Flower Vases Made From Repurposed Wormy Wood

At Oyama Lumber in Toyama Prefecture, Japan, every year a large portion of wood goes unused. It’s left in a pile to rot, or turned into sawdust, both of which seemed incredibly wasteful. The wood’s only fault was that it had fallen victim to Japan’s ambrosia beetle, which feeds on wood.

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the wormy wood was beautiful in its own right: a result of an entirely normal cycle of nature that rendered each piece of wood unique

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The wormy holes left by the beetle deemed the wood unfit for consumers or home builders. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And for many at Oyama Lumber, the wormy wood was beautiful in its own right: a result of an entirely normal cycle of nature that rendered each piece of wood unique.

Yoshihiko Oyama, the president of Oyama Lumber, wanted consumers to see the same beauty in wormy wood that he did. So he teamed up with designer Yoshiki Yamazaki to create a series of products using wormy Japanese oak. The project was called RetRe (as in “re-tree”) in hopes of breathing life back into trees once considered unusable. We’ve begun carrying two of the vases in our shop. (And no, beetles are not included.)

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Bobbin Vase
The bobbin vase was inspired by the form of old wooden sewing bobbins. Using a lathe, each piece was hand-turned to carve its shape. It comes with a glass beaker that fits snugly inside so that you can put plants in water without soaking the wooden vase. It’s finished-off with the company’s own wood cream made from beeswax.

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Tube Vase
Don’t let its size fool you. The tube vase was hand-turned from a single block of wood using a lathe and carries substantial weight so as to not get knocked over. It comes with a glass beaker that fits snugly inside so that you can put plants in water without soaking the wooden vase. It’s finished-off with the company’s own wood cream made from beeswax.

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