Innovation, sustainable management and sculpture: CMPC participates in Wood Week 2024

CMPC was in attendance at the 19th version of Wood Week. Over the course of five days, the company participated in seminars on innovation and bioproducts, presented its wood construction projects, and held a number of workshops to demonstrate the versatility of this superior material.

Wood Week 2024 took place over five days under the motto “Wood for a sustainable Chile”, a free event organized by Madera 21 de Corma that set the stage for various seminars, talks and workshops by prominent presenters and brought together more than 24,000 attendees who got to learn first-hand about the different uses of wood.

With this objective, the event kicked off with the award ceremony of the Madera 21 awards, which had 561 participants with 202 projects and works, in addition to the participation of 30 universities from Chile and Latin America in categories such as Architecture, Design, Engineering and Construction, Innovation and Startups, and Architectural Works.   

“This level of participation and turnout not only reflects the diverse opportunities that wood offers us, but the interest of citizens in this topic as well. “The ability to discuss and share details about the potential for diverse, innovative and even everyday applications of this material both at an industrial level as well as at an artistic and decorative level is precisely our aim and what Wood Week lets us do,” said the Madera21 President and CMPC Wood Manager Juan Pablo Pereira.

For his part, CMPC CEO Francisco Ruiz-Tagle said, “Chile is a forested country and we have a lot of wood, yet it still can be challenging to learn about it. Wood Week is a space that provides ample opportunity to get more familiar with it as we learn about this superior, sustainable material that is important for the future of the world.” 

Under these guidelines, CMPC’s participation consisted of a stand that was designed in collaboration with architect Tomás Villalón and built by the Niuform team using mainly Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) and Glued Laminated Timber (Glulam). These materials offer several advantages that allow for more sustainable construction. They were used to manufacture the two-story structure, showcasing CMPC’s latest innovations in wood. 

Likewise, the sales and services manager of Niuform, Jorge Becerra, participated in the talk “From Ingelam to Niuform: Evolution of Mass Timber in Chile”, which covered the history of Ingelam from its inception until its merger with Niuform, highlighting the current challenges and the future of sustainable construction with mass timber. 

For her part, CMPC Ventures Manager Bernardita Araya was the protagonist of the “Innovation in bio-based industries: The future of sustainable bioproducts” seminar in which she addressed the challenge for the forestry industry of combining productivity goals with the exploration and adoption of new technologies that foment innovation, accelerate development and do it all more sustainably. Marketing and CX Deputy Manager, Martín De Mussy led the “De-commoditizing the fiber of the future” seminar, during which he spoke about the evolution of wood fiber towards a proposal more oriented to service and added value.

Wood made into art and entertainment

Those who participated in Wood Week also had the opportunity to appreciate the various CMPC exhibitions, including the Puma sculpture. It was created by the artist David Cofré primarily with Plywood Selex boards built using veneers from pruned pieces grown on the company’s plantations. The artist also held the “The experience of wood is creativity: unique sculptures in wood” workshop. 

The artist Jo Jiménez was in charge of illustrating CMPC’s Bosque Vivo initiative, under which the company opens up its land to the communities. Rafael Correa led the “Live Wood… A look at emotions” exhibition. Another exhibition was held to show the progress of the Universidad Católica Stadium’s construction.