Wood. Wood. Wood! A Tribute to Grain, Growth, and Grounding

We love wood. For its grain, its warmth, its structure, and its presence. At Utopia & Utility, wood is more than just a material—it’s a grounding element that connects our work to nature, time, and the human hand.

Bloom and India 2 Stacking Vessels

The Importance of Seasonal Timber and Local Sourcing

A crucial part of crafting our wooden crown bowls is the careful sourcing and preparation of the raw material. All of our woodturners live and work close to the forests where the timber is harvested, ensuring a deep connection to the material and its origin.

The trees are felled in winter, a time when the sap retreats into the ground. This seasonal timing is essential—it results in a drier trunk, which allows the bark to adhere more securely during the drying process.

Once felled, the trunks are split and left to air-dry under shelter for around six months. After summer, they are brought indoors and left to season naturally for up to 12 months. This extended drying process ensures the bark remains firmly in place and the wood reaches a stable moisture content.

Only then is the timber ready to be shaped into a handturned crown bowl, retaining both its natural bark edge and its inner strength.

Local Craftsmanship: Sourcing and Working with Skilled Woodworkers

At Utopia & Utility, we carefully select our woodworkers based on the local timber they work with, ensuring a deep connection to the natural materials they shape.

For our Acacia and Oak bowls, we partner with Andreas, an independent woodturner based in Germany. Andreas operates his own workshop, which he runs alongside his wife, Simone. Their commitment to quality craftsmanship and attention to detail is evident in every piece they create.

For our Alder, Birch, and Larch bowls, we collaborate with Vesa, a retired farmer from North Karelia, Finland. Vesa has converted his old cow and pig stables into a woodworking workshop, where he brings over 60 years of experience to every bowl he crafts. Working from home, Vesa’s deep knowledge of local wood and traditional techniques ensures each piece carries the rich history of his craft.

Our Wood Types: Quality and Craftsmanship in Every Grain

Acacia | Acacia sensu lato

Acacia is a richly orange wood.
It has a white sap and a thick bark.
At Utopia we usually worked with fumed Acacia.
For this process the finished bowls are fumed with Ammonia to achieve a deep dark colour and a strong contrast between sapwood and the heart wood.

(Sap wood is the outer layer below the bark which is responsible for the transportation of water and minerals)

Alder | Alnus Betulaceae

Often growing on the shores of the Finnish lakes, alder is a popular timber in our sauna building culture as it is perfectly suited for the cladding and benches of the interior.

Alder is a slightly orange wood, so it has a warm tinge and a dark bark. It is difficult to source so we go into the forest and along the lakes and buy individual lots from local farmers.

Birch | Betula Betulaceae

Birch, the most Finnish of timbers, is our national tree and shapes our landscapes. White trunked forests with light green leaves are the soul landscape of us Finns.

The timber is super strong and even, with a thin bark that is characterised by its white satin surface. Many older trees have rougher patches of trunk, where the colour is already brown and rough. We like to use these parts to achieve a more prominent crown

Curly Birch | Betula pendula.var. carelica

As the name hints, this is a local variant from North Karelia.
Curly birch is a very strong and special wood, the timber trunk grows all twisted and curled, creating this very beautiful specked wood.
We work wit curly birch for our Poppy & Frida pieces.

Larch | Pinaceae Larix

Larch, the incredible pinewood that drops its needles!

Larch looks like an evergreen needle tree, but turns brown in autumn and drops its needles. Larch has an incredibly beautiful wood structure and satin soft surface with a very beautiful burgundy bark.
Unfortunately very hard to source, but we buy all the timber we can find to make into Utopia pieces!

Oak | Fagaceae Quercus

Oak, deemed the strongest and most versatile of them all!

Oak is much loved and widely used. We focus on finding oaks with a thick bark to bring the attention on the lesser seen sap wood and outer surface.

We use oak in our Bloom and Baby Bloom pieces.