A long wooden table featured in Davis Furniture's sustainably-sourced

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Our culture has a major disposability problem. Just like “fast fashion” encourages us to consume cheap garments and then throw them away in favor of the next cool thing, “fast furniture” crams landfills with junk while pushing us to buy and replace, over and over again. A lot of contemporary furniture just isn’t durable enough to survive a move, let alone be passed down to the next generation.

That doesn’t mean you have to hunt through antiques to find furniture that can really stand the test of time, of course. North Carolina-based Davis Furniture is one of the companies pledging to produce stylish modern furniture that’s made to last, using only sustainably-sourced materials. Their new collection, “Brace,” pairs solid wood and technological precision with striking results.

A long wooden table featured in Davis Furniture's sustainably-sourced

Angular legs like these are the defining features of the Brace collection.

Designed by German duo jehs+laub, the Brace table collection takes inspiration from wooden tripods and crutches for its angular bent legs.

An official press release for the collection explains that “Brace’s architectural legs form a minimalist base for this statement piece. Each leg unites at the floor and then splits into a fork which connects to the underside of the table. Constructed from either binary steam-bent wood or dual 3/8-inch angled solid steel, this sculptural foundation creates an element that is both physically and visually strong while maintaining an air of lightness and delicacy.”

“The solid wood used in the manufacturing of these tables is as distinctive and unique as the design itself. When asked about Brace, jehs+laub spoke to this new collection as such: ‘Brace is a melody of intelligent design and solid wood artistry.’ Each piece exudes the quality and care taken to create an enduring heirloom.”

Close-up of the sleek solid wood tabletops featured in Davis Furniture's new

Davis has a truly unique way of sourcing its wood. First of all, they work with foresters in France, Germany, and Switzerland who tend some of Europe’s oldest forests, harvesting trees at the end of their natural lifecycles and replacing each one with two saplings. At the sawmill, the cut logs are stacked and air-dried for two years, with each piece monitored to make sure it reaches the right level of moisture for the highest-quality result. Great care is taken to make sure that all parts of the trunk are used to ensure a zero-waste harvest. The furniture makers say this process is part of their commitment to both sustainable harvesting practices and craftsmanship.

Shot of the logs used to create the Brace collection's artful wooden tabletops.

This dedication to quality comes even more into play with the solid wood tabletops used in the Brace collection, which are designed to showcase the natural beauty of the material. While the sculptural legs are a standout feature, they ultimately lead the eye straight to that slab of wood, which “showcases years of history in front of you,” as designer Jürgen Laub says.

A light-colored wooden table with steel legs, as featured in Davis Furniture's new

Davis directs its journey toward sustainability by using a Triple Bottom Line approach that seeks economic vitality, environmental integrity, and social responsibility. We are committed to exceeding compliance with environmental laws and regulations that affect our operations through continuous improvement and pollution prevention practices. Our goal is to reduce impacts to human and ecosystem health by inventory tracking, evaluation, and control of chemicals of concern in our processes and facilities.”