ITZ MayanWoodFurniture
Everything begins with trees...
At ITZ MayanWoodFurniture we specialize in creating furniture that blends nature and elegance with the highest quality.
Making furniture is our passion. Beautiful in their simplicity, our pieces are created with a deep knowledge of materials and always mindful of our values: sustainability, community, the mastery of craft and a modern approach to business and design.
At ITZ our craftsmen make each piece by hand using precious tropical wood in the heart of the Mayan world.
With a keen awareness of sustainable development and deep rooted craft practices, our team is dedicated to making extraordinary unique pieces of furniture from salvaged trees, which fall during hurricanes or forest fires in the Mayan jungle of southern Quintana Roo in Mexico.
ITZ MayanWoodFurniture merges ancient crafts with modern design.
Our team combines a production team of talented carpenters and craftsmen from the Mayan region, the inheritors of knowledge and traditions that go back many generations and a creative team led by the art director Anna Wołowska, a designer of Polish origin.
This interdisciplinary and cross-cultural combination of skills and knowledge help us to create unique furniture, which blends modern design with ancient techniques.
We work with precious wood...
The shape and color of the wood, its size, age, history and the touch of the artisan’s hand can never be duplicated.
At ITZ we know the story of each tree we work with and we are proud to give it a second life.
We make our selections and work with wood from fallen trees. Most of the wood used in the project is treated as waste by traditional carpentry: wood that is hollow inside, burnt or split, logs, roots... for us these are the pieces that tell stories from which our furniture makes extraordinary products.
We work with precious wood from the trees of the Mayan world:
Pich (Enterolobium cyclocarpum), Sapote, (Pouteria sapota), Ziricote (Cordia dodecandra), Habim, Tzalam (Lysiloma bahamensis) Chechen (Metopium browneii), Mexican white cedar (Cupressus lusitanica) and Caoba, also known as mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) ... Some of the trees were centenarians; others were even over 500 years old.
We Recreate Nature...
At ITZ each piece is hand made by craftsmen using precious tropical wood in the heart of the Mayan world.
For us the process of creating furniture involves precision, creativity and affection. Each of our pieces receives special treatment, in most cases adapting the design to the natural forms of the wood. The design is influenced by every curve and every hole.
At ITZ we understand that each type of wood has a language as well as particular characteristics and details, which we strive to emphasize through our designs. In most cases we chose to leave the natural edges of the trees, distinguishing our work from commercial furniture, which turns wood into a series of even planks.
First, we select our sustainably sourced wood from the jungle and we transport them to our workshops, where they are cut into thick-slabs and air-dried for some months, depending on the level of humidity they contain. Then, after matching and sizing slabs, we design furniture, first in carpentry workshops, and then re-designing the first ideas in our studio. During the creative process, our aim is to take advantage of natural shapes and to highlight the natural beauty of every slab’s “imperfections”.
Every piece of furniture is hand polished and varnished, and packed to avoid damage during transportation.
Social and environmental responsibility
At ITZ we want to contribute to the development of the region and we are convinced of the importance of fostering the talent of the artisans and incorporating local communities in our project. We work on the basis of fair trade and promote the development of education in the communities we work with.
We strive to find trees that have fallen as a result of natural events like hurricanes or forest fires, or as a result of human activities, like urban development or the expansion of agriculture areas.
Moreover, working in workshops close to the jungle from which we obtain our wood greatly limits the environmental impact caused by transport.
All our finishes are of the highest quality whether 100% natural oil or varnished, depending on the piece and its use.
