The <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161024231028/http://theworkshopofdreams.info/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">‘Workshop of Dreams’</a> brought together visionary creators and world-renowned designers to craft extraordinary wooden sculptures that merged imagination and artistry. The initiative, led by Segovia’s Hay Festival, the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161024231028/http://www.americanhardwood.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC)</a>, and the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161024231028/http://www.ie.edu/school-architecture-design/school-architecture-design%E2%80%9D%20target=" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IE School of Architecture and Design</a> had four teams come up with four sculptures—four 'dreams'—handmade with wood from the lush forests of the United States. These four teams were comprised by creators, the inspirers, and world-renowned Spanish architects and designers.

The first team was formed by architect Izaskun Chinchilla and chefs Juan Mari and Elena Arzak. The second team was led by Spanish writer Javier Cercas and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161024231028/http://www.rcrarquitectes.es/%E2%80%9D%20target=" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RCR Architects</a>. The third team included the Dean of the IE School of Architecture and Design, the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161024231028/http://www.pritzkerprize.com/%E2%80%9D%20target=" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pritzker Architecture Prize</a>’s Executive Director Martha Thorne, and Italian architect <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161024231028/http://www.mirallestagliabue.com/%E2%80%9D%20target=" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Benedetta Tagliabue</a>. Finally, the fourth team was led by our CEO, Jacob Benbunan, and Juan Luis Arsuaga, Spanish palaeontologist and the scientific director of the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain.

According to the brief, all participants had to respond to the question: 'What object have you always wanted in your home but have never been able to find?' For Arsuaga, the answer was a space he could live in regardless of the environment: a cabin with all the necessary elements to work or rest despite the weather.

According to the organisation, 'the challenge presented a unique opportunity to start with a clean slate, as the first step was for the designer and the inspirer to get to know each other, to push each other to break down boundaries, and to freely explore new ideas together. After this initial phase, the resulting object—to be crafted in wood—represented the dreams of the inspirer but also of the designer. Dreams and ideas that had been going around in both of their heads but that hadn’t had a chance to be realised.'

The final sculptures, produced by the carpentry La Navarra, one the best wood workshops in Spain, were displayed during this year’s edition of the Segovia Hay Festival. During the exhibition, the teams behind each sculpture showed the process behind the making of these objects and shared the whole creative process with the public, from ideation to craft.
'Thanks to the dreams of these four inspirers, designers had the chance to explore and deepen the technical and aesthetic possibilities, as well as the environmental benefits, of American wood,' concluded the organisation.

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