Forest Steward Certified

We recently received the following email from Lisa at Green House Framing.  We are shocked to learn of frame companies making false claims that they mouldings are Forest Steward Council Certified.  We have updated our framing article with this new information.  Thank you to Lisa and Lars for making some of the greenest frames out there and keeping other's honest.

Check out Green House Framing's blog post on this issue here.

We have been working with the Forest Stewardship Council in regards to some moulding companies claiming that their wood is FSC.  At this time, there is no moulding manufacturer who is using FSC certified wood.  Roma outright lied about the source of their wood and other frame companies have followed suit, thinking they would not be questioned.  FSC has forced Roma to remove the claims from their website and advertising.  They will be asking other frame companies and anyone else making those claims to do the same, including Framer's Workshop and Greener Photography.  I wanted to give you the heads up in case you wanted to go ahead an remove it voluntarily.  In order to list any company with FSC certification, you need to verify the certificate number for the product.  Also, just because a moulding company acquires some wood from an FSC forest, does not make their mouldings FSC certified.  That is an additional certification process that they have to go through, and no company has done either certification according to the FSC.  So, to sum up, there are no mouldings that are FSC certified, and there are no mouldings currently being manufactured from FSC certified wood.  Larson-Juhl has had their Biltmore Matting Collection FSC certified.  That is the only FSC label that you can use on your website.  The have some mouldings that are PEFC certified, so that is your choice whether to include that or not.  It is kind of a way around FSC certification because they know that cannot get one based on their wood sources. 

And, then there is the issue of managed forests.  This is just another marketing gimmick that means absolutely nothing.  Anyone can say it because there is no verification process.  It is your choice to promote that if you want.  If a frame company were actually using wood from a sustainable forest, then it would be FSC certified.  We are not the framing police, and definitely do not want to spend any more time than we have to on issues like this.  We just can't let these companies lie about their wood sources, especially when customers want to buy something that is better for the environment.  If I had to choose one company that is actually telling the truth about their mouldings, it would be Framerica.  I still have issues with them using virgin wood and toxic finishes, but at least they are not making wild claims about their frames.

Lisa Pratt | Artist/Owner | Green House Framing | 503.777.8420

And there you have it!  We never imagined that someone would falsly claim their products as FSC certified.  Currently Greener Photography does not have the resources to verify every claim and that puts us in a tough spot when we just report the information that is available publicly.  Would you like to see GP police these kinds of claims?  Please let us know.  We have a continued discussion on this topic in our forum.