Research & Development

Sagaan is a pioneer in the development and use of one of the oldest natural materials in the world.

As 'Plastic from prehistoric times' is what birch bark is often called. The properties of birch bark are as unique as they are ingenious:

• Waterproof by nature
• Flexible
• Soft
• Light
• pH skin neutral
• Non-slip
• Antibacterial

This has led people to use birch bark in a variety of everyday applications for thousands of years:

• The oldest man-made adhesiveBirch pitch, is obtained from birch bark
• The historic canoes were built watertight with a birch bark membrane as an outer skin
• To this day Green roofs in Scandinavia provided with birch bark as a moisture barrier
• Birch bark protects food in storage tins and keeps baked goods fresh for a long time in bread boxes

So far, it has not been possible to process birch bark in series according to modern requirements.

Sagaan has a worldwide interdisciplinary network of material experts who, through their work, are able to optimise the natural properties of nature with the requirements of modern series production together.
For the first time, the network around sagaan has succeeded in developing birch bark that can be processed in series while fully preserving its natural properties.
This comes Material revolution From now on, toxic petroleum-based materials can be dispensed with and the historical connection to birch bark can be restored.

Since its foundation, sagaan has also offered external customers services in the areas of research, development and feasibility of products made from birch bark.
Our focus is on minimally invasive technologies close to the source material.
Our experience is strong in the mechanical processing of birch bark.

Sagaan has the following Technical means and offers research services using the following technologies, among others

• Splitting, separating, cutting and punching birch bark
• Hot forming and hot and cold pressing
• Special surface treatments such as sanding, brushing, roughening
• Various analyses of structural, chemical and physical properties

This results in our range of services:

• Product development from a design perspective
  • Aesthetics
  • Function
  • Life cycle
  • Sustainability
• Material testing
• Feasibility studies
• Prototyping
• Studies on serial implementation, even for process steps that are difficult to solve