Full Grown

In 2005 with a £5,000 investment Gavin Munro started to experiment with willow to grow chairs. The idea of growing trees for 50 years then cut them into small pieces glue together in ways that can only ever fall apart didn't seem to make much sense. Better to grow the trees into one solid piece. For example, a chair or a light shade. Ideally the tree would have the ability to re-shoot and in this way yield furniture the way an apple tree in an orchard does. Working together with his wife Alice Munro. The concept is to train young trees to grow over plastic molds until maturity. Thereby creating no wood waste. This process can take up to eight years to mature. 2006 Full Grown started planting trees to grow furniture. On a 2.5 acre field around 3,000 trees have been planted with production getting underway in late 2011. The first prototype, The Vaila Chair, was revealed in a TEDx talk in Derby in 2014. ==Gavin Munro==

Gavin Munro was born in Matlock England. ==Full Grown in 2017==

In a two-acre field north of Derby Full Grown is currently tending 400 trees. They are only making 50 or so pieces a year. The bulk of the pre-orders are from outside the UK, most in France and the US with some orders from London, Hong Kong, Germany and Spain, Full Grown are using permaculture ideas to help with pest control and tending the field. == Design ==

The chairs are based on 18th century "Shaker" with some mid-century Scandinavian design centering around the idea the function is intrinsic to usefulness. The chairs are grown upside down. ==Process of tree shaping==

The trees are trained along pre-defined routes following a blue plastic mold. The growing tip is shaped and held in place with small plastic clasps. One tree has been planted specifically to grow each piece. Some of the pieces use grafting as part of the design. During this time a piece thickens and matures before being harvested in the winter. Over several months the pieces are dried and seasoned. They are planed, cleaned back and polished to show the wood grain. == Items growing/grown ==

• Chairs • Tables • Lampshades • Mirror frames == Tree types ==

Gavin Munro’s company Full Grown uses the following species of trees: They mainly use willow as it grows fast and is relatively easy to work with. They like the idea of offering other varieties such as cherry, oak and Gavins personal choice of ash. Partly to give a range of choice for customers and also to spread the risk of disease. Ash is very prone to fungal disease and die back." ==See also==