We design and make our wooden creations in Thônes, Haute-Savoie — and what we don't make ourselves, we entrust to local artisans.
Les idées de la forêt is a family business based in Thônes, Haute-Savoie. 3D printers, bases turned by a craftsman in Le Chinaillon, wood — and the desire to make the objects we would like to see in the world, rather than mass-produce them.
Our mountain lamps reproduce the real relief of a summit from official topographic data — IGN LiDAR HD in France, swisstopo in Switzerland. Every ridge, every combe, every valley is exactly where it belongs: this is not scenery inspired by the mountain, it is the mountain itself, to scale. The pear-wood base is hand-turned by L'Atelier du Mont, a woodturner in Le Chinaillon; the relief, printed in corn-starch bioplastic, becomes translucent once lit. Each lamp is finished here and carries its serial number.
Today we make four families of objects: mountain lamps, whose relief is 3D-printed from real topographic data and set on a hand-turned pear-wood base; topographic maps, with contour lines engraved into birch; kitchen utensils, carved and sanded by hand; and our mycelium objects, grown and then dried in the workshop. Everything leaves the workshop within 2 to 3 working days, packed without plastic — and if you are passing through the Aravis, collection on site is free. The behind-the-scenes story is in our article on how it's made.
Explore the shopPEFC wood from sustainably managed forests.
Every piece is sanded, oiled and checked in our workshop.
Every piece is assembled and finished in our workshop.
Zero plastic, recycled & recyclable materials.
A question about our products? Want to discuss a custom order? We're here for you.
