Woodoo: augmented wood
Woodoo is a French start-up that has designed a process that makes wood rot-proof and much more resistant to fire and stress.
Wood is an environmentalist’s dream material: natural, it grows by itself, captures CO2, is easy to work with, and can be used to make an infinite variety of objects, from forks to entire houses… Unfortunately, it has some serious drawbacks: it’s prone to rot, flammable, not very strong… some woods are so brittle that they can only be used to make paper pulp.
Woodoo, a greentech start-up, proposes a technology that makes wood resistant to fire, rot and stress.
The Woodoo process
By removing the lignin from wood and replacing it with a plant-based resin, the process transforms any wood into a translucent, waterproof, rot-resistant, dimensionally stable, flame-retardant, tactilely conductive material that is almost as strong as metal. It can be used as a tactile display surface, like a screen.
Woodoo founder Timothee Boitouzet, an architect by training, has his sights set on architecture and construction. However, in order to be used in the building industry, it is necessary to obtain several ATEX certifications depending on the applications sought (a process similar to the Autorisation de Mise sur le Marché for medicines and phytosanitary products).
At present, the company is “at the development stage, and we are producing pre-industrial prototypes for sectors that have approached us and for which certification is not required. For example, for the luxury goods, design, automotive and interior design sectors.”(Batiadvisor) The main applications, however, are this “luxury material” aspect and the possibility of turning it into a kind of touch screen. They also plan to replace plastic for everyday objects. In particular, they presented a 4m² wooden video screen wall (“JASPR”) at CES Las Vegas in 2022. They are also proposing a luminous panel, LIGHTR.
An ecological material?
This augmented wood would be a very positive technology for the environment. The product would have a positive carbon footprint, storing 700kg of CO2 per m3 produced, compared with 400kg emitted, and it would be a less energy-intensive process than glass or steel production. This could represent savings of thousands of tonnes of CO2 per building. Being able to use lower-value, “weakly constituted” woods (poplar, pine, aspen, etc.) means that forests can be put to better use: 50% of the wood cut in France would not be used.
What’s more, the extracted lignin could be used as a substitute for petroleum in many products, adding to the environmental and economic value of the project. This material could revolutionize many sectors, including construction and furniture. For the time being, Woodoo is concentrating on high value-added niche markets, such as the automotive industry.
Woodoo: a greentech start-up
Timothee boitouzet, an architect by training, is the founder of Woodoo. Created in 2016, the start-up has filed 17 patents around its process. Woodoo has raised €5.2M and is one of Europe’s most recognized start-ups, with over 30 awards since 2016. Notably, it won the EDF Pulse prize in the “Smart City” category in 2017 and the CNAM Grand Prix for Innovation.
The company is said to be self-financing at present, working with the automotive (Daimler/Mercedes) and aerospace (Safran) industries to make wooden touch screens(Korii)
The company’s headquarters would be at the top of the Montparnasse tower, and its factory near Troyes.
Structure(infogreffe file) :
- SAS WOODOO, 83 boulevard Saint-Michel, 75005 Paris, RCS Paris 822 373 551 00016
- Secondary establishment: 3 chemin des croix, 10430 ROSIERES-PRES-TROYES, RCS Troyes 822 373 551 00032