RETWood with Eurostars

In response to the ecological, ethical and legal concerns associated with the use of tropical woods in string instruments making, Bois d'Harmonie is looking for solutions in order to reduce its impact on deforestation. Swiss Wood Solutions has developed the sustainable product Sonowood. The innovation’s aim is to replace endangered tropical woods in musical instruments. Sonowood is an extremely dense and hard wooden material. It was found that thanks to its very compact wood fibre structure, Sonowood can be crafted particularly well and precisely.

The objective of the RETWood Project (Replacing Endangered Tropical Woods) is to carry out these investigations and ultimately de mettre au point des accessoires du quatuor de haute qualité environnementale. The acquired competence will enable Bois d'Harmonie to craft fittings of excellence, durable, and coming from certified european forests sustainably managed. The acquired CNC-milling competence can also be used by Swiss Wood Solutions for the development of further products consisting of precisely shaped wooden pieces such as woodwind instruments (flutes, clarinets), tool handles (knives, hammers), stationary products and luxury items (jewellery, watches, cameras).

The RETWood project is carried out in cooperation with Swiss Wood Solutions AG, a business and technology incubator for sustainable, wood-based products, and supported by Eurostars, a joint programme between EUREKA and the European Commission. Eurostars supports international innovation projects led by research and development-performing small- and medium-sized enterprises (R&D-performing SMEs). The project runs from November 2019 until October 2022.

More about Eurostars >