The Grove Dock is one of our favorite products here. We just love plugging and unplugging our phones with one hand, and our desks look so sharp. The iPhone Dock is also one of our most interesting products to manufacture, because we are using a steel component for the first time ever. Here’s how we make them:

1) The heavy steel bases are milled out of a solid block of steel for us by a partner company close by in McMinnville, Oregon. Our machines can handle machining metal but we have them setup for wood, so our friends about an hour southwest of Portland mill this component of the Dock.

2) The steel bases are then sent to two other partner companies nearby Portland -- one company adds nickel plating to the silver Dock base and the other company adds a black coating to the black Dock base (the same black coating used on black knives and guns!).

3) We receive the steel bases here at our Grovemade workshop, and inspect each one very closely for any scratches or imperfections.

4) Meanwhile! In our workshop, we’ve been working hard to mill the bamboo Dock caps out of solid blocks of bamboo, like our Bamboo Cases for iPhone. We hand sand and apply a natural citrus oil and wax blend to each cap. Finally, we laser engrave our logo into the bamboo.

5) We also laser cut the various insert keys out of black acrylic, which are used to pinch the charging cable inside the dock so it can be adjusted to be used with or without a case. We make one key for the 30-pin adapter and one for the lightning adapter.

6) We laser cut the black cardboard sleeve which we specially designed for the packaging of the dock. Our logo is featured in cutout form on the sleeve, along with the satisfying perforated strip you can peel back when you first open your Dock!

7) Finally, we pack up each Grove Dock kit ourselves and ship them from our workshop to you!

Remember -- this thing is wonderfully heavy! We’ve said it before, but please, please, PLEASE don’t drop these iPhone docking stations on your toes!

Why does Grove make the perfect Christmas gift, you ask? Why, take a seat here by the virtual blazing fireplace, and let us pour you a proverbial cup of hot cocoa and explain. The first thing to understand is that there’s something on Grovemade.com for everyone on your holiday gift list. I’m SERIOUS, guuuuys. Here look:

For the traditional buddy with a heart of gold

You know what phone they have, because you’ve seen them slyly glancing at it during boring hangouts. Get that steadfast buddy the classic, beloved Grovemade iPhone Cases. Where could you go wrong with lovely hand-sanded and oiled wood.

For the night-owl techie with their head always in an e-book:

Let me guess, they’re up on all the latest and greatest tablets like a bear on honey. They need dem cozy pants and warm slippers, a warm drink, and their iPad Air or iPad mini flipped open to their fave game, blog, or e-book. Knock their slippers off with a darn beautifully crafted Wood Smart Case, and take their iPad browsing to the next level. [Please note, this gift also works for the small biz entrepreneur that never has time to hang out.]

For the stylish significant other that you need to impress:

So maybe you already got them the predictable gift that they already sort of know about. We recommend also getting a surprise gift, and what better to surprise them with than a completely one-of-a-kind customized WoodPrint Case for iPhone 5/5S? This sexy case is made from smooth maple, and you can upload any image you’d like to customize it, such as your lover’s artsy instagram of last night’s sunset. Bonus points: customize it with a picture of the cat you two co-parent. D’aww.

For the person who is the coolest and deserves the best gift:

This person is probably your super cool mom or dad or someone that you have a really big crush on or someone that you have children with. If they like color and are still young at heart, they get the SkateCase for iPhone 5/5S. Recycled skateboard material makes this case as cool as this person. If they are more serious (read: too cool for school), then congrats to them; they get the iPhone Dock. This is a useful iPhone accessory as well as a well designed accent for the home or workspace.

For the person you don’t want to spend that much on

The Bamboo Back for MacBook or iPad is slick looking and also affordable at just $29. It’s kind of like buying them a new MacBook or iPad. They will basically freak out. Or, you could get them a leather notebook cover starting at $69 for an artist series design including pocket-sized Moleskine notebook. Look at this beautiful cover design by French artist Lotie.

Do you see? Grove really does make the best gift! Happy holiday hunting to all!

