Preserving New Mexico’s wildfire-fallen trees through documented craft
Transforming New Mexico fire-fallen trees into heirloom furniture. Each piece carries an embedded NFC tag—tap with your phone
About Urban Wood New Mexico
Why This Work Exists
Wildfires across New Mexico have taken down thousands of historic trees. Many stood for centuries. Most are burned, chipped, or discarded, and their histories disappear with them.
Urban Wood New Mexico exists to preserve a small number of these trees by transforming them into long-lasting furniture and embedding NFC documentation that can be accessed with a simple phone tap.
The goal is not volume or trend, but record — ensuring that what was lost is still remembered.
What Is Preserved
Each piece begins with a single tree.
The fire that took it down, the location where it stood, the species, and its approximate age are recorded. The wood is salvaged, milled, and crafted carefully so both the material and its history endure.
Every finished piece is accompanied by a Fire Record and a quietly embedded digital record, unlocked with a simple tap of a phone, linking the object to its origin.
How the Work Is Done
The work is intentionally slow and limited.
Fire-fallen wood is stabilized, reinforced where necessary, and finished to allow the grain, age, and damage to remain visible. Construction methods prioritize longevity and serviceability rather than concealment.
Materials are chosen for compatibility and durability. Finishes are layered and repairable. Structural elements are concealed but documented through embedded NFC records.
Events
Life will find a way.
A Record of Time
Juniper grows slowly in the high, dry mountains of New Mexico—often adding only a thin ring each year. Trees of this size are not the result of rapid growth, but of centuries of persistence and endurance.
Based on its scale and tight grain, this tree is estimated to have lived approximately 300 to 450 years before falling in the Little Bear Fire.
What remains is not just wood, but time—preserved.
