Frequently Asked Questions

What species of wood do you use?

We use many species of wood to build Tropical Salvage products. During our twenty-three years in business we have used over one-hundred and fifty species of wood in production. Some of the most common species we use are Ingas, Waru, Nangka, Munggur, Teak Root, Rosewood (Sonokeling) Root, Kecacil and Trembesi.

How do you know that all of the wood really comes from salvage?

We perform all parts of our furniture production business model, including discovery of salvageable wood, extraction and acquisition, milling and construction. Tropical Salvage wood salvage and construction teams work year round and have full and clear oversight over all elements of business.

Where is the furniture made?

Tropical Salvage furniture and homewares are crafted in a town named Jepara, located in North Central Java, Indonesia. For centuries, Jepara has been recognized throughout the world as a place where skilled artisans build and carve fine furniture.

Do you use a non-toxic finish?

Our clear damar finish is a natural, non-toxic resin that lasts well. The resin is tapped from damar trees grown in plantations located in Southeast Sumatra. The formula is simple: we mix damar resin with denatured sugar cane alcohol - 94 percent sugar cane ethanol and 6 percent methanol.

Is Tropical Salvage fairly traded?

Tropical Salvage directly employs about seventy people in a town named Jepara, located in north central Java, Indonesia. The company subcontracts work to scores more workers: salvage wood component shapers, sisal and rattan weavers, coconut palm homeware artisans and stone carvers, etc. Employees work thirty-six hours a week, with an hour off for lunch each work day and half-days off on Fridays in order to attend prayer services at their mosque. Employees’ wages are competitive and we cover family health care, as needed. Each year during the fasting month of Ramadan, Tropical Salvage employees receive a two-week paid vacation. Benefits from working at Tropical Salvage are recognized and respected in Jepara.

Is the wood FSC-certified?

Tropical Salvage is certified by Indonesia’s Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu (System for Legal Verification of Wood). SVLK is legally required and legally enforced oversight that occurs every other year by a third-party forestry practices certifier. It means that for three days Tropical Salvage production hosts two licensed inspectors who scrutinize details of the company’s wood sourcing and wood use. It is a rigorous and expensive process that we pay for.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and similar certification bodies were formed to assure buyers, through chain-of-custody verification, that their wood is sourced from sustainably managed, socially beneficial forests or plantations. By and large, this certification frame does not apply to Tropical Salvage because our wood does not come from planned harvests of forests. None of our wood is sourced from cutting down trees, period. (In fact, it is important to us to communicate to consumers that our wood sourcing principles diverge with FSC and other certification bodies in that we are certain that, at this threshold in history where ecological integrity is everywhere threatened by human impacts, it is rational and imperative to legally prohibit any and all tree harvests from the world’s remaining fragments of biodiverse tropical forests.) Tropical Salvage practices best principles in wood acquisition and use. Our salvage projects receive support from both the communities where they occur and from the government offices in Indonesia that judge our work within a legal context.

Tropical Salvage commonly creates value from woods that previously were not perceived to have value and it does so without causing negative social or environmental consequences. This fact generates support for our work. Many woods we salvage satisfy certification criteria. Recycled wood, such as deconstruction salvage, satisfies FSC certification criteria, while our river salvage, landslide salvage, lahar salvage and plantation cull wood satisfies Rainforest Alliance certification criteria. While Tropical Salvage does not pursue certification status from these oversight organizations because the costs in doing so are higher than what we’re able to afford, at the same time, we’re confident that there is no other wood furniture production business that operates with more environmental and social circumspection.

How does my purchase support Tropical FOREST conservation and Restoration?

Tropical Salvage’s business model focuses on thorough use of salvaged woods. Company designers, builders and sales people are expert at identifying and communicating aesthetic values of salvaged wood and their application in design. Many of these values don’t conform to traditional aesthetic values - which emphasize straight grains and uniform colors sourced from mature trees of favored species. We use variable woods sourced from variable salvage environments, that also have variable grain patterns and variable colors. By restricting our wood use to only salvaged wood, we allow consumers opportunity to acquire uniquely beautiful wood furniture without causing distress to forests. Tropical Salvage provides choices in the marketplace that are low environmental impact.

Additionally, when it is able to, Tropical Salvage acquires land in Indonesia and dedicates it to plant and grow tree species that are endemic and becoming rare. These trees grow rapidly in a tropical environment where soils are perennially fertilized by rich mineral ashes spewed and spread from Java’s twenty-one active volcanoes. Seedlings grow with astonishing speed into forests. Diverse tree species attract and nurture diverse plant, insect, bird, reptile and mammal life. If it is allowed to benefit from the fullness of nature’s rhythms and forces, biodiversity in Indonesia flourishes more dynamically than anywhere else on earth. Tropical Salvage strategizes to create ever more opportunities for this to happen.