THE TIMBERWISE STORY
‘I established my first company, Martek-Sapientia Oy, in 1988. The company’s main business was industrial automation. During the years of recession in the 1990s, over 90% of the company’s turnover came from export.
At the turn of the 20th century, Austrians were establishing a factory which would process spruce logs into parquet in Parikkala, Finland. Martek was involved as an equipment supplier, but as it turned out, the Austrians wanted to do everything themselves. We were left with the completed calculations and plans for the factory. We even had an empty factory building waiting, so we thought, why not do something similar in Loimaa? Through these incidents, Timberwise was born.
During the early years, spruce was sawn and processed on a ‘from logs to parquet’ basis and sold to the Alpine countries. Soon recession hit Germany, and the demand for parquet intended for Alpine Chalets decreased. At the same time, the larch boom began. During the years 2002–2005, almost 80% of the Timberwise parquets was made from larch.
The competition in the field was tough, but we already knew at an early stage that to operate in Finland, we would have to put all our efforts on best possible quality. While many of our competitors quit or transferred their production to less expensive countries, we decided to ‘go against the grain’. Guiden by our values, we invested in automating our production and developing our production, as well as in the skills and well-being of our personnel. Our minds were set on preserving the traditional wood processing expertise in Finland. For that part, nothing has really changed.
Today, Timberwise manufactures the highest-quality plank parquet from the best raw materials: oak, ash and larch. All our wood comes from PEFC and FSC-certified forests in Europe. To produce our parquets, we only use safe and ethical materials, such as moisture-resistant and formaldehyde-free adhesive, as well as Finnish birch plywood in the middle layer. This results in the world’s best parquet – a product that is suitable for all conditions, from the dryness of Lapland to the humidity of Hong Kong.
uvantie 222, P.O 99,
32201, LOIMAA
Telephone: +358 2 763 6420
Fax: +358 2 762 7465
Business ID: 1109113-9
www.timberwise.fi