wood’s craftsmanship

Robin Wood saves old city trees by turning them into gorgeous music boxes.

Robin Wood: savior of city wood

Every year, thousands of trees get cut down in the Netherlands; either because they’re too old, or because a road needs to be placed there or soemthing else. These city trees are saved by ‘citywood’ and Rob Wood then turns them into beautiful music boxes.

no anonymous trees

Rob de Looff is furniture maker. Three years ago he decided to turn to music boxes from old city wood. He calls his business Robin Wood. He gets the city trees from’city wood’ which saves them from being shredded. Rob then gives them a new, beautiful purpose. And of course, he is ‘Rob, who works in wood.’

Some of the trees that get cut down stood in the city for over a hundred years. They have a past and a story. Rob makes sure they don’t disappear.

None of the trees are anonymous. All sorts and their origin are labelled. In the beginning, Rob went to markets in different cities a lot. He then brought music boxes made from wood from that particular city, so that the wood may return to the city.

a unique gift

No two boxes are the same. This is because every type of wood has his own qualities, look and colours. But every tree is unique as well, which causes every box to look different.

At the bottom of the box, there’s a number with which people can see which tree was used to make the box. Often, Rob will engrave a text, name or date of birth, making the boxes even more unique. 

Rob makes different typesof models, from small boxes to ones with a mechanic that you have to wind up yourself, to boxes that play automaticallt when you open them.

On his website you can choose which model you want, which type of wood, which music and what you want to have engraved in it. This way you can get a unique and personalized gift. Whether you gift it to your newborn child, or nephew or niece, or just to yourself.