It is interesting to see how technology can be used to create something which is ethically and aesthetically pleasing. I have been pointed to the website of a company called Bolefloor who make wooden floorboards. But these are not rectangular boards, they follow the natural curves of the wood, so that there is less waste in shaping the boards.
So, here is their process:
1) take a tree
2) saw it and plane it into planks of uniform thickness (21mm)
3) scan the shape of the edges
4) now optimise -- how can the floor of a room be made of these planks, like a jigsaw, with plain or tongue-and-groove edges, to minimise the waste? Here is the O.R. content, though it looks as if it was people who come from the computer science academic regime who did it.
5) shape the edges and ship to the customer.
Result - a beautiful, unique floor.
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