Every piece of Willow & Spoon kitchenware begins the same way: as a branch in an olive grove in Sfax, Tunisia — not as a tree cut down to be made into a spoon. That distinction sits at the heart of how our pieces are made, and why olive wood is one of the most sustainable materials you can bring into a kitchen.
Here's the full story, from the grove to your kitchen.
Where olive wood comes from
Our wood comes from the region around Sfax, on Tunisia's coast, where olive trees have shaped the landscape for thousands of years. The variety is Chemlali — the hardy, tight-grained olive native to Tunisia, prized as much for its dense, beautiful wood as for its fruit. These aren't trees grown for timber. They're working olive trees, part of groves that have produced oil for generations.
Why it's sustainable: no tree is ever felled
This is the part that matters most. We never cut down a living, fruit-bearing olive tree to make kitchenware. Every piece is carved from wood that would otherwise go to waste:
- Pruned branches — olive trees are pruned regularly to stay healthy and productive, and those cuttings become our raw material.
- End-of-life trees — when a tree finally finishes its fruit-bearing life, after decades or even centuries, its wood is given a second life as something lasting, rather than being burned or discarded.
In other words, olive wood kitchenware is a byproduct of an existing, renewable agricultural cycle — not a driver of deforestation. The wood is traceable from grove to workshop.
Why olive wood is an eco-friendly choice
Beyond how it's sourced, olive wood is simply a kinder material for the planet than the alternatives:
- It's plastic-free and biodegradable. Unlike plastic utensils, it sheds no microplastics into your food and won't sit in a landfill for centuries.
- It lasts for decades. A single olive wood spoon can outlive dozens of cheap plastic or softwood tools — so you buy once instead of repeatedly.
- It's finished naturally. Every piece is finished with a natural blend of food-grade mineral oil and beeswax — nothing that leaches into your food, and no chemical lacquers or coatings.
Durability is its own kind of sustainability: the longest-lasting product is often the greenest one.
How each piece is made
Once the wood reaches the workshop, the craft takes over. Artisans in Sfax hand-carve each piece from a single block of olive wood — not glued or pieced together, but shaped from one solid piece so it's strong enough to last a lifetime.
Because the grain of an olive tree grows slowly over its whole life, twisting and darkening as it goes, no two pieces are ever alike. The swirling patterns in a finished bowl or board are the tree's own record of the decades it spent growing. That's why every Willow & Spoon piece is genuinely one of a kind — the wood decides how it looks, not a machine.
Craft worth keeping alive
Hand-carving olive wood is slow, skilled work — a tradition rooted in a region where olives have always been central to life. Choosing a handmade piece over a mass-produced one supports that craft and puts something into your kitchen that carries a real story.
A small choice that adds up
A single olive wood utensil won't save the planet. But choosing durable, naturally sourced, plastic-free tools — and keeping them for decades — is exactly the kind of small, repeatable choice that does. It's better for your food, better for the groves, and better for the people who make them.
Explore our handcrafted olive wood kitchenware — each piece carved in Sfax, Tunisia, from wood that was never meant to be wasted. And to learn more about the material itself, read why we choose olive wood.
