Loggers’ House
It was the skillful log drivers that used to help logs travel in Finland, through whirling rapids and narrow passages. One can only admire the incredible strength and the body control – and the bravery- with which the river drivers of the past balanced on slippery logs in their leather boots, guiding the logs into the right direction – just like that.
To recover from the hard and risky work, the log drivers stopped at primitive logging camps that stood on the river banks. Quite a few of these “river pigs”, like they were ridiculed, have taken a rest on their back for a while, eaten some rye bread and salted fish and smoked a cigarette in one specific logging camp that used to stand on the upstream banks of the river Pielisjoki in Joensuu, in the east of Finland. This cabin, made from thick pine planks, was one of the many cabins of the local North Carelian floating association, and eventually got dismantled in 1970 as useless. However, the story of its wall planks was only beginning.
The planks were taken to another site of the floating association in town – to be used for building a warehouse floor. There they were – enduring hard use, until the warehouse got disassembled. Luckily the wall planks weren’t tossed but they were stored, and after 10 or so years, in 2015 we got the chance to buy these beauties to be used for future restaurant projects.
Today, in several local restaurants and cafés in Joensuu, you can enjoy your coffee or hearty meal sitting at tables whose grooves, holes and dents tell their stories about birdshots and rifle bullets that once sunk into the wood, or about the steps and heavy loads on the storage floor. If you look very closely, you can also spot some log stamps as well as carvings that the log drivers used to decorate the walls with in their idle moments. Red and yellow ochre paint on the planks has changed into just a thin layer of wax that lets the patina show and protects the precious wood – wherever it will end up after this.
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WHAT ABOUT YOUR STORY?
Would you like to have a piece of furniture that no one else in this world has? A piece that carries a special meaning to you? A piece that lasts?
Tell us what wood material is significant to you and let’s design something durable out of it together.