Designer Shawn Littrell gives new life <br>to beetle-ravaged trees

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When Los Angeles-based designer Shawn Littrell read about an invasive bark beetle epidemic devastating our local forests, he was inspired to repurpose the beetle-ravaged timber. Littrell’s turned-wood MvCvT tables (an acronym for Man vs. Climate Change vs. Trees), left, does just that. The tables, which cost about $800, are made from wood culled from groves just outside Los Angeles -- timber that was slated for destruction by the U.S. Forest Service.

The split-plank tables are are 16.5 inches tall and 12.5 inches in diameter and are unfinished, which allows each piece to generate its own natural patina. Look for the limited-edition pieces -- each signed, numbered pieces -- at Samuel Freeman Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. For more information and gallery hours, call (310) 449-1479.
-- Lisa Boone