Mark Anson wants to do something with wood waste. Several years ago, the Port Alberni architect and inventor started looking into ways to turn all the hemlock and other wood waste left behind at mills and on cut blocks into something valuable.
As a researcher at the not-for-profit research organization FP Innovations, Anson started thinking about wood fibre tiles. So, he went about creating a few prototypes then shopped them around at local wood and design shows.
The reaction was positive.
Now the entrepreneur is set to launch Timber Tiles, a company with a manufacturing facility in Port Alberni.
His model is to create a relationship with a local mill and bring value to their waste wood. It’s often discussed in BC’s forest sector, but rarely put into practice.
For the Timber Tiles product launch, Anson is making 13 cm by 80 cm tiles made from 1 cm thick solid hemlock. They are treated with hard wax oil and will initially come in clear, teak, and a mahogany finish.
According to the start-up’s Facebook site, the company’s goal is simple – “to place contemporary solid wood tiles in the hands of designers.”
