This company crafts tree-free wood products.

TLDR:

• Foray Bioscience is a company disrupting traditional wood product manufacturing by growing wood-like cells in a lab setting.
• They aim to produce wood-based products like perfumes, cosmetics, oils, and even beams and planks without the need to clear forests.

Foray Bioscience, led by founder and CEO Ashley Beckwith, is revolutionizing the production of wood products by growing wood-like cells in a lab setting. Beckwith’s vision is to create a sustainable alternative to traditional manufacturing methods that involve harvesting trees. By using a technology platform that combines cell culture and tissue engineering, Foray aims to produce a variety of products, including perfumes, cosmetics, and even beams and planks, all without the need to clear forests. The process involves extracting live cells from plant leaves, culturing them, and coaxing them to grow into wood-like structures. While the company has demonstrated the feasibility of producing fragrance products, scaling the technology and achieving commercial success remain challenges. Beckwith and her team believe that their biomanufacturing approach can help protect and restore forests by providing an environmentally friendly alternative to tree harvesting. Despite skepticism from some experts, Beckwith remains optimistic about the potential impact of Foray’s technology and is committed to overcoming obstacles through innovation and perseverance.