par-avion co.

About par-avion co.
Par-avion aim to design and produce high quality objects that reflect their love of Mid-Century and Scandinavian design as well as Japanese and British craft skills. Their designs mix traditional craft and modern styling resulting in contemporary products that still fit in with traditional settings. Each piece is produced using environmental methods in mind. Local craftsmen and regionally available materials are key to giving their products a unique appeal.
par-avion co. are an eco-conscious design partnership using almost exclusively British-sourced, natural or environmentally-friendly materials. While the timber frames are manufactured in-house, traditional practices such as seat weaving and rush plaiting are carried out by local craftspersons who specialise in these processes.
Every pi stool is made with FSC British timber sourced less than 100 miles from the par-avion co. workshop. British oak is the primary wood used and the only variations on this are typically limited edition runs based on a specific tree with a unique story, such as the characterful spalted sycamore slats from the local timber yard or 5000 year old bog oak from the nearby Cambridgeshire Fens.
Any colouring to the oak is achieved through natural processes: the oak is exposed to ammonia vapours inside a sealed chamber to cause a reaction with the naturally occurring tannins to create the ‘fumed oak’ finish. The wood finish is OsmoOilTM, a natural oil and wax clear finish.
The seat materials are either natural or biodegradable materials. The Danish cord is a 3-ply undyed, twisted paper cord that is completely recyclable. The ‘skeined willow’ is split and stripped by par-avion co. using white willow harvested once per year in Somerset, UK. This process is recognised by the Heritage Craft Association as an endangered craft in the United Kingdom as it has largely been replaced by split cane/rattan, which comes from the Far East. The rush for the lambda daybed is locally harvested in the River Ouze in Suffolk and woven into mats using traditional plaiting techniques by Waveney Rush.