TEAM 7

Alternative to flat-pack chipboard furniture that rarely survives a second move

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Description

TEAM 7 is an Austrian maker of solid wood furniture, from tables and beds to wardrobes and kitchens, made to order in Upper Austria from European hardwoods glued without formaldehyde and finished with natural oil. It is an alternative to flat-pack chipboard furniture that rarely survives a second move.

Erwin Berghammer founded it in 1959 as a small joinery in Ried im Innkreis. Since 1980 it has followed what it calls its purity rule: hardwood, glued without formaldehyde, finished with natural oil “and nothing else”. Georg Emprechtinger took over in 1999 and has owned the family company since 2004. TEAM 7 has its own sawmill in Hungary, a solid-wood panel plant and two furniture plants in Ried and Pram. It uses oak, beech, walnut, alder, cherry and Swiss stone pine from Austria, Germany, Hungary and other European countries; walnut also comes from the USA.

The furniture has carried the Austrian Ecolabel (Österreichisches Umweltzeichen) since 1999, for furniture and for wood products, which includes emission tests for formaldehyde and other pollutants, and the company is certified under ISO 14001 and EMAS. The oiled surfaces can be repaired when scratched or dented, and spare parts can be ordered. Furniture is sold only through dealers and TEAM 7 stores, which give prices on request, because each piece is made to measure.

Strengths

  • Solid hardwood with an oil finish, so scratches and dents can be sanded and repaired again and again.
  • Glued without formaldehyde and certified with the Austrian Ecolabel since 1999, including emission tests.
  • Made to order in Austria, with the company’s own sawmill and panel plant.

Weaknesses

  • Expensive, and no prices are published: they are given only by dealers and the company’s stores.
  • An industrial producer with its own plants, not a local carpenter, and some wood comes from as far as the USA.
  • The site gives no guarantee period, and no independent test of durability is published.

Who it is for

People who buy furniture once and want to keep it for life. For smaller budgets, second-hand solid wood is the better choice.

Sources

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