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This is your Project Page. It's a great opportunity to help visitors understand the context and background of your latest work. Double click on the text box to start editing your content and make sure to add all the relevant details you want to share.
This is your Project Page. It's a great opportunity to help visitors understand the context and background of your latest work. Double click on the text box to start editing your content and make sure to add all the relevant details you want to share.
Josja Boting
From Tree to Bed
We often forget what wood really is. It is a material yes, but it is realy a tree, a living organism. Like this ash tree from the Zuiderpark in Rotterdam, once rooted in the city, later uprooted by a storm.
Through Buurman Rotterdam, the tree found a second life. Buurman Rotterdam was founded on the belief that we must use our planet’s resources more wisely. By creating local hubs for reclaimed and leftover materials (especially wood) they activate makers, designers and communities to build with what already exists. Their mission is simple: a world without waste, where reuse becomes the norm.
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At the heart of the exhibition stands this beautiful ash tree. The Sleeping Beauty Bed transforms the space into an environment for healthy, non-toxic living and hospitality. Rooted in care, material awareness and connection to nature.​
Initiated by Studio Simone van Es, designed and handcrafted by Josja Boting, the bed brings together design and craftsmanship in its purest form. Constructed entirely without glue, it uses traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery—allowing the structure to remain fully demountable and true to the material. Finished with natural linseed oil, the wood is protected while retaining its tactile, living quality.​
What once was a tree in the city now becomes a place of rest. This central piece invites us to slow down, to reconnect, and to experience design as a form of care—where material, origin, and purpose come together.
Throughout the week, the exhibition comes to life with daily Bedtime Stories—ROOTS Talks. Moments of reflection that share an urgent ecological message and open space for dialogue, awareness and change.
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