Scan Magazine | Design Profile | PA Gulve and Wiking Gulve
A beautiful oak floor is not just a perfect match for a stylish living room; it can also be a statement of social, historic and environmental consciousness.
A floor with a story to tell It is not just because of aesthetic, environmental and social advantages that many Danes dream about a wooden floor that is sourced and produced in Denmark. It is also because a Danish oak floor has a story to tell. By Signe Hansen | Photos: PA Gulve and Wiking Gulve
A floor is innately one of the most prominent visual features in a living room, but it is also a practical necessity – two diverse roles that bring numerous requirements. Natural wood flooring meets them all: it can improve the room’s acoustics and indoor climate, and it can be a statement of not just style but also social, historic and environmental consciousness. It other words, a wooden floor is much more than a floor. By focusing on sustainably produced wood of the best quality and utmost beauty, Wiking Gulve and PA Gulve, who have worked with Danish timber since 12 | Issue 84 | January 2016
1885, provide all of the above. “A large part of the trees we work with are grown in Denmark and treated by Danish workers who are passionate about Danish wood. It is really easy to see the difference when you are, for instance, looking at Danish ash wood compared to imported ash. Danish wood is very beautiful; it always has been and I think that’s also one of the reasons why the Danish furniture industry has such a good reputation – we offer something special when it comes to wood,” says John Bojesen, who owns and runs Wiking Gulve, together with the owner of PA Gulve, Kim Axelsen. The two businesses specialise in engi-
neered wood flooring and solid wooden floors respectively.
A board of the Danish navy After the British army stole the entire Danish navy in 1807, thousands of new oak trees were planted to rebuild the war ships. While the trees grew, however, times changed; navy ships were no longer built using timber, and the oaks were left to simply grow. Today, two centuries later, the Danish navy that never was is becoming part of everyday life in a much more peaceful manner, namely in the shape of beautiful oak floors. “Most of the oak floors we produce come from the trees originally planted to rebuild the Danish navy in the beginning of the 19th century,” explains Bojesen. “Today the trees are about 200 years old, and the time has come to use the wood