Rooting Interest

Jorge Penadés puts timber castoffs from the olive-oil trade to refined use

- HANNAH MARTIN

Olive oil is part of our DNA,” says the Madrid-based designer Jorge Penadés, who grew up in the Andalusian city of Málaga, one of the world’s leading suppliers. “You see it in the food, the culture, the landscape.” When he learned that many native trees, which grow in clusters, were being uprooted to accommodate contemporary harvesting equipment, he wondered how to make use of the sacrificed plants—and particularly their root systems which, often bigger than trunks and branches, were being sold as firewood.

1. JORGE PENADES WITH PIECES FROM HIS UPROOTED SERIES AT HIS WORKSHOP OUTSIDE MADRID.