Tucker Robbins Selects

In the Philippines, massive acacia trees line the highways and intrude upon people’s yards. When these giants become too much of a nuisance (road expansion projects, a precariously tilted tree in the backyard), the acacais typically are felled and scrapped. Tucker Robbins swoops in at that moment of truth. Holding up its commitment to selective harvesting, his company salvages the unwitting harvest. The wood is then transported to craftsmen in nearby non-literate mountain communities, who transform the material into products like the $2,700 Bean Chair. This large-scale piece of treen (yes, that’s just one piece of wood) is chiseled and sanded into silky smoothness. The finishing, walnut wash coloring and teak oil sealant, is applied at Robbins’s studio in Long Island City.