Come meet the team and participate in a special sale at the Grove Open House!

If you’d like to meet us and our products in person, now is your chance. Come say “Hey!” at our annual Grove Open House - December 13th, 6pm to 9pm at our workshop (432 SE 9th Ave, Portland, Oregon).

We value being able to open our doors once each year, sharing what we do and how we do it with friends, family, and customers. Meet our hardworking team, take a tour of our workshop, see how we make our products, do some last minute Christmas shopping, and just plain have a good time with Grovemade.

MapleXO, skateboard jewelry designer and our collaborator on the SkateCase and SkateBacks, will also be joining us to sell some products and share some smiles.

Get ready for some amazing deals on some rad products and check out the Facebook event for some solid details on when and where. We hope to see you there!

Exciting news: we’ve updated our Bamboo Backs, so they’re now available for the new iPad Air as well as new and old models of the iPad Mini! No matter what model of the iPad you’ve got, we’ve got you (and your device) covered. And, as always, choose one for your MacBook Air or Pro as well.

Smooth, all-natural bamboo turns your MacBook or iPad into a unique item and instant conversation piece. Express yourself the moment you open your MacBook display or pull out your iPad:

• Compatible with the iPad Air, iPad 2-4, iPad Mini, MacBook Air 11” and 13”, MacBook Pro 13” and 15”

• Made with all-natural bamboo veneer

• Hand sanded and finished with natural oils for a smooth feel

• Adheres with a 3M adhesive that does not leave a permanent residue

Bamboo Backs for iPad Air, iPad Mini, iPad, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro are now available on Grovemade.com at just $29!

The holiday season is upon us! Can you even believe it? This season is all about wishing and hoping, staying cozy, and being thankful. Team Grove has some wishes and hopes for Christmas. If you’re out doing holiday shopping and wondering what to get for your favorite company, here’s our official wish list:

Snow

Ginger and Sean are both wishing for snow. It doesn’t snow much in Portland. Most of our snow comes in liquid form, if you catch my drift. (See what I did there?) Nevertheless, we still pine longingly to wake up to the white sparkly wonderland of a snowy Christmas morning. Just sayin’.

Pendant Light from Schoolhouse Electric

Mike Dowty is wishing for this lovely Harding 6” Pendant Light from Schoolhouse Electric. This Portland company is of the highest quality, and their product description says it all: “Our exclusive parts are made of heavy gauge, solid American brass and hand-finished in our state-of-the-art patina shop[...]our craftspeople in Portland, Oregon, build each fixture to your specifications.”

California King Bed

Dashia is wishing to sleep like a queen on an iComfort mattress from Serta. What better way to drift off?  If she could choose any size, she thinks California king is the way to go. Until then, let us all appreciate Rihanna’s ode to large beds.

A Papaya Tree

Scott wants a papaya tree. Just call him PawPaw Snair.

A Horizontal Milling Machine

Ken wants the DMC 125 H duoBLOCK horizontal milling machine. If you’re a milling dork like Ken, you would enjoy this machine’s large traverse paths of 49.2 x 39.4 x 41.3 inches and high pallet load up to 4,409.2 lbs. It’s ideal for large-parts machining. Not to mention its smaller footprint for more efficient production. Yeah, it’s like the machining version of asking Santa for a BMW, but one can hope, right?

The Newest iPhone

Like some of us here at Grove, Teryn hasn’t yet gotten her hands on the newest version of Apple’s iPhone, the 5S. The newest iPhone is definitely a hot commodity, especially if you are eager to use one of our newest cases. And, we’ve said it before, the iPhone 5S is sleek, sexy, and full of advanced features and functionality.

Time With Friends and Family

Galen is wishing that everyone on Team Grove gets some quality time with their friends and family during the holidays. Grove will be closed for the Christmas week and New Years to ensure we all get some warm-fuzzy time.

