Admittedly, when in France perceptions can be coloured by the wine, weather and cuisine, with everything, including me, taking on a bit of a rosy glow. But, taking that into account, I still maintain there was an air of optimism at last week’s Carrefour du Bois timber show in Nantes. Visitors and exhibitors alike had a spring in their step.
The show has an increasingly international following, largely it is felt because it is one of the few trade fairs with an exclusively wood focus. This year it attracted visitors not only from across the Continent, the UK and Ireland, but also North and South America and the Far East.
For the first-time visitor what particularly caught the eye around the stands was the breadth and depth of the hardwoods on show. Of course, classic French oak was there in abundance in everything from logs and boules, to fantastic oiled flooring and rustic furniture – with the latter launched last year by a French sawmill and now selling in truck loads to UK pubs and clubs.
But temperate hardwoods from elsewhere were also abundantly on show as, perhaps most interestingly of all, were tropical species. Importers and agents said this reflected the fact that European specifiers and consumers are turning back to tropical timber. This is partly thanks to the trade’s efforts on the certification front – and the FSC, PEFC and other certification labels festooning the Carrefour stands would rival bunting on Bastille day. But demand is also driven by fashion. “People are using wood more generally and this is creating more diverse demand – everybody wants something different,” said one exhibitor.
Other stands highlighted that the growing taste for timber frame, wood windows and timber flooring we’ve seen in the UK is a Europe-wide phenomenon.
Technical innovation was also to the fore, with latest products including treble-glazed hardwood windows, timber buildings with cork insulation, eco-friendly paints and finishes and laminated wood used in dramatic new applications. Possibly due to the weather and wine, my favourites were the flat-pack pine swimming pools.
