Markus Faißt

Mr. Faisst, you have been working with the construction material, Silver Fir, for a long time.  You mentioned something like 10 or 12 years before.  Are you proud of the boom in timber construction during the past few years, or how do you see the changes brought about by using Silver Fir, from the point of view of an expert in the field?

The Silver Fir has been a formative element in our cultural landscape for generations.  This is especially true of the northern Bregenzerwald.  Silver Fir is a construction material that is simply a part of our homeland and everyday life.  Through the developments over the past few years it has acquired incredible popularity.  The idea that this wood is better than industrial slab solutions, had to be built up again.  Of course this meant a lot of responsibility towards the customer who has to account for his decision to the next generation about whether this type of investment was economically justifiable.  Here we are talking about durability, maintenance, and its patina abilities, among other things, which can only be found out in the laboratory of life in the shape of timid attempts and many small steps.

The Silver Fir has a bad reputation when it comes to processing.  Is this just prejudice, or have you come to the same conclusions in your long experience with this wood?

Silver Fir is certainly better than its reputation.  There were a lot of biases when it came to this wood.  The truth is, however, that Silver Fir needs sophisticated and careful processing.  Personally, though, from an expert point of view, I don‘t consider this troublesome.  On the contrary, I think its great that people have to understand something about the material.  They actually have to know their craft in order to be able to work with this wood.  If the right things are done in the right place and at the right time, Silver Fir is higher in quality than Spruce.

From the customer‘s point of view, what are the positive characteristics of the Silver Fir that distinguish it from other types of wood?

Silver Fir is certainly not the wonder tree which it has sometimes been claimed to be over the past few years, but I find that it has many subtle qualities that other types of wood don‘t have.  There are gradual differences in its hardness and denseness, and of course the fact that it is practically resin free also plays a role in working with this wood.  But here in the rural areas in the Bregenzerwald, it is like a commitment to our cultural Silver Fir tree.  I like its characteristics as a formative element of our landscape, and I appreciate its forestry qualities as a deep rooted tree and how much water it can store.  It is simply a tree full of character that belongs to us.  These are the values that I try to bring over to the customer.  

The other thing is that the Silver Fir ages better than the Spruce.  It doesn‘t yellow as much and it develops more of a sandy, earthy colour as it gets older, not that unpleasant yellowy colour.  Those types of changes that happen because of the UV rays and other things are more unfavourable in certain types of wood because they yellow.  The Silver Fir, on the other hand, develops a slate-like surface patina which a lot of people find more aesthetic.

Are there any restrictions for the use of Silver Fir?  For example when building furniture?

Because of my many years of experience which have been imprinted with extensive learning and experimenting, I can differentiate the limits of using this wood.  There are certainly areas where I don‘t work with Silver Fir, but rather, have to take a harder wood depending on how much stress it will have.  But there is are a large range of possibilities where the Silver Fir can display its naturalness and authenticity, especially in modern design.