Success does not come easy if you want to disrupt the traditional market that almost exclusively has installed porcelain toilets, sinks and bathtubs market more than the last 100 years! We all know that wood can be used for baths, sinks, buckets, barrels but their use is tricky and requires special handling to stop mold, leaks, and rot. Why go to all that trouble when we have porcelain, metals, and stones…
It was the commonly held view that the big manufacturers assumed that they were safe from competition to enable them to keep on producing the same products in their massive factories for another 100 years.
However, porcelain products have a heavy carbon footprint because production and transportation require a lot of power and heat, and that is proving to be the undoing of this segment!
Several companies have come out with alternative solutions, but only one has achieved a breakthrough with consumers and investors and they are called Woodie a Finnish design company that has developed asustainable biomaterial Woodio®, that has secured over €30 of funding from VCs and trade investors.
Woodio is starting to manufacture its sustainable toilets, sinks, and bathtubs sanitaryware made fromWoodio® material.
Woodio uses aspen in chip form and chips generated from side-streams of the forest industry as its main raw material. Unlike the manufacturing process of traditional ceramic bathroom fixtures, the production of Woodio’s wood composite products consumes very little water and does not involve energy-intensive processing steps.
The ability to use huge volumes of wood side-streams was one of the reasons that Metsä Group’s innovation company Metsä Spring Ltd decided to become a trade investor in Woodie.
The carbon footprint of a wash basin made from Woodio’s biomaterial is up to 80 percent smaller compared to an equivalent-sized ceramic basin. At the same time, Woodio’s material is durable and lightweight, and the products made from it are easy to install and maintain.
The newly secured funding will be used to make a significant investment in scaling Woodio’s business in Finland along with accelerating international expansion.
“We have now reached a new growth phase and strongly aim for international expansion. During the next year, we’ll boldly expand outside of Finland, while we’re also planning a significant investment in scaling our own business in Finland,” says Terja Koskenoja, Woodio’s CEO.
“The commercialisation of Woodio’s biomaterial innovation to this stage is an excellent example of new opportunities in the forest sector. Finland has a long history and significant know-how related to the forest industry.” comments Woodio’s founder Petro Lahtinen.
“Woodio has created something completely new and unique for a traditional industry, which is hundreds of times the added value of the wood chips”, summarises Eerik Paasikivi, Woodio’s Board Chairman.
Woodio’s mission is fighting climate change by replacing materials with a high carbon footprint with its sustainable biomaterial like Woodio® material.
The global market value of sanitary ware, ceramic tiles and solid surfaces is growing at a fast pace, and Woodio’s material meets current and upcoming regulatory needs, positioning them at the forefront of commercialising sustainable materials. summarises Koskenoja.
Photo: Woodie Oy
