Twenty-one years ago, PGT-Reclaimed’s Australian founder Ian Burden had a ‘foolish’ idea to create a lifestyle furniture manufacturing business using 100 percent solid discarded wood
Mr Burden, originally from Sydney, who had moved to Vietnam in the mid-90s, incorporated his business on 1 April 1998, and became the first designer and manufacturer to create premium lifestyle furniture using timber from old pallets and shipping containers.
From day one, with little money in his pocket and without knowing Vietnamese, Mr Burden knew he faced the challenges of first convincing the Vietnamese people to believe in his vision, and secondly, convincing furniture retailers the product would sell.
“The greatest challenge of this new way of working with old wood was treating the timber to ensure it would maintain its shape when shipped to various climates. After four years of research, I finally figured out the perfect drying process,” Mr Burden said.
PGT-Reclaimed’s processes are now certified yearly by the Forest Stewardship Council for using 100 percent recycled wood, with products available in Dining, Living, Office and Bedroom collections, sold in nearly 20 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Europe and North America.
PGT-Reclaimed maintains the traditional skills of English carpentry and multi-step French polishing techniques. Through its actions, the company has provided jobs for thousands of people.
Through its methods, PGT-Reclaimed believes it has saved around 500,000 trees from being cut down, with the company last year presented the Environmental Excellence Award by the Supply Chain & Logistics Association of Australia and crowned Green World Grand Champion by the Green Organisation.
To celebrate the company’s 21st anniversary and commitment to a greener world, PGT-Reclaimed created a video to explain Mr Burden’s vision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1JWxdBZgPg
