DIY Furniture

Dining table, work desk, wardrobe, bookshelf, footstool, nesting box Trajna with Matija Biloslav Milkovič and Katarina Lampič

Desirable Undesirables

Invasive DIY Furniture

Gleditsia triacanthos sounds more like the next nasty virus or alien invader to threaten humankind and our ever more fragile planet. To which there’s actually more than a little truth. For Gleditsia triacanthos is the Latin name for the invasive honey locust, which instead of strangling and killing off traditional native species is being used by Trajna to make DIY furniture.

Trajna’s DIY furniture is a response to the mass production and so-called necro-economic approaches that lead to climate change, systemic homelessness and an array of other cataclysmic challenges. The product series provides an infrastructural framework for local furniture production as an alternative to simply buying the next object of desire.

The process employs basic DIY principles, which means that local townspeople will be able to make it themselves or using the help of a local carpentry workshop; and the plans are available online or from an open-source workshop. And damaged parts can simply be replaced and composted, as they are biodegradable, without any harmful coatings. Undesirable invasive plants – of which there are increasingly more every year – are commonly removed and incinerated. But using them as biomass to form wood products solves a host of concerns and gives back. And the honey locust used to make this furniture series – consisting of a dining table, desk, cupboard and bookcase – boasts both excellent mechanical properties and interesting reddish hues.

So alien invaders might just be friendly after all – if we have the resourcefulness and good sense to make the most of them; to turn a looming threat into a strategic opportunity.

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