As we come to the end of 2023, I am delighted to report that Sylva Foundation has continued to flourish. In this impact report you will read how our vision of a society that cares for nature, while living with it in harmony, is evident in all the diverse areas of our charity. Fundamental to this are our key values, and in this, our third impact report, I am delighted to share how one of our values – innovation runs throughout our work at Sylva Foundation.
More than ever, the past year has demonstrated how innovation takes many forms at Sylva. While you will read about our exciting projects, innovation at Sylva Foundation is also about our approach – we are a small charity, but through innovation we are able to punch above our weight. We look to the latest technologies and inspiring collaborations; we develop creative ways to support the woodworking sector, and unique approaches to improving resilience to climate change.
This impact report also gives us the opportunity to highlight the wonderful people who have contributed to Sylva’s work. From those in the UK forestry sector, to our new ‘stewardship scientists’; from the participants at our Woodworking and Gender seminar, to our unique collaborations within the furniture industry; these are but a few of those who have ensured our work at Sylva has gone from strength to strength. I would also like to thank all of our supporters, and in particular, our Sylva Friends. The scheme recently had its first anniversary, and is proving invaluable in providing us with steady support, allowing us to plan and develop our work.
I hope you enjoy reading our Impact Report for 2023, and once again thank you for your continued interest and support.
Dr Gabriel Hemery FICFor
Chief Executive
Sylva Foundation
You can also download the report (pdf)
As part of our outreach work, we have been providing support to undergraduates on the Rural Enterprise and Land Management, Rural Property Management and Environmental Land Management degree courses, at Harper Adams University in Shropshire
Last week, Paul Orsi, Sylva Director of Operations, and Harper Adams alumni, offered two days to support undergraduates. As part of their Forestry Module, students have to design a new woodland, making sure they take into account factors such as designations, soil and future climate scenarios. Paul demonstrated how myForest could help design their new woodland spatially using the mapping tool, in addition to understanding woodland creation considerations using the woodland creation plan embedded into myForest. As part of this work Sylva Foundation has provided access to paid account plans for all of the students while they work on their assignment.
“We really appreciate the contribution which the Sylva Foundation makes to our forestry modules at Harper Adams. Not only do they provide face to face tuition and access to myForest but our students tell us that they feel more confident in expressing their ideas around woodland creation after these sessions. Thanks to Sylva Foundation for being such an important part of encouraging young people into woodland management at Harper Adams.”
Nick Covarr Lecturer in Forestry & Woodland, Harper Adams
“I love getting out and talking to the next generation of land managers. We hope myForest can help them to design the well thought through sustainable woodlands we need for the future and be able to take those skills into practice when they have graduated.”
Paul Orsi, Sylva Foundation
An innovative training course took place in collaboration with the Northwoods Innovation Programme to trial planned enhancements to the myForest Inventory system.
At the end of September, woodland owners and managers had the opportunity to test new myForest Inventory functionality that helps them to collect and process forest data. Funded through the Forestry Commission’s Forestry Innovation Fund, the course was run by the myForest team and with experienced forester and trainer Will Richardson of RDI Associates. The course kicked off in the classroom to provide the context for a woodland inventory and how it can help woodland owners get the most out of the woodland. The group then headed out into the woods to collect data; while the last section of the course focused on the woodland owners producing a woodland inventory in myForest.
The aim is to help demystify and streamline the inventory collection process and automate data calculations, allowing owners and managers to quickly read what is in their woodland. myForest is aiming to launch the enhanced Inventory functionality early in 2024, but if you have any questions beforehand, please get in touch.
A new video has been released to showcase the innovative training course that took place in collaboration with the Northwoods Innovation Programme to trial planned enhancements to the myForest Inventory functionality. See below.
Read more about the Northwoods Innovation Programme
Students on the Sylva Professional Course were given a behind the scenes tour of Gaze Burvill and a tour of English Woodlands Timber last week, and it was a perfect opportunity to launch an exciting new collaboration.
Sylva Wood School students will be working on a new project in collaboration with Gaze Burvill to make a batch of trays using Grown in Britain certified oak. Students were given a tour of the Gaze Burvill yard and warehouse, before going to tour English Woodlands Timber, where they selected the oak for the tray project from their broad range of homegrown Grown in Britain certified timber.
The prototypes will be launched just in time for Christmas – we will keep you posted!
Recently, we welcomed the new students at the Sylva Wood School.
Our vision for the Sylva Professional Course is to sensitively combine education and business to create the perfect balance between learning and a sheltered workshop experience. As such, our students benefit from our professional working environment, high-quality resources in our industry-standard workshops and machinery, not to mention learning from our experienced teachers. Working on real commercial projects through our innovative collaborations, our close connections with the craft furniture industry, not only provides the opportunity to work on a wide-range of interesting projects, but helps our students build their own networks and contacts.
The new students are now settling in at the Sylva Wood Centre, surrounded by the Community Orchard, Future Forest and our creative community of craftspeople. Here our students benefit from building relationships, learning about the environmental impact of their work, and become immersed in the whole process of working with wood; from tree – to timber – to furniture. We will keep you posted on their progress, meanwhile we wish them well on their exciting journey over the next six months.
We are delighted to publish a full report of the amazing 2022 Summer School run in partnership with the V&A Museum.
In September 2022, the third annual Sylva Wood Summer School took place in collaboration with the V&A Museum, and specifically the Make Good: Rethinking Material Futures programme to create ‘Field Notes.’
