I was a small kid when I built my first DIY project. Back then, our winters still had real snow.
Every year.
Back then, I already knew how to ski, but we didn’t own skis.
So I decided to make them myself. I was like 8 years old.
Skis are normally made out of "composite materials", a fancy way of saying: impossible to recycle and impossible to build yourself. But I had seen, in a rustic restaurant, hanging on a wall, a pair of skis, made in all wood…
I was a lucky kid. I grew up on an organic farm, with a big workshop, all sorts of tools and parents who encouraged making things. I loved working with wood. It’s intuitive, beautiful, and really a friendly substance.
I think that was the start of my love for working with wood.
And it’s fast: I was done with my skis the next day, and got to test them in the same snow that inspired the action! Awesome.
I think building in wood could also be a good idea for Lytefire. Making it easier to build, simpler to start.
Last year I visited the university of Sofia Antipolis in the south of France. It was a program from Ecole des Mines. I was called there to be a solar instructor, and support the students, some of whom had 0 building experience... I instructed them to build simple mirror holders with wood. The students succeeded right away and we needed nothing but hand-tools. Bamboo has also been tried by Lytefire’s team members a while ago.
And even before this, in 2020, I instructed a group of students at the Bern University of Applied Sciences and their wood‑engineering department. 24 students explored ways to build Lytefire structures in wood. This was the height of COVID, now six years ago already! Everything was happening online, and there was no time to build. I was left with at least 6 different approaches to build Lytefire with wood… On top of my own ideas of how it could be done…
The lockdown started. At that time, I lived in Heuberge, a rustic Swiss mountain hotel. Surrounded by melting snow, and lots of sun. I proposed to the hotel to build a Lytefire oven… A way to attract more clients in the summer, to offer pizza, baked with the sun… With the global warming welcoming structure need new ideas.
I started building… And this time in wood.
And that brings me to the point:
We’re considering adding a wood‑based construction option to the Lytefire guides. It could make building easier, reduce the need for metal works, and open the door for more people to start.
If you have thoughts about wood‑building or feedback on our DIY guide, let’s talk about it! I think wood could open the way for more people to build their own solar access.
