Designer Walls became UK agents for Form At Wood products earlier in 2021 after intensely researching some of the best wood panels available to the market and found their products to be outstanding! We have been in awe of the premium panels ever since and just had to interview the extremely interesting company.
Browse the Form At Wood products
Interview with the brilliant minds behind Form At Wood
How did Form At Wood begin?
The history of the FORM AT WOOD company dates back to 2019, when two young people (Kamil & Mateusz), freshly graduated from architectural studies and internships at well-known international architectural companies, said that they would create their own brand.
Mateusz’s family has always had a love for entrepreneurship, creating products for other people and of course above all – for wood. The passion was passed down from generation to generation. Each generation of the family were creating completely different products, this and all of above passions, plus resources in the form of machinery and a workshop space – were an inspiration to create something new. This is how the FORM AT WOOD company was founded. Form At Wood is now a team of creative people who produce innovative wood products based on research and development projects.
What are some of the things you are most proud of that the company has achieved?
To be honest, it’s hard to say what we’re most proud of. On the one hand, there’s the people who surround us with whom we can work with, carry out research and development projects. A wonderful and amazing team that will meet any challenge and are always looking for ways to solve a given problem. On the other hand, we are a young company in Poland that has managed to create products that are appreciated all over the world. This makes us proud and motivates us to continue our activities.
During Coronavirus business had been difficult due to the impact of the pandemic on various industries. Despite this our company grew from month to month. In addition during this difficult period, we managed to win 3 international awards in design competitions – German Design Award Special 2021, iF Design Award 2021, Good Design Award 2020.
This is what we are most proud of – but we focus on our team – our people. We want to build an innovative brand and modern company with the highest respect for the materials and environment.
What are some of the highlights of working at Form At Wood?
At Form At Wood, we focus on creating innovative products made of wood. We are constantly looking for new solutions and try to develop design, which has never been seen before in wooden products. Every year we want to surprise the world with new products that we constantly develop, however this is not an easy task as wood is a specific material which is not easy to work with. It has many technical and resource limitations, compared to other processed materials. We strive to develop products with not only aesthetic features but also to be functional and solve particular challenges that designers face every day.
Each member of our team has different responsibilities, but we know that thanks to the fact that we combine our strength and skills – we are able to provide good quality products and service. Of course, it is well known that nowadays it is not easy to come up with something that has not been seen before. However, we hope that so far we are successful :). We also try to listen to our clients and designers in what they would expect from us and how we can solve their problems and what their clients want.
Can you tell us the process of creating the wall panels?
FORM AT WOOD panels are handmade in a multi-stage process from carefully selected materials. The first stage is selecting and preparing the material (wooden planks). Depending on the shape, we prepare the material that is cut on a saw to the appropriate size. The next stage is rough machining using digital technology (CNC machine). Modern technology, appropriate templates and programs that have been developed and improved over the years allow us to provide a shape that is always well-fitting.
Then the pure hand-made work process begins. Each wood panel – piece by piece, is hand sanded. 3D shapes are not easy to sand by hand, so technical skills are essential. After all panels are sanded, we proceed to the painting process. We use natural hard oil waxes and decorative oils to paint and protect the panels’ coating. Then all panels must dry on special racks so that the oil is properly absorbed into the wood structures. When the panels are ready, the last process is polishing. Once again, piece by piece, the panels are polished. To achieve some colours, we have to repeat the whole process twice sometimes three times.
Such a multi-stage process allows us to obtain the highest quality panels, which are created according to the idea of our company – designed to touch.
Where does the wood come from?
When it comes to the choice of wood materials – all materials come from sustainable forest management sources. Each piece of our panels (regardless of the model) has a side length of 25 cm – for good reason. We want the wood that is used for production to be fully used. What does that mean? In the case of companies that produce wooden floors, after preparing material – they are left with small pieces of wooden boards during production that they are not able to use. That is why we cooperate, among others, with our partner who specializes in the production of wooden floors. Together we can make full use of wood.
The wood comes from suppliers in Poland / the United States / Ukraine and Germany, who confirm the quality of their materials with FSC certificates.
In your opinion why are Form At Wood wall panels the best?
I would never say our panels are the best. Of course as a manufacturer we seek for perfection. However we are aware that clients may choose other brands above ours, driven by different reasons. We absolutely respect their choice. There are also many materials on the market that we admire and wish to have at our homes!
What I can say is that being aware of the multi-stage process, how complex and demanding technically hand-made work it is – I would dare to claim that the product is well thought, simple, unique and timeless. But the big part of the success we must give up to nature.
We are a young company so a lot of experience is still ahead of us. However from the beginning of the brand’s existence, we could count negative comments on one hand, allowing us to think that what we do is liked by people, and this is the most important thing for us.
Do you have any favourite projects that have been created with the wood panels?
In the ideology of our company – we approach each project individually. That is why each project is a new adventure for us and we are equally satisfied with each of them.
Favorite projects are those with challenges. Sometimes, if the customer is not able to cut the panels to size on his side, we also offer such services – cutting panels to size.
The most satisfying thing is receiving positive feedback from the client.
Lastly, can you tell us what’s to come?
We have been working very hard to create an acoustic series that will be a kind of revolution in this market. All this was possible thanks to our people and cooperation. (From this point we would like to say BIG thank you to our acoustic specialist Bartłomiej Chojnacki and the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow. If not thanks to this wonderful cooperation it would not be possible). It really emphasizes how much people mean in business and that is why we want to create a team that strives for similar values – creating new technologies and products for people around the whole world. Update: The acoustic panels are now available to order from Designer Walls.
We hope to surprise you with what is to come.
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Enquire with your postcode, panel shape, finish and amount of pieces or wall dimensions to receive a quote for Form At Wood. Any questions, feel free to ask!
