MINNEAPOLIS—Room & Board for Business is expanding its Urban Wood Project with the introduction of reclaimed American elm into its Hensley collection—bringing a historically unavailable species into one of its most established product lines and advancing its use of sustainable materials at scale.
Once a defining feature of neighborhoods across the United States, American elm populations declined significantly following the spread of Dutch elm disease in the mid-20th century. Today, elm is not commercially harvested at scale and must instead be reclaimed from mature urban trees removed due to age, safety, or infrastructure needs—wood that would otherwise often be discarded. By incorporating reclaimed elm into a core, high-volume collection, Room & Board signals a shift in how urban wood can move beyond limited applications and into consistent, long-term production.
Hensley has served as a foundational collection within the Room & Board assortment for more than a decade. The collection includes armoires, dressers, nightstands, storage cabinets, and media consoles. Defined by clean lines and balanced proportions, Hensley pairs a streamlined silhouette with solid wood construction, allowing the material itself to remain the focal point. Shaped by shifting light and surrounding structures, city-grown Elm trees often display distinctive characteristics including pronounced grain variation and contrast between heartwood and sapwood. Its interlocking grain structure also contributes to its strength, making it well-suited for solid wood construction. It is available with a matching wood base, as well as stainless steel or graphite base options.
“Collections like Hensley have far greater potential to make an environmental impact than standalone pieces,” says Elise Nicpon, Director of Retail Customer Experience at Room & Board for Business. “By integrating reclaimed elm into an assortment that spans multiple categories and sells consistently, we can meaningfully increase the amount of urban wood diverted from the waste stream. In 2025 alone, that meant 366 trees reclaimed through our Urban Wood Project.”
Since 2018, Room & Board has partnered with municipalities and small businesses nationwide to divert urban wood from landfills and transform it into kiln-dried lumber suitable for furniture manufacturing. For Hensley, Room & Board collaborates with Wisconsin-based Wudeward Urban Forest Products and Shell Lake Woodcrafters, establishing a supply chain capable of supporting elm’s use in durable, functional design. Beyond diverting trees from the waste stream through manufacturing, Room & Board will also support the University of Minnesota’s Survivor Elm Project, which works to repopulate disease-resistant elm trees.
