It is the largest smart carpentry in the Iberian Peninsula and one of the biggest ones in Europe. JJTeixeira launches a Wood tribute film, the raw material that underpins its activity, to celebrate its 45th anniversary. This documentary aims to promote the internationalization of the portuguese architecture.

JJTeixeira (JJT) is the largest customized carpentry of the Iberian Peninsula and one of the largest ones in Europe. In the year of celebration of its 45th anniversary, the brand launches the documentary film “Woodstories”, a tribute to the Portuguese architecture and to the Wood. The family company led by its founder, João Teixeira, has been dedicated for over four decades to this raw material, having signed some emblematic projects in national and international territory.

The documentary “Woodstories”, directed by Building Pictures is a tribute to wood which tells eight stories narrated by eight architects. The story unfolds in different chapters: Memories, Application, Senses, Comfort, Sustainability, Time, Carpenters, and Industry. During the film, the architects – Aires Mateus, Carrilho da Graça, Correia Ragazzi, Depa, Diogo Aguiar Studio, João Mendes Ribeiro, Menos é Mais and Oitoo discuss the importance of wood in Portuguese architecture from the time we were born until the future.

According to Miguel Teixeira, Director of JJTeixeira, “In this anniversary, we decided to celebrate the passion for wood that drives the family and the hundreds of workers that are part of the JJTeixeira universe. A passion that gains shape and life through architecture. Therefore, this is also a documentary that aims to promote contemporary Portuguese architecture. It was also important the support and curatorship of Building Pictures, which has done an extraordinary job of promoting this sector. With this documentary we want to join that mission, projecting it all over the world, through our channels and international promotion actions”.

The first chapter establishes a bridge to the past and reveals some of the childhood memories of the architects’ life. In the ‘Use’ chapter verifies that the wood’s application increased in the structures, coatings, interiors, scenography, and new uses. These applications expanded among the architects in Portugal. As the architect Manuel Aires Mateus says: “What is interesting in our research about wood is that we don’t limit wood to traditional applications, we try to explore all its possibilities, for wood to become a truly central material, in which we really feel we are building in wood”.

In the ‘Senses’ chapter, it is possible to see some examples of how people establish a connection with wood through the gaze, the smell, the sounds, the touch, and “the way the wood reacts to our steps”. On the other hand, the ‘Comfort’ chapter reveals how wood is one of the best choices when we are trying to achieve the idea of comfort in spaces and, specifically, in homes. The ‘Sustainability’ chapter portrays how old woods are reused in many projects and, furthermore, wood “is the only natural material that is returned to nature”. In the ‘Time’ chapter, the architects discuss how, over the years, the qualities of wood improve, highlighting the care that this material needs over time. In the ‘Carpenters’ chapter, Manuel Aires Mateus says that “carpentry is the profession that reproduces the most part of the work”.

Finally, in the last chapter, among the various architects, the architect João Luís Carrilho da Graça stands out, underlining the advantages of wood in the Industry’s field: “Nowadays wood allows you to follow a universal trend, which is to be able to make a large part of the buildings in factories, in construction companies, and then transport large prefabricated elements which can then constitute a very high percentage of the construction which has great advantages in terms of speed of execution and quality of the final result”.

For Sara Nunes, director of the film: “During the documentary, we asked several questions about wood and identified common points between the architects. With these points we built a narrative that puts in dialogue all the invited architects. Chapter after chapter, we discover that the architects’ stories are also the stories of all of us because, after all, “there’s no one who doesn’t like wood”, as the architect João Mendes Ribeiro pointed out.”

The project is supported by Ordem dos Arquitectos Secção Regional Norte, Faculdade de Arquitectura do Porto and Casa da Arquitectura.

Link trailer “Wood Stories”: https://vimeo.com/716718746