Sonian Wood Coop

How do you get the Forêt de Soignes into the living rooms of Brussels residents?

From observation to the birth of a project

Stephan is a teacher and researcher specialising in the circular economy at ULB. His expertise, combined with his immediate proximity to the Forêt de Soignes, has led him to point out the absurdity of a system that is well established: the vast majority of beech and other hardwoods from the Forêt de Soignes fill sea containers bound for China. The greedy Asian giant imports large quantities of European wood, which is then processed to meet the needs of Chinese consumers or returned to us in the form of "made in China" furniture or toothpicks!

In addition to the environmental aberration of the thousands of kilometres involved in these round trips, it is also the added value of the processing of these woods that goes abroad, signing the death warrant for the sawing capacity of certain species on our soil. Far from giving in to the temptation of fatalism in the face of this situation, Stephan decided to throw a bottle into the sea on social networks. And there's more than just nonsense on Facebook, as it was through the organisation of an apéro-causerie with people potentially interested in short circuits and the promotion of local wood that he made two key encounters: Benjamin Moncarey, a joiner and designer keen to work with local wood, and Dirk Boonen, a woodcutter working for forestry companies and motivated by the idea of seeing the fruits of his labour promoted in Belgium.

Beyond the idea and a shared motivation, the challenge of funding to bring a project to fruition then arose. An equity crowdfunding campaign was launched in 2019 and quickly attracted the support of citizens, public authorities and businesses, raising nearly €30,000 to buy the first batch of standing timber. The Société Royale Forestière also contributed to this fundraising effort.

Purchases in private forests

The possibility of buying off-the-shelf and negotiating directly with owners naturally led the fledgling cooperative to turn first to private timber sales.

In addition to the terms and conditions of sale, private owners have another special feature: a human relationship. The attachment that forest owners can have for their trees is a special ingredient. Today, owners sometimes contact the cooperative on their own initiative.

Stephan recalls an experience with a landowner who reluctantly had to decide to have trees harvested in order to rejuvenate his forest. Extremely keen to see his property valued with respect, the Sonian Wood Coop initiative was almost therapeutic for him.
! Aware of the owner's attachment to his trees, the Sonian Wood Coop team was careful to inform him of the planned felling dates so that he could organise a little farewell party for his trees. Since then, he has contacted Sonian Wood Coop directly when he has lots to harvest. He was also delighted to learn that some of the ash trees he had felled had become... bicycles, thanks to Zafi Cycles, a young Brussels company specialising in the manufacture of wooden bicycle frames.

While this example may seem anecdotal, it does highlight the growing interest and sensitivity of private owners towards meaningful initiatives. When an owner spends decades investing his time and energy in caring for his forest, the prospect of seeing his work transformed into local products with high added value is far more attractive than seeing his trees sent to the other side of the world to end up as popsicle sticks.

Today, Sonian Wood Coop also buys plots in public forests. There are no exclusions on the type of owner, but rather a radius of action: 35 km from the Grand-Place.

Products on offer

Another challenge facing the hardwood sector is to bring producers and processors closer together. Meeting this challenge is an integral part of the cooperative's philosophy.

Sonian Wood Coop offers two main types of products:

• made-to-measure furniture and interior fittings, such as tables and staircases. The people of Brussels are very receptive to the idea of having local wood in their homes. This appeal is even leading to a search for woods with characteristics considered to be "local".
  like defects on the classic market: red heart, knots, etc.
• Beech parquet: beech also lends itself very well to this use, replacing oak as a very suitable alternative.

More marginally, the cooperative also offers raw sawn timber via distributors, as well as limited editions of various objects depending on demand and opportunities. Many of the beech trees in the Forêt de Soignes have non-standard characteristics: they are "too big", "not straight", "not white enough" or have "too many knots". These characteristics are considered anomalies by the timber industry. Sonian Wood Coop uses these unusual trees to create limited editions that turn unique trees into unique objects.

