What is Mango Wood?
Mango Wood is derived from the Mango tree which is a fast growing fruiting tree. The wood is a densely grained hardwood, which has a strong structure and comes in a beautifully light soft finish.
Mango Wood is said to be one of the hardiest woods in the world. However, when it's sanded back and treated, it has one of the smoothest and most stunning textures you'll find in wood.
Over the years, Mango Wood has become increasingly popular with furniture designers and makers. A combination of the outstanding beauty and grain pattern as well as its great strength and hardwearing nature are all factors in its widening use. Most importantly though, the popularity is due to its sustainability.
What makes Mango Wood a sustainable wood?
Due to the large consumer demand for the actual mango fruit itself, there are many healthy growing plantations of mango trees around the world, mainly Southeast Asia, specifically India.
When Mango trees reach their maturity, they start to lose their fruit bearing efficiency. Maturity usually arrives within about 15 to 20 years, at which point the trees are designated to be cut down. For many years, mango trees were used as fuel or, shockingly, even just left to rot. Both of these contributed to Co2 emissions as the wood broke down.
Using Mango Wood as a material for making furniture therefore makes complete sense. When wood is so hardwearing and beautiful, it saddens us to think it was ever discarded or burnt.
Fortunately, in the UK there is a growing demand to find more sustainable materials. And now with Mango Wood being made available for the furniture market, this is viewed as a greener alternative to many other woods.
How does using Mango Wood differ from using other wood?
Unlike many other hardwoods, Mango Wood doesn't take very long to grow. It's also a bi product of a thriving fruit industry. The trees are there already. They are being managed through this industry and get cut down to make room for new trees.
Using Mango Wood for furniture is therefore considered by many as a positive sustainable move. One that ideally should have been done many years ago. It reduced the continued pressure we see on global deforestation, which impacts wildlife, plants and Co2 emissions.
