With our new logo, we want to make visible what RECASAS stands for at its core.
The amber tree is among the first trees to change its color in autumn. While others are still green, it begins to glow — red, orange, violet. Not quietly, not unnoticed, but visibly.
It does not wait until everyone is ready.
At RECASAS, we engage in pioneering work in peer support. In communal, creative spaces for learning and development, we enable people to retell their own stories — deliberately outside the medical model, without diagnoses and illness-based terminology.
In doing so, we see ourselves as part of a broader cultural shift toward greater humanity and self-determination.
The amber tree takes its name from the resin it produces. Resin does not form for decoration, but for protection. It emerges where the tree is injured or under stress. It seals wounds, prevents further dehydration, repels insects, and has antibacterial properties.
Resin is not an ornament, but an active response — a form of boundary-setting, stabilization, and self-protection. What is later perceived as beautiful and precious begins as a necessary act of care.
Trees more generally embody a particular way of relating to the world. They are rooted in the ground from which they draw strength, while remaining open upward — to light, air, and change. They do not grow in isolation, but in relation to their surroundings: to places, conditions, and communities.
RECASAS understands itself in a similar way: locally grounded, attentive to context, and open to development.
The amber tree’s star-shaped leaves echo this stance. Each leaf is different, each follows its own form — and yet all belong to the same tree. For us, this is an image of community: individuality without uniformity, belonging without reduction.
In autumn, the amber tree changes color earlier — and often more intensely — than many other trees. Even after its leaves have fallen, their colors often remain visible for a while. Change does not end abruptly; the transition stays perceptible.
There is a quiet truth in this. Transformation does not mean leaving everything behind. It means becoming visible, even in transition. Showing one’s color, even when others still hesitate.
The amber tree reminds us that growth takes time. That protection and development belong together. And that it takes courage to live change early.
That is why the amber tree now accompanies RECASAS as a symbol.
