Author Archives: Megan Urban

The Delft Botanical Garden shouldn’t exist. The plants within its walls are not natural neighbors. They are there through the intervention of man. They are there through the circumnavigation of the globe undertaken by Dutch traders, linking the country’s far-flung colonies to Europe and bringing together species that never should have come into contact. Now, […]

At the turn of the twentieth century, a commitment was made to replant and preserve Iceland’s forests. Now, after more than a hundred years of growth, some of this lumber is ready to be transformed. Into what? That is what we will explore. From May 15th through May 22nd, twenty individuals from Iceland and the […]

As Designers & Forests begins each project, we define a conceptual framework to study the region in which we are working. With Hidden Frontiers, the history of Central and Western New York is our inspiration. This is an area that has been called the American frontier, the Steel Belt, the Rust Belt, and the Burned Over […]

Students from the State University of New York at Fredonia, participated in the Beatle Kill & Aspen Die-Off through creation of a non-traditional publication, titled Efferention. Designers & Forests co-founder Megan Urban presented a small group of her students with the findings of the projects expedition to Utah. With her guidance, the students researched the factors affecting […]

Daniel Byström’s TRIO stool is inspired by the heritage of Utah, which is historically connected to Scandinavia through many of the immigrants who settled in the region in the nineteenth century. TRIO draws from a simple, yet sophisticated, and sustainable form of craftsmanship. The legs are tapered and octagon shaped. They are fitted with the seat using a traditional […]