With a 20 percent occurrence, the beech is the most widespread hardwood tree in Switzerland.

Despite its high occurrence in this country and the good properties of the hardwood, only a low added value is achieved with beech wood. Large quantities of beech are burned or exported at low prices to distant countries. "fagus noir" aims to strengthen the value chain of beech wood as a whole by developing a new design-relevant property.

The project deals with a novel modification of the wood's own colour and the practical implementation of it.