Fenland Black Oak CIO

Project Info

From the discovery of an extraordinary piece of 5000-year-old Bog Oak, 13-metre-long planks were cut and crafted into a table that connects ancient forests and local community.

When this ancient piece of Bog Oak was unearthed, designers, makers and students united to save a key part of the nation’s natural heritage. The story of this table originates deep inside the East Anglian Fenland Basin where an incredible ancient high forest once stood. Over time, and a rise in sea level, these spectacular Oak trees fell into the silt of the flooded forest floor where they have been preserved like black treasure in the peat.

The project illustrates, educates, and evokes a sense of wonder at the scale of these ancient trees by preserving the full length of the Bog Oak, which can be touched, used, and closely admired. Visually stunning, it appears to nearly float above its elegant phosphor bronze base comprising of a long slender curved spine, cantilevered via pairs of narrow wheeled pedestals.