This exciting collaboration provided an amazing opportunity for the creative participants of the 2022 Summer School, and culminated in their work being displayed at the V&A’s Susan R Weber Furniture Gallery until October 2023.
We are now delighted to publish a report on this special event.
“The collaboration with V&A Museum has been filled with highlights and I truly believe we have created an inspiring experience, not just for participants, but for everyone involved in this year’s Summer School.It was amazing to see how the 12 participants engaged and worked over the two weeks -I am sure they are proud of what they have achieved during the project, and in seeing it displayed in the V&A Museum is a fitting legacy of their enthusiasm and hard work.”
Joe Bray, Head of Sylva Wood School
The V&A and Sylva Foundation are hosting a summer school and inviting creative practitioners to take part. The Field Notes project will provide a unique opportunity for those with an interest in wood as a material, and in forests and woodlands as a place for learning and growing.
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For Sylva Foundation, the collaboration is an extension to its ongoing support of a Summer School. Head of the Sylva Wood School, Joseph Bray, commented:
“We are excited to be collaborating with the V&A this year, especially because of the amazing opportunity it will provide to the creative participants in having their work displayed at the museum. The Field Notes project will help meet some of our core aims at the Wood School in creating inspiring experiences and opportunities for young people to experience making with home-grown timber.”
For the V&A, the collaboration supports the second iteration of Make Good: Rethinking Material Futures programme. Curator of Twentieth Century and Contemporary Furniture and Product Design at the V&A, Johanna Agerman Ross, said:
“We are delighted to continue the 10-year Make Good programme with this summer school in collaboration with Sylva Foundation. It will be exciting to see what this summer school will bring in terms of interrogating the use of wood and natural materials in design and how the participants will reflect in the themes and questions we have proposed as a starting point.”
The outcome of the Project will be an object or series of objects made from underutilised home–grown timber and other natural materials, sourced locally on the Sylva Wood Centre site. These will be contextualised with reflections on the summer-school learning process in the form of imagery, spoken or written word, film or performance.
Sylva Summer School
The Field Notes summer school is open to anyone over the age of 18 with an interest in making. As the Wood School at Sylva Foundation is equipped with industry- standard wood working tools this is a great environment for people to further develop professional making skills. Some prior experience of using wood working tools being would be a benefit to participants. There are eight places available for makers wishing to explore making in wood. This is an opportunity suitable for students, recent graduates, or early-career practitioners.
There are a further four places for embedded observers, to learn from and capture the programme in some format other than making in wood, for example through writing, sketching, podcast making, film making, or photography. This is an opportunity suitable for students, recent graduates, or early-career practitioners. Mentors will be available to all participants, to help realise the different projects.
Field Notes
All applications will be treated equally, regardless of age, disability, gender identity or gender expression, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, or any other equality characteristic. We encourage applications from disabled people and people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, and from people who identify as queer or female as these groups are currently under-represented in the fields of forestry, design and making in wood.
For an overview of the Field Notes summer school, please read the full call-out here.
An application form is available below. If you have any difficulties viewing the application form, you can also access the form here.
DEADLINE 11th JULY 2022.
In September, Sylva Foundation hosted a Summer School for young creative people to promote design and craft using home-grown timber. The inspiring report from the workshop is published today to coincide with Grown in Britain week.
Sylva Foundation cares passionately about trees and people, and at its Wood School in south Oxfordshire it has set out to nurture a wood culture, enhancing the potential of a home-grown timber supply while promoting the benefits of managing woodlands for people and nature. It is promoting excellence in creativity and craft using home-grown timber, and this year’s week-long Summer School was no exception. This inspiring event was the perfect vehicle to educate, collaborate, and innovate.
The concept of the 2021 Summer School was to bring together a group of passionate creative people and provide them with all of the necessary ingredients to explore, design, and create prototypes in the charity’s professional workshops.
Summer School 2021
A series of talks by industry leaders inspired and educated delegates about the potential of under-utilised home-grown timber, providing context for the fast-paced design-and-make experience which followed. The delegates were then encouraged and fostered a ‘thinking through making’ approach, supported by a brilliant team of tutors.
The added dimension of the group was that all identified as women or non-binary, creating a community of makers that went against the grain of most furniture craft courses, and indeed the wider industry. This led to some supportive conversations about gender and hopefully a group that will continue to support one another into the future.
Head of Wood School Joseph Bray commented:
Everyone involved was blown away by the experience and certainly, everyone involved went home exhausted yet inspired. The results were incredibly impressive and represent the hard work of this remarkable cohort.
Could you help support a young craftsperson by making a donation to our new Sylva Wood School Fellowship Fund?
We are pleased to launch a new campaign aiming to establish a fund to support young craftspeople who graduate from our Professional Making Course. The Sylva Wood School Fellowship Fund will allow us to appoint Fellows, chosen from our course alumni.
At the Sylva Wood School we are training a new generation of young people to work creatively with home-grown wood. We aim to help them establish a successful career, improve their chances of employment, and ultimately to become ambassadors for home-grown wood in future society. Each year we have students who complete our six-month course. We aim to help the very best of our alumni progress their skills and experience by establishing a fund to support them financially during the difficult months following their graduation. During this time, we will also help them practically by providing a work bench with access to ongoing advice and support at the Wood School. Read more about the Professional Making Course
Money raised through this campaign will be held by Sylva Foundation and used to create a fund from which grants can be awarded to deserving young people under the Sylva Wood School Fellowship programme. Donors can choose to give once or set up a regular donation.
Please see the interactive form below (or click here)