Finding the perfect gift is important, but we all hope everyone is more concerned with finding the perfect recipe, perfect hot cocoa to marshmallow ratio, and perfect spot on the couch for prime fireplace or Christmas tree viewing. Happy Holidays from us here at Grove.

Black Friday has nothing on Cyber Monday! Celebrate the best day to shop online with a 20% discount off our Bamboo Case for iPhone 5 and 5S. Use discount code CYBERMONDAY2013 at checkout. Only valid today, this discount code expires at midnight tonight!

If you’re good at the internet and are planning on doing some holiday shopping, Cyber Monday is your friend. Use this limited-time deal on our handcrafted iPhone Case to get a special gift for the iPhone lover in your life. Now is your chance.

Not sure what to get your awesome friend or loved one that seems to always be getting the latest and greatest Apple gear and accessories? A Grove Gift Card is the perfect way to say, “Hey, here’s your permission to go to town on Grovemade.com!”

Happy gifting, from Team Grove!

Our very own Mike Schultz is doing a Kickstarter called Thailand Burma Flora Fauna: A Handmade Print Series. We’re all supporting him because we love him, but we’re also doing it because we love beautiful handmade artwork. Mike wants to create a new series of linocut prints of the flora and fauna of Thailand and Burma, designed as part of a workshop with an arts and crafts studio on the Thai-Burma border.

Checkout his project page and the video that a couple of us helped put together with Mike!

Buying handmade prints is special on its own; however, when you buy them through this Kickstarter, you’re not only supporting the creation of an entire series, but you’re also supporting valuable workshops for apprentices at the Puzzlebox Art Studio. This keeps the studio running, providing invaluable community benefits for the apprentices that depend on the studio for daily support, training, and language skills.

Mike spent 15 months on the Thai-Burma border in 2010 and 2011, where he helped establish the Puzzlebox Art Studio. He’ll be returning there at the end of this month to work with the studio staff on this new series of designs. The Puzzlebox provides a safe space for Burmese migrant youth to work as artist apprentices learning useful skills that they would otherwise not have access to. After five months, he will be returning to Portland to create the print series.

Please help make this wonderful artwork possible by purchasing some through the Kickstarter! Thank you so much for reading.

1) The City - The city of Portland is darn lovable. It rocks fall foliage all the way through November, and it even wears clouds well. We love the overcast skies of autumn and winter, because they keep out the wimps. You like tall buildings? We got “Big Pink” poking the sky right there. You like nature? Gaze just beyond the buildings and you’ll see giant evergreens peeking over from the hillsides.

2) Art - Portland is a great place for art lovers. We’ve got the Portland Art Museum and countless smaller galleries and cafes that show art. Many artists call PDX home,  including Jon MacNair, Amy Ruppel, and illustrators Josh Kenyon and Colby Nichols, AKA Jolby. Here’s a photo from a Jolby show this past year at Albina Press.

3) Friends - How could we not love Portland? It’s home to so many of our friends and loved ones. PDX is infamous for fun loving antics as well. We know how to have a good time here, day or night. Here’s a classic shot of Team Grove outside the Portland Art Museum.

4) The Wilderness - Portland is surrounded by beautiful scenery, which makes sense in Oregon, a state boasting a treasure trove of gorgeous landscapes. The towering evergreens lend a magical quality to Portland’s surrounding forested areas. Walk straight from Portland’s dense Northwest neighborhood into Forest Park for miles of serene hiking. Bursting with moss, ferns, and douglas firs, the Pacific temperate rainforest is green year-round!

5) Donuts - Need we say more? Yes, we know everyone is aware of the awesome offerings at VooDoo Doughnut, but our personal favorite is Delicious Donuts. Better get there early before they sell out, though!

6) Coffee - Portland is the land of coffee aficionados, yes, but us normal folk also benefit from the plethora of local coffee shops and roasteries around every corner. We’ve got Stumptown, we’ve got Ristretto Roasters, we’ve got Water Avenue, and we’ve got a personal favorite, Get About Coffee, which had its badass beginning at local Roller Derby bouts!

