Heard about the farmers who grow fields of… furniture?

Full Grown aims to grow fully functional furniture and fittings, bypassing the more traditional energy intensive furniture production methods.

Rather than chop down trees to make furniture — grow furniture!

Using ancient techniques combined with modern technology, Derbyshire-based Full Grown plant, grow, graft, nurture then harvest living trees into chairs, tables, lampshades, sculpture – anything you can imagine. The Full Grown business model is based on an environmentally sustainable ethos: it is far more sustainable to let nature grow a product than for that product to be made in the traditional energy intensive factory and supply chain.

“I wanted to grow the trees in the shape of chairs, mirrors, lamps and so on.” — Gavin Munro

To the casual observer it is a normal countryside scene. Deep among the Derbyshire Dales, young willow saplings stretch upwards towards sun. But upon closer inspection, laid out in neat rows in the middle of a field are what appears to be a somewhat unusual crop. It turns out these are actually upside-down chairs, fully rooted in the Derbyshire earth.

Slender young willows sprout out of the ground, then after a few inches the trunk becomes the back of a chair, the seat follows the back, and finally come the legs. The plant is tied to a blue form to guide its growth, and the entire thing is covered in leaves.

Surveying the scene is Gavin Munro, co-founder of Full Grown, the company he formed to put a childhood vision into practice."The concept is pretty straightforward. Rather than cutting down trees and making furniture I wanted to grow the trees in the shape of chairs, mirrors, lamps and so on." He told Elizabeth Hotson, for the BBC.

On the next row along, elegant spirals are growing around cylinders. These will eventually be used as hanging lamps (see below). There are also mirror frames, tables and hammocks.

Source: BBC