The plaques inform shoppers that no live trees were harmed in the making of the benches -- the wood came from a natural blowdown.

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Made up of timbers cut from a nearby sustainable wood along with natural and biodegradable materials, the home generates all its own power.

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The pieces have free-flowing edges, dovetail joinery, inlaid butterfly-shaped bridges of contrasting wood that stop natural cracks from spreading and at least four coats of a hand-rubbed oil finish.

FORBES: Trees with souls

At the Froxfield workshops in Hampshire, where Mr Peters was apprenticed at 16, eagerly sweeping every last wood-curl from the floor, there were treadle saws, and only natural daylight illuminated the aproned young men bent solemnly over their work benches.

ECONOMIST: Alan Peters