7) Music - Portland’s got a wonderful local music scene, and is always bringing in great acts from out of town as well. One of our favorite things to do here is check out a show at a local venue. This past year, Astoria, Oregon’s Blind Pilot played with the Oregon Symphony at the ritzy Arlene Schnitzer concert hall downtown.

8) Food Carts - It’s simple really - we’ve got a whole population of food-loving, tough-skinned, hard workers in this city. We needed to figure out how to fit the most convenient, unique, locally made, yummy foods as we could into our available space; the answer was food carts. Around every corner, there’s a little pod of food carts popping up and staying open late.

9) Business - We’ve got a wonderful local business community in our corner of Oregon, including countless smaller operations like us (Grove!), Bridge & Burn, and MapleXO, medium-sized ones like Leatherman and Pendleton Woolen Mills, and giants like Nike and Adidas. Check out the above picture of Team Grove on a field trip to Leatherman last winter.

10) Bridges - There are eight, soon to be nine, bridges just in the downtown area of Portland alone. We don’t call it Bridgetown for nothing! This city knows how to get from point A to point B in style. Bridges here connect one neighborhood to another, one side of the river to the other, and yes, they look good too.

See, it’s your favorite city now, isn’t it?

We like to keep ourselves in the know about what’s what in the world of iPhone accessories. The quirkier the better -- which isn’t to say these strange and amusing accessories aren’t also super useful! Check out some of our favorite unique iPhone accoutrements:

The Crankerator

If you’re stuck out in nature with no outlets and your phone is dying, have no fear. Charge it with your elbow grease. “It's a tiny brick of extra energy for your phone or tablet. Charge it by plugging into a wall, or just crank that (Soulja Boy) handle.”

The iPhone SLR Mount

“This case-adapter combo lets you mount your Canon EOS or Nikon SLR lenses to your iPhone 4/4s/5/5s giving your phone powerful depth of field and manual focus.” In other words, it’s a tool to let you easily achieve master status on Instagram.

ARKHIPPO Case

This hefty rubber chunky case flies in the face of iPhone accessories that tout their “sleek and thin” feel. The ARKHIPPO gives your phone weight, toughness, size, and the ability to stand in a bunch of different positions.

BREFFO Spiderpodium

“[The] 'take it everywhere, use it anywhere' Spiderpodium portable dock & podium is a universal, multi-purpose, gadget grip, holster, dock and display podium[...]” We love our Spiderpodium, and had a great time using it as the Green Thing in our #FridayCatTraps!

The Natural Acoustics iPhone Amplifier

This super fancy passive iPhone amplifier acts as a stylish unplugged speaker for your phone. “Designed in Milan, it is handcrafted entirely of slip-cast ceramic fired in Vincenza, renowned since the 18th century for its traditional ceramics that have been compared to the finest Chinese porcelain.”

The Original Patented Knucklecase for iPhone

Here’s the case for you if you want to keep a guarded grip on your phone at all times! “Each Knucklecase is painstakingly machined from a solid block of aluminum. We only work with the finest machinists in the United States.”

There you have it - some accessories we think stand out among the same ‘ole, same ‘ole.

Dashia has been with Grove since the end of summer, but we’re pumped to finally introduce her here on the blog. We’ve been so happy to have her as a member of team Grove! She’s such a sweet and positive presence here at the studio.

Her role at Grove is production assistant. Dashia works with her hands to finish and perfect each case in the woodshop. An iPad Mini fanatic, she’s stoked to be working on the new iPad cases. As you can see, Dashia also put her all into dressing up for Halloween this year, when she channelled a butterfly to match her rad tattoos.

Outside of work, Dashia is a loving mother of two, a runner and basketball fan, and a talented crocheter of scarves. She also loves to build just about anything from bookshelves to skyscrapers. Her life revolves around her mini-me’s, son Taishawn, 15 years old, and little daughter Camellia, 16 months old. Camellia never leaves Mom’s side around the house, and, at barely 1 1/2 years old, can already say just about anything Dashia can say. She loves to talk and even has her favorite books memorized to read aloud!

