Latin America offering 'go-to' source for green
By Heath E. Combs -- Furniture Today, March 10, 2008
High Point — Part of the appeal of South American furniture producers in the last few years has been their efforts to tout sustainability.
From Forest Stewardship Council-certified woods to production of reclaimed timber furniture, Latin America has made a name for itself as one of the go-to places for eco-friendly furniture.
Passionate environmentalists like Peru-native Gerry Cooklin, founder of South Cone, helped put the spotlight on sustainability in the residential furniture industry in the United States. Cooklin's influence — contributing to the creation of groups like the Sustainable Furniture Council and guiding retailer eco-tours deep into the Amazon rain forest — has done much to raise awareness.
Illegal logging is by no means eradicated in Latin America. But sustainability efforts have helped protect the resources of timber-rich countries such as Bolivia.
Chapel Hill, N.C.-based From the Mountain, which has an office in La Paz, Bolivia, and works in Peru and Columbia, began sourcing sustainable furniture and handmade textiles and home accessories from Latin America in 1995.
From the Mountain's owner Susan Inglis said Bolivia embraced a national forest management plan in the mid-1990s. That effort helped put about 22 million acres of 79 million acres — close to double the amount of timberland in West Virginia — under forest management, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
About 5.4 million acres is certified as sustainable forest.
"It was very exciting. It led to producers in that country making a special effort to let the world know they have good wood and what they can make out of it," said Inglis.
Office and residential furniture producer Famossul, based in Brazil, has had FSC certification since 1999. Its main markets are in Europe and America, where it supplies big-box retailers. Its factory and sawmill are FSC-certified and it buys certified logs from a supplier.
The company sought certification as part of an initiative by German catalog retailer OTTO to have an FSC line, said Guido Graipel, a representative of Famossul.
The company showed at the recent Las Vegas Market, but Graipel said sustainable product still faces challenges in becoming more mainstream.
"Nobody wants to pay more to have FSC products. If it's a 5% difference between with FSC and without, 90% of customers prefer the cheaper," Graipel said.
In Europe, he added, "it's a little bit different — we have some customers who prefer FSC."
The wood products used in the production of contemporary furnishings by Brastilo, the U.S. marketing arm of Brazil-based paper, resin and furniture maker Irani, with $223.8 million in gross revenue, come entirely from specially planted and managed forests in the south of Brazil.
The eco-friendly efforts of its parent company included the installation of a renewable forest biomass-based, high-pressure boiler. That program led to Irani becoming one of the first Brazilian companies to be awarded carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol.
Underscoring a commitment to environmental protection gives Brastilo a unique story, said Jack Fisher, vice president of marketing.
Brastilo cultivates more than 40,500 acres a year in its pine forests, which yield over one million cubic feet of lumber annually.
"This is a story that a lot of furniture manufacturers cannot own. They purchase their raw materials, where we grow it," Fisher said. "For years, the American public had a view that the Amazon rain forest was being destroyed. Well, we want to tell a new and different story."
For some companies, the green story takes place in the background. For example, Guatemalan goods manufacturer Antigua is working with local groups like Reverdecer Guatemala, or Reforest Guatemala, to support replanting and reforestation efforts.
Consumer attitudes are changing, said Rex Murphy, a founding partner of Antigua.
"The awareness of the need for responsibly reforesting and building is an important thing. I think in coming years it will be more important," Murphy said.
The company buys some wood from certified producers and from tree farms. Certifying wood is still a challenge for producers, Murphy said.
"We try to buy as much of the certified woods as we can. To many of these (growers), certification signifies an additional cost. With tons of lumber leaving the country on a tree farm, it's a commodity. And farmers may say: Why would I want to go to an added expense? It's a reality of the market."
