The Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) has found a kindred spirit in new sponsor ForestOne, an innovative force in the timber and decorative solutions industries. The Australian company will be supporting the Emerging Designer category in 2024. 

Backed by a 140-year history, forward-thinking mindset and a strong focus on sustainability, ForestOne is the largest independent distributor of plywood, timber, laminate and decorative surface materials in Australia.

Although many interior designers and architects may have encountered the company’s extensive product range before, ForestOne was officially established in 2019 when four previously separate companies came together. The amalgamation saw Gunnersen, Australian Forest Products, Crown Timber and ForestOne International all now operating under ForestOne’s unified business ethos to provide the building industry with best-in-class materials for responsible specification.

Today, ForestOne’s extensive range also includes key global brands such as EGGER and MEGANITE, along with a wide range of high quality plywood and timber products.

Supporting sustainable building and construction

Responsible material specification is such a crucial element of sustainable design and construction, says ForestOne’s group marketing manager Adam Jarski.

“Specifiers can actively minimise environmental impact by reducing reliance on natural resources, using reclaimed and recyclable materials, avoiding materials with high embodied carbon, or simply by creating less waste,” he says.

“As such, ForestOne sources and distributes high quality products that display environmental, social and financial sustainability, equipping architects and designers with the information and materials they require to ‘specify responsibly’.”

ForestOne is also continuously reviewing its own internal supply chain operations and is committed to doing ‘business responsibly’.

A range of key environmental, social and governance (ESG) business initiatives have already been delivered in an effort to make ForestOne as a business operate in an even more responsible way. This includes the use of hybrid cars and the progressive rollout of hybrid delivery trucks, LED lighting, solar panels, safe-handling warehouse equipment, and even circular economy-based plastic packaging products, including a take-back mechanism to support recyclable packaging for products.

In 2023, ForestOne bolstered its support for local manufacturing with the acquisition of D&R Henderson located in Benalla, Victoria. This allows the company to deliver a range of quality Australian-made, PEFC-certified timber products containing recycled content and helping to reduce landfill.

Fostering innovation in design

ForestOne combines local insight and design expertise with a global perspective to offer an ever-evolving range of high quality and responsibly sourced products to architects and interior designers.

“When looking at suppliers within the local and global network we look for products and companies that do something different,” explains Jarski. 

“This means that we look at what we can offer the industry that might be currently missing, or emerging market trends that need to be met. But these all need to fit the ForestOne ethos that has been incorporated into the business.” 

EGGER, for example, offers a full range of decorative wood-based products that are not just fit for purpose, but also a perfect match in both décor and surface texture. 

“This means that we give an architect, designer or fabricator the flexibility of multiple design options including the ABS edging, because, uniquely, EGGER also manufactures their own edging,” says Jarski.

IDEA and ForestOne join forces for a sustainable future

This desire to drive design innovation made ForestOne the ideal partner for the IDEA Emerging Designer category.

“As an avid supporter of both aesthetic and sustainable design in Australia, ForestOne recognises the important contribution that emerging designers will make towards a more sustainable building industry into the future,” says Jarski. 

“We are extremely proud to be supporting this category as part of the awards program. With our extensive range of responsibly sourced timber and decorative building products, ForestOne can help the designers of tomorrow reduce the environmental impact of building through careful material selection.”

Browse the full range from ForestOne here.