If only
they had stayed
Let's be honest: this work begins in a bittersweet place. Every year, dozens of old wooden houses in the Black Sea region fall empty. Heirs move away, upkeep gets harder, and one day a demolition order comes through to make way for concrete. We would rather those houses stayed standing.
Where we can't change the decision, we save the wood. Before the excavator arrives, we take down the roof, the beams and the floorboards by hand, number them and bring them to Assos. Pine that was headed for the stove ends up on a living-room wall; a granary lid becomes a dining table.
The industry calls this recycling. In our world, it is carrying on a story that was cut short. Boards that have seen rain, snow and crowded tables deserve to take a new shape and touch a new life, not to end up as waste.
Welcome to the story of century-old timber. From here on, you are part of it too.
