TWIG Monthly - Wood Tiles? Why not!
Please join us for another TWIG monthly where we connect online around topics and ideas relating to bringing value to our local forest resource – Wood. This month we will be joined by Mark Anson the creator of Timber Tiles who is an architect, maker, and inventor of things himself. Timber Tiles take a challenging wood species – lower grade Hemlock and increases the value considerably through value-added secondary manufacturing.
Mark has been a participant in our Monthly events for several years now, and we first got to know him as a researcher at FP Innovations. At FP he was exploring the use of wood and fiber that comes as offcuts and waste from industrial processes. Over the years he was exposed to a range of wood-based processes happening across the different labs, in which he applied to create several prototypes, including “Timber Tiles” which were exhibited at local wood and design shows.
Currently, Mark is located in Port Alberni where he’s in the process of setting up a facility to manufacture the wood tiles. Timber Tiles will model a symbiotic relationship with a rural sawmill, by bringing value to their waste wood through product innovation. This product has gone through multiple iterations from its early days in a research facility to the driving product of a standalone company and operation.
There are many stories woven into the journey of Timber Tiles, through the people involved, the facilities used, and the breakthrough moments that enabled an idea like this to come to life. The pathway Mark has taken has not been clear-cut, and he has been involved in every step of the development. Three innovations, developed and tested over the course of 3 years, have allowed Timber Tiles to be effective at a commercial scale.
We are grateful to be able to host a space where you can get more insight into the ‘Why’ and the ‘How’ behind some of BC’s most exciting wood-based startups. Through our TWIG Monthly events, we aim to highlight different pathways and steps in which product development has taken place and what the factors are that have contributed to these ideas becoming a reality.