Dashia is the ultimate team mom for teenage Taishawn. She NEVER misses a basketball game and always excitedly gathers up gear in the team colors for her and Camellia to wear when they cheer in the stands. Taishawn may be a little embarrassed to have the loudest cheer section, but his cheerleaders shout it out anyway!

When she’s not on duty as team mom, Dashia is looking forward to going to the movies (at least once every other weekend for sure) or going for runs with her fiance Demetric. She’s a previous half-marathon runner that loves to keep up with her swift sweetheart. And, during downtime at home, it’s all about working on the hats and scarves she’s passionate about crocheting.

The most important things to Dashia are all the little moments in each day where you learn something new - that and family. Family is always first for her, and we’re so happy to have her in our Grove family!

Yay for Dashia!

It’s time, once again, to proclaim: “We love Instagram!” Here comes another monthly installment of stylish Instagrams from our fans and followers. This time they are tagged with #Grovemade, #GroveDock, or #WoodPrintCase, with a special shout-out to our WoodPrint Cases and iPhone Docks. Follow us @Grovemade.

jo_shindig: “Oh hai, baby. New #woodprintcase courtesy of @grovemade. Custom.#iPhone5”

neeled_it: “#woodprintcase”

stephenpperry1: “My prize for winning the @grove #woodprintcase competition came. Proudly on display now :) cheers grove gang!”

kat_vossen: “Gumby just came by to buy a Vossen iPhone case. #vossen #gumby#textingpokey #grovemade @kdot_vossen”

zkuang: “#grovemade So heavy”

jaredspics: “Old iPhone case broke.... just got my new one in! #grovemade”

jakesiimpson: “arrived already I'm so happy #grovemade @grovemade”

fusac: “#Grovedock #inbound #grovemade #portland #madeintheusa #iphone5#apple #dockingstation #metal #black #bamboo #solid #unboxing#unpacked #leaf”

ni_perk: “New favorite thing: personalized Grove iPhone case, in the wagon..windows down..Ty sleeping..that was a great road trip! #grove #grovemade #iphonecase”

adamagram: “My new iPhone case from @grovemade #grovemade”

Last but not least, check out this awesome unwrapping video of the dock by @aphxtwinin!

Thank you so much to all our Instagram followers for your awesome photos! Keep ‘em coming by tagging your Grove photos with #Grovemade, #WoodPrintCase, #GroveDock, #SkateCase, or #BambooBack. And, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!

Product development is a big part of what we do at Grove, even though we don’t always get to do it everyday. It’s also a whole lot of fun and a whirlwind of ideas, teamwork, and experimentation. Our latest escapade of designing the new Grovemade Wood Smart Case for iPad Air and iPad Mini was no exception. It’s thrilling, for product design nerds like us! We wanted to give you a little look behind the scenes, straight from some of our product developers.

The Craziness

Barrett: Running around in circles trying to figure out what combination of materials we were going to use!

Sean: The waiting, the wondering. Realizing that, YES, we are going to make an iPad case, and that we are going to make it differently than everything we have made before.

Joe: Sleepless nights thinking through the challenges, and dialing in all the details.

Ken: Having a finished prototype and Max going into his zone and getting all the collateral up online. Boom!  

The Hilarity

Barrett: In a daze, we forgot to turn off the heat press. Joe went back into the shop specifically to turn it off, only to come back out having forgotten again.

Sean: Buying the cutest little drill press you have ever seen, and then discovering it has a whole family of cute little tool brothers and sisters (So little)!

Joe: Super gluing my hand to the case while assembling the frame.

Ken: Barrett and Joe called me in one weekend. They had been staring at the prototype for way too long, but I came in and instantly knew the design was awesome!

The Exhilaration

Barrett: When we made the first prototype and slid the iPad mini in and felt it in our hands. When we knew we had a product.

Sean: Having the lasers be the star of the production process.

Joe: The synergy of working closely with my friends around the clock and the simple act