The Bio
More than just reclaimed wood
First Growth is more than just reclaimed wood. It’s a representation of founder Garet Robinson’s vision to reimagine local history in the form of beautiful objects for the home. With origins rooted in Vancouver, we are committed to reducing levels of resource destruction, by utilizing reclaimed materials to create products of both function and form.
The origin of First Growth Reclaimed (formerly The Uncommon Good and Aarhus Reclaimed) began in 2013 from a small garage located behind a house in the heart of Mount Pleasant, Vancouver, BC.
“I had been building furniture for my own home from old pallets, cedar fencing, and such, when a neighbouring 1920’s house started getting renovated. I became curious and started salvaging some of the first growth lumber that was being thrown away during the renovation. Once cleaned up and de-nailed, the depth and beauty of the wood was revealed. I was immediately hooked and began to learn more about the history of our old growth trees here in the Pacific Northwest. This experience planted the seed that grew into what is now First Growth Reclaimed Design.”
The Process
Every piece of wood has a story
First Growth Reclaimed is a part of the ever growing community of people who care about the planet’s history and are working to protect its future. Unfortunately, many of the old growth forests in our region are gone, due to extensive logging over the past several hundred years. For more info, visit Ancient Forest Alliance.
Most of the wood we use at First Growth is Douglas Fir; known for its durability, strength, and abundance on the British Columbia Coast. Douglas fir was used in all aspects of construction in our older homes. We create furniture, home decor and art out of the floor joists, roof trusses, wall studs as well as flooring and baseboards from these old dwellings. We also use cedar, spruce and hemlock as it is acquired, usually in smaller quantities. All of these wood species are a part of our regional heritage.
In the process of refurbishing, our mission is to maintain the history and character of the wood whilst incorporating modern and unique design elements. The result is a one-of-a-kind statement piece, made with minimal impact to the Earth that tells a beautiful story. We are truly honored to be sharing the stories and importance of our old growth forests and the wood that came from them.
The Process
Every piece of wood has a story
First Growth Reclaimed is a part of the ever growing community of people who care about the planet’s history and are working to protect its future. Unfortunately, many of the old growth forests in our region are gone, due to extensive logging over the past several hundred years. For more info, visit Ancient Forest Alliance.
Most of the wood we use at First Growth is Douglas Fir; known for its durability, strength, and abundance on the British Columbia Coast. Douglas fir was used in all aspects of construction in our older homes. We create furniture, home decor and art out of the floor joists, roof trusses, wall studs as well as flooring and baseboards from these old dwellings. We also use cedar, spruce and hemlock as it is acquired, usually in smaller quantities. All of these wood species are a part of our regional heritage.
In the process of refurbishing, our mission is to maintain the history and character of the wood whilst incorporating modern and unique design elements. The result is a one-of-a-kind statement piece, made with minimal impact to the Earth that tells a beautiful story. We are truly honored to be sharing the stories and importance of our old growth forests and the wood that came from them.
Circular Economy
We have chosen to source the majority of our wood from pre-1940’s homes that are being demolished or deconstructed in the greater Vancouver area. Every year, an average of 3200 homes are demolished in the Lower Mainland. This equates to approximately 320,000,000 kgs of high quality materials that ishttps://www.heritagelumber.ca/ wasted. Approximately 1,000 of those are in the city of Vancouver with 60% to 70% of these being pre-1940s homes.
The transition from demolition to deconstruction is one of the single greatest shifts we can have in society. At First Growth, we are proud to be directly impacting this shift. Our main collaborators are Unbuilders Deconstruction, the national leaders in the de-construction industry. Their sales division is Heritage Lumber. We source all of our reclaimed Douglas fir from houses they have hand de-constructed, which saves thousands of tons of valuable wood from being sent to the landfill or chipped up for biofuel.
3200
homes demolished ever year
320m kg
quality materials waste
1.1m kg
of material diverted from disposal in 2019
