Why Olympus Tried Building a Camera from Wood in the Early 2000s

Olympus has created some truly iconic models over the years. The PEN F series, the EMD-1, or the OM-D E-M10 Mark IV are quite exciting models from recent times. However, the company also had an incident where they created a prototype that was entirely made from wood. So, what made it different, and why was Olympus trying to work with wood?