From 13 to 19 May, Cankarjev dom will host the exhibition The Charm of Wood, which for the 16th year in a row is raising awareness among the general public about the benefits of wood and its versatile uses. The exhibition, which will later be installed in seven other locations around Slovenia, has been supported since its inception by the Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport together with the public agency SPIRIT Slovenia.
The exhibition features 112 products
The exhibition is important for promoting the use of wood and the woodworking professions, and also presents the different ways in which wood can be used: from functional objects to decorative pieces, from traditional shapes to contemporary styles. The inimitability of the texture and colour of the wood makes each product unique, and each product is labelled with the amount of CO2 it contributes to reducing in the atmosphere, showing the environmental friendliness of the material.
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The exhibition features 112 products. Photo: Mojca Jenes
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The advantage of wood is that it can be processed into products with little energy and little impact on the environment. Photo: Mojca Jenes
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The advantage of wood is that it can be processed into products with little energy and little impact on the environment. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA
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There are also products by designer Oskar Kogoj, who participated in the first exhibition, The Magic of Wood, in 2009. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA
Promoting the woodworking professions among young people
Since 2013, the Directorate for Wood Industry of the Ministry of Economic Affairs has been carrying out a number of activities to promote the use of wood among the general and professional public. In recent years, it has also actively focused on promoting the woodworking professions among young people, especially future school and university students, while also working with educational institutions and the business sector.
"We want to bring young people closer to wood, to show them its properties and its exceptional utility value. At the same time, we want to show them the variety of professions in the woodworking sector, the many career and employment opportunities in the woodworking industry and to raise the profile of the woodworking profession, which is still considered to be in short supply," they stress. These efforts have borne fruit, with enrolments in secondary and higher woodworking schools on the rise.
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Industrial designer Oskar Kogoj. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA
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The timber sector has many advantages, one of the main ones being that we have domestic raw materials. Photo: Katja Kodba/STA
Slovenia - one of the most forested countries in Europe
At the opening of the exhibition, which is supported by the Ministry of Economy and Spirit, industrial designer Oskar Kogoj highlighted the importance of the timber industry for Slovenia throughout history. He also touched on some of the opportunities that the Slovenian timber industry has abroad.
The timber sector has many advantages, one of the main ones being that we have domestic raw materials. Wood raw material is also the answer to reducing our carbon footprint. Slovenia is one of the most forested countries in Europe, which means that it has an enormous wealth. Wood is one of the few natural materials that can be recycled or reused several times. Wood is one of Slovenia's greatest assets, with Slovenian forests producing as much as nine million cubic metres of wood a year. This wood stores carbon dioxide and subsequently sequesters it in wood products for up to 100 years.
Date: 14. May 2024
Time to read: 3 min
