1. HISTORY

PGT-Reclaimed was the first designer and manufacturer of premium indoor furniture^[1] using solid recycled wood^[2].

The company was established in 1998 by an Australian, Ian James Burden^[3].

Ian saw many piles of discarded wood outside shipyards waiting to be burned and thought he could turn this timber into beautiful indoor furniture. This marked the beginning of PGT-Reclaimed. Today, the company employs almost 700^[4] people directly and over 1,000 indirectly.

PGT-Reclaimed is the only furniture manufacturer that has built a business model based on sustainability by using authentic recycled wood.

It is the only company to use 100% reclaimed wood that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.^[5]

Products are made by-hand using old-English^[6] carpentry, with the company well known for its unique French polishing techniques, where 100% water-based^[7] materials are used.

HISTORY

Ian James Burden was born to a middle-class family in Sydney and loved drawing as a child, which would pave the way to a career of designing and manufacturing furniture.

At age 16, Ian was injured when he fell off a train station platform and was immobilised for six months. During this time, he began his first construction project, a giant Scalextric car track model, followed by a Cutty Shark model ship.

At age 23, Ian began the business, Woodtoys^[8], which became the biggest toy manufacturing company in Australia. In the early 1990s, he sold the company and travelled to Vietnam to find a new adventure.

Ian soon became successful manufacturing outdoor furniture, however, by the late 1990s, the government in Vietnam stopped all wood products from being exported out of the country^[9]. This decision made Ian search for a new business idea, and he was inspired when he saw a sun-lounge sample made from discarded wood.  

He began to see many pieces of discarded timber throughout Vietnam^[10] and decided to begin working on a process to treat the wood and use it for lifestyle furniture.  

Ian’s unique methods were widely recognised in 2002 when Vietnam’s leading newspaper Tuoi Tre Chu Nhat discovered Ian’s activity and wrote a full-page article^[11]. This marked the beginning of Ian’s furniture concept being accepted.

Prior to this point Ian had been trading furniture under concession terms, as the market was not yet convinced that furniture with previous life markings would be popular. PGT-Reclaimed now has a global presence, with furniture sold in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Europe and North America.

In the early days of PGT-Reclaimed, wood was collected and sorted in a labour intensive procedure to remove nails and other debris prior to a total renovation process. In recent times, PGT-Reclaimed has established a wholesale process, with wood collectors removing the debris before selling it to PGT-Reclaimed.  

When PGT-Reclaimed began, Ian bought an Electrolux oven to develop a treatment process for the reclaimed wood. This involved throwing the wood into the pool in his backyard, letting the wood soak, letting it dry naturally, before drying it in the oven. It took four years to discover a perfect temperature to dry all different types of wood to ensure the materials would not shrink when the furniture was shipped to different countries. When this process was refined, he built a large wood-fired oven. The treatment and drying process now takes up to 26 days^[12].  

Ian decided from the beginning the furniture would be made using traditional old-English carpentry to ensure beauty and strength. He invented a ‘floating panel’ method, using a tongue-in-groove^[13] technique to allow the product to adapt to varying weather conditions across the world. Timeless joints like dovetail and tongue-in-groove are used throughout PGT-Reclaimed’s furniture collections.  

Unlike many furniture manufacturers that use a robot finishing system which disguises a piece of timber’s grain, Ian decided to use manual labour to celebrate it.  

Highights of the evolution of PGT-Reclaimed’s finishes include when Ian introduced the multi-step finish, African Dusk, in 2003. This finish is created in 14 steps involving staining, sanding between stains, and dry brushing.

In recent years, PGT-Reclaimed began a new directive to move all finishes to using water-based materials^[14]. The program involved more than 18 months’ research, led by Ian’s wife, Yung. The program’s outcome was astonishing, with finishes that looked 3D, with products sealed with a very low shine top coat able to withstand heat or cold.

Further to Ian’s early innovation to create the first butterfly extension dining table on four legs, Ian stunned customers with a table top that opened and slid, with the extension engineered within the table. This new to the market system was created using all wood, with no metal.  

One of PGT-Reclaimed’s best known designs is a Quick to Assemble Bed^[15]system. This IP protected bed system takes less than two minutes to assemble and has been trialed and tested to support more than 360 kgs.

PGT-Reclaimed’s philosophy has always been the same since the beginning and that is “why cut one down when you can use what lying on the ground?”.

Through the action of reclaiming wood, the company has saved over 500,000 trees from being cut down which equates to oxygen being preserved to benefit one million people.^[16]

In 2015, Ian and Yung met John Watson, a resident pianist at The Langham Hotel, London. Learning about what Ian did for a living, John wrote a beautiful song for the company, now known as The Reclaimed Song.^[17]

Proud of the unique collections designed by Ian, PGT-Reclaimed fought to achieve a satisfying win from an arduous four-year legal battle between PGT-Reclaimed (International) Ltd and ESR (NZ) Ltd (“Early Settler”) in New Zealand^[18] regarding copied furniture.

In November 2017, ESR’s final appeal was rejected by the New Zealand Supreme Court, with all infringing furniture destroyed in 2018.

The case was managed by Gus Hazel from James & Wells^[19] (New Zealand) and Richard Stone from Stone Lawyers (Australia)^[20].

Environmental Excellence Award Supply Chain & Logistics Awards, announced in Sydney, Australia, November 2018^[21]

Green World Ambassador, announced at the Green Organisation's Green Apple Awards 2018 for Environmental Best Practice, London, UK, 12 November 2018^[22]

Green World Grand Champion at the Green Organisation's Green World Awards, announced in Ankara, Turkey, September 2018^[23]

Finalists in the Ethical Corporation's Responsible Business of the Year Awards, announced in London, UK, October 2018^[24]

High Commendation for Australian Supply Chain & Logistics Awards, announced in Sydney, Australia, November 2017^[25]

• In Nature's Realm
• In Nature's Realm (Dvorak)
• In Nature's Realm (Dvořák)
• In Natures Realm (Dvořák)
• Inna (Verdal)
• Inna Yevseyeva
• Inna Zhipulina
• Inna Zubkovskaya
• Innbach
• Innbach River
• Inn District (disambiguation)
• Inn (district of Switzerland)
• Inne
• In Need Of A Miracle
• Innegra S
• In (Nelly song)
• Innenhafen Duisburg
• Innenheim
• Innenstadt, Cologne
• Innenstadt (Cologne)
• Innenstadt (disambiguation)
• Inne piesni
• Inner 6
• Inner Alster Lake
• Inner altar