KINGSTON, Jamaica – What’s in a fallen tree following the passage of Hurricane Beryl? For the likes of wood designer, Mara Harding, a valuable resource.

On Thursday morning, as a work crew dismantled a fallen sweetwood that had been blocking the flow of traffic on Shortwood Road in St Andrew, Harding was among several passers-by who waited patiently for pieces of the tree.

“I just drove by and saw the guys cutting it up so I just took a few pieces,” Harding, founder of MaraMade Designs, told Observer Online. “This is my first sweetwood that I have ever picked up, you don’t see a lot of them.”

WATCH: Tree downed by Beryl cleared from Shortwood Road

Sweetwood is a good material for furniture but it is also popular for its use in jerk, a style of cooking native to Jamaica, which makes large, very mature sweetwood trees somewhat rare.

Harding said she believes the downed tree was very old, based on the fact that it seemed hollow.

In 2015, Harding founded MaraMade Designs with a mission to breathe new life into wood that is slated to be discarded.

A self-taught wood designer, she said her company’s mantra is “no wood left behind”, adding that in some instances she will even remove trees from people’s homes at her own expense.

“What I do a lot is if you have a tree that has to come down for a legitimate reason … then I will go and remove it at my expense,” said Harding, who noted that mango trees “make the best furniture”.

– Julian Richardson

– Video by Llewellyn Wynter