And what about the price? Sonian Wood Coop works in Belgium, which necessarily means that Belgian wage costs and social standards apply.

However, it is not aimed at the luxury market; on the contrary, it is in line with the spirit of the European Bauhaus (see box), which aims to encourage and federate initiatives in line with the idea that the environment should be accessible to all.

Economically viable?

At the start of the project, the founders increased their contacts with players in the forestry and timber industry, sometimes coming up against a degree of scepticism. In view of the current system, which is aberrant from an environmental point of view but very well organised and efficient in terms of processing costs, some players in the sector expressed reservations about the initiative, which they felt would remain marginal.

Far from being discouraged, the founders persevered and, three winters later with the passage of Covid19, the confinements that accompanied it and the war in Ukraine, the results are more than encouraging. Not only have Brussels consumers largely
showed interest in the initiative but, moreover, the system has demonstrated its resilience in the face of crises where the globalised system has shown its flaws.

Of course, Sonian Wood Coop is still in its infancy, but it has already shown that it is possible to offer products such as Soignes beech parquet flooring in Belgium, which offers significant processing potential. Stephan and the other members of the cooperative are dreamers with their feet firmly on the ground: they are well aware that you don't become a major operator overnight and that expanding their business means developing their processing capacity and therefore making significant financial investments. However, they have largely gained confidence and credibility in the timber industry ecosystem. What was sometimes seen at the outset as a sympathetic but not necessarily realistic initiative has now become a source of inspiration, as evidenced by the many requests Stephan has received to share his experience.

They didn't know it was impossible, so they did it!
Mark Twain

A model that can be transposed?

Stephan has received expressions of interest in transposing the model from a wide range of players: forest owners, local authorities, young entrepreneurs, etc. But while the model makes sense, it is not enough to simply copy and paste it under any conditions. The local context plays a major role, and above all we need to ensure that three ingredients are present nearby:

• a sufficient deposit in terms of size, volume and quality;
• processing capacity to produce ;
• a market to promote products.

The Forêt de Soignes and an urban market with outlets are elements specific to Brussels that cannot be found everywhere. As far as processing capacity is concerned, the cooperative system means that those involved in the project can bring their own know-how and equipment to get things started, provided that these players can be found locally. There is, in fact, a whole sector to be re-twisted to develop hardwoods on our national soil.

Adding value to our hardwoods: a shared concern

The basic observation that led to the creation of Sonian Wood Coop is fully shared by the players in the timber industry.

At Demo Forest, held in the wake of the Libramont agricultural fair, a discussion was held on the theme of "How can hardwood produced in Wallonia be used locally? Oak, which is widely present in our forests, was a particular focus of discussion, and the discussions also highlighted the need for closer links between producers and processors to help reawaken opportunities for developing more local industries.

Wallonia is taking initiatives to encourage the emergence of projects to increase local value-added in the form of high-quality finished products, in order to limit exports. As part of Wallonia's recovery plan, Ministers Céline Tellier, in charge of Forestry and the Environment, and Willy Borsus, in charge of the Economy and Innovation, have launched two calls for hardwood recovery projects. Information on the progress of these calls for projects is available on the website of the Office Economique Wallon de Bois. (https://www.oewb.be/innovation).

The future belongs to the bold

Wood is one of the few natural resources that Wallonia has in abundance. A real opportunity for the development of local, economically and environmentally viable and meaningful industries.

Encore faut-il pouvoir s’affranchir d’un contexte de marché mondial qui étouffe l’audace de s’autoriser à envisager d’autres possibles. Sonian Wood Coop l’a fait, en mariant rêve et réalisme. En leur consacrant cet article, nous ne vous proposons pas une recette miracle à appliquer
et ne préjugeons pas de l’avenir mais nous vous invitons à partager avec eux, avec nous, cette valeur qui fait grandir : l’audace d’entreprendre et d’innover.

En savoir plus : sonianwoodcoop.be

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Écrit par Pascaline Leruth (Forest Friends)