Onetree

The onetree project began in November 1998 with the felling of an ailing 170-year-old oak tree from the National Trust's Tatton Estate in Cheshire, England. In order to demonstrate the economic and cultural value of British woodlands, every last part of the tree-down to the bark, leaves, and twigs-was distributed to over seventy of the leading designers, artists, and makers in Britain. The work the makers have produced-including furniture, sculpture, bookbinding, jewelry, toys, automata, even poetry-has been reunited to form onetree, and every piece is beautifully illustrated here. Each stage of the process has been recorded by photographer Robert Walker, including the felling of the oak and the replanting of the Tatton Estate with acorns from the tree by local schoolchildren. The powerful simplicity of the onetree concept makes this one of the most original and inspiring creative projects to have been instigated in many years-a practical demonstration of the endless renewal of our natural resources, and of new life springing from old.

Garry Olson and Peter Toaig are furniture designers and makers, and co-ordinators and directors of onetree.