Artisan EcoTours: Puerto Rico ​“Forests to Furniture” May 7 – 16, 2023

“No man ever steps in the same river twice… for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.”

Puerto Rico Artisan EcoTour
May 7 – 16, 2023

Who is Greenwood?

Green­Wood is design­ing sustain­able devel­op­ment for the real world. They train artisan wood­work­ers to produce high-quality prod­ucts from well-managed forests and help connect those prod­ucts to good markets. They promote appro­pri­ate wood­work­ing tech­nol­ogy and support the effi­cient use of lesser-known and lower-value tree species, waste wood and non-timber forest products.

Their EcoTours offer the chance to expe­ri­ence inspi­ra­tional wood­work­ing in a unique trop­i­cal ecosys­tem. Partic­i­pants come away with a better under­stand­ing of the fragile connec­tions between our envi­ron­ment, our craft and our economy — and the role wood­work­ers can play in helping to preserve the forests on which we all depend. 

Last May, Green­wood launched a unique hybrid program connect­ing wood­craft and forest stew­ard­ship in the world’s first Artisan EcoTour. Bring­ing together wood­work­ers from the main­land US and Puerto Rico, they intro­duced partic­i­pants to trop­i­cal woods most had never seen and tech­niques few had tried. Outside of the shop, the guided tours provided insights into the forest manage­ment chal­lenges facing Puerto Rico — and land­scapes around the planet — in an era of climate change.

Today, Green­wood is announc­ing a second Artisan EcoTour in Puerto Rico, with a work­shop led by instruc­tors Michael Fortune and René Delgado, focused on the design and construc­tion of a cool, counter-height chair — includ­ing steam bending, turning and plenty of hand-tool opportunities.

For tour partic­i­pants, the chance to steam bend hurri­cane-salvaged Cuban mahogany (S. mahag­oni) or Blue mahoe (Tali­par­iti elatum) and observe those species in their native habitat can be a reve­la­tion. As one local partic­i­pant observed after the tour of El Yunque National Forest last May: ​“I’ve been up and down all the trails you can think of [in that forest], but I’ve never been on a tour that was so infor­ma­tive… looking at a famil­iar place from a different perspective.”

Green­wood is offer­ing a $1,000 early-bird discount if you regis­ter by February 20