We sat down with Aram Terry, Co-Founder of MasayaCo, and talked through their sustainable furniture line, brand new ADUs in California and their mission to become world's the first fully sustainable furniture brand.
This brand is reforesting the planet through sustainable design.
Solid teak furniture & ADUs that sustainably reforest the planet? Sounds almost too good to be true and how does that actually work?
MasayaCo's reforested teak furniture
Why are you doing this?
When we first started, about ten years ago, we really wanted to solve the deforestation happening across Latin-America. And not just for a few years. Deforestation is, at its core, an economic problem. Forest does not produce the income people need to survive and so they burn it down to create cattle farms.
To sustainably maintain or regrow forests you need to provide an economic solution. Or you will just end up where you started. We found that through good design we can add value from these forests and grow more forest back every year. And sink tons of carbon while doing so.
What do you mean when you say 'sinking carbon'?
Wood is around 50% captured carbon. And what most people don't realize is that anything you make from wood is basically 50% captured carbon. So by growing these forests and creating lifetime quality products from the wood, we can offset our emissions.
MasayaCo also has a teak outdoor collection
Tell me more about the lifetime quality. How is it different from anyone else?
In part it is making everyone from Teak hardwood which is undeniably one of the most durable wood you can use. But I'm referring more to how we make things. The intent. Most furniture brands today are Fast Furniture brands that want people to rebuy when something else is in vogue. That's how they make money. We focus on timeless when we are designing and on durability when we are making our furniture. We want our pieces to last and be passed on.
You recently started to make ADUs in addition to furniture. Can you tell us more about that?
For sure. We started Masaya Homes around a year ago and are currently serving both Northern California and Costa Rica. We build the Backyard Homes entirely out of Teak and install them turnkey in people's backyards. We have six models ranging from 120sf studios to 1200sf three bedroom homes.