History

HISTORY


1919 - 2019  For 100 years the name FAYS has been associated

with the forest

Arthur Fays

1945                 

At the end of the Second World War, his son, André, joins to him in the logging business, specializing first in the standing timber purchase (broad-leaved trees and conifers), then developing a site for cutting round timber for coals and other industries of the time before turning to sawmills management in Belgium and Germany.

André Fays

1919        

Arthur Fays – my grandfather – decides to start a forestry company (plantations and forest private asset management) and logging operations.

Together, they carry on managing forests in their native Belgian Ardennes for many years, proving to be forewarned professors instilling in me at a very early age love and respect for the forest, raising my interest in wood and its technical knowledge.

 

Through most of my childhood in forests and plantations, I unwittingly paved the way to my professional career : for over forty years I have chosen nature and outdoor life, I fancied forests management as well as their development devoting myself to bring in line upstream and downstream.

Ardennes belges

1973                 

At eighteen, after emancipation validated by my parents and jointly with the studies, I was able to create my first company and make my first steps in the professional universe through the management of small private heritages and reforestations.

Some years later, it will be access to logging, sawmilling, export of hardwoods and softwoods in logs and sawn timber and then, international trading and expatriation to access to tropical forests, because while temperate forests have been my cradle, tropical forests and the richness of their biodiversity have always made me dream ; it was therefore inconceivable not to interest me in these fragile universes, prey to many lusts.


2000                 

Finally, since the 2000s, my activities focused on expertise and consultancy, mainly in tropical areas, but also in temperate areas.

They are oriented towards supporting governments and recognized organizations, collaboration with reputable supervisory entities for their ethics, or with commercial companies wishing to operate in transparent manner.

 

Respect for fundament values is the foundation of any activity. This concept, which constitutes the reputation of a professional, insures the partners the execution of any mandate in the respect of interests of each.

All consultancy activities are linked to the Fayswood code of ethics.

 

 

Richard Fays, international upstream/downstream forest expert (plantations, forests, timber, legality and sustainable management, environment), with professional experience of over 40 years, operates in :

 

  • Quality and measurement approvals (Europe, Indian Ocean, Asia, Africa, South América on behalf of commercial companies, shipping compagnies)
  • Expertises, Project Management (Legality, traceability, inventories and management, Africa, Indian Ocean)
  • Agroforestry management, rehabilitation of deforested sites, rural development (Madagascar)
  • Training (Wood knowledge, grading, international trade rules and uses)
  • Supervision of plantations (South América on behalf of private investors )
  • Forest management (Europe, private landowners)
    drapeau belgique
    drapeau Madagascar

    "I work with passion to make live 

    any project in which I take commitment."


    Richard Fays

    Richard Fays


    • ATIBT expert
    • ATIBT expert in charge of reviewing the ATIBT grading rules (2005-2010)
    • Vice-President of the ATIBT Arbitration Chamber (2005-2010)
    • President of the ATIBT Trainings Commission (2005-2008)
    • Approved expert for temperate and tropical logs and sawn timber grading
    • TAM technical expert
    • Earth & Forests expert


    The digitalized wild boar which marks the border of the province of Belgian Luxemburg, is the worthy representative of a magnificent forest province whose it perfectly symbolizes the character of its inhabitants and their obstinacy to defend their ideas.


    Logo Luxembourg Province
    drapeau province de luwembourg

    I am very proud that this province with its grandiose landscapes, where are present majestic conifers and leafy trees, is mine. It is always with a great pleasure that I cross its borders to immerse myself with its simple and subtle flavours where the smells of forests and fields mingle and transfer me in my youth.

    Saint-Medard Belgian Ardens

    I nevertheless chose to live in tropical areas and more precisely on an island of prodigious richness in terms of diversity and biodiversity – Madagascar - where I never succeed in finding these Ardennes or Gaume terroirs olfactive sensations, but where I found many other ones, typical at this exceptional environment.

     

    So I feel to be lucky, every time I am travelling in Belgium (and in temperate forests) or every time I come back in Madagascar, to find olfactive sensations typically adapted to the region in which I am.

    Madagascar Forêt