Meet the Team

Elephant Timber are a family run company based in the heart of Sussex, specialising in supplying live-edge British timber. We supply unique pieces of timber that showcase the natural edges and variations in the grain patterns of live-edge wood. The Elephant Timber employees are passionate about what they do and handpick each piece for its unique character.

Carl Foreman, founder and owner, established Elephant Timber Supplies in 2016. Carl created Elephant Timber in order to find the perfect use for the trees felled at his Tree Surgery business. 

Carl wears many hats and takes on all of the daily challenges of running a business, from cleaning the office and making table tops, to driving forklift trucks and negotiating deals with clients, and everything else in-between.

Carl’s inspiration comes from his father, who is the hardest working person he knows. Often known to be scrapping over pennies in any given business deal, only to give most of it to charity a week later.

For Carl, the most rewarding and exciting part of his work is being the first person to see what beautiful patterns nature has provided when milling a log to reveal what lies within. He gets great satisfaction from the challenge of rising to his clients’ expectations and with a “yes we can” attitude, always finds a solution to their timber needs.

Carl is proud of being able to save so many trees from becoming just logs for burning. For him, it is important that the trees he fells have a second life as something as beautiful as their first.

Found in the grounds of stately homes and parks, Cedar of Lebanon is Carl’s favourite type of tree. He likes the way the species looks established enough to know what life is all about.

He likes to think that if trees could talk, that they would remind us humans that we are not really that significant in the grand scheme of the natural world.

Carl’s favourite product created from Elephant Timber’s range of wood slabs is a large slice of Olive Ash he used to display the house name at his parent’s home.

Please get in touch if you would like advice on choosing the right wooden slab for your next project, or if you require information on our range of natural live-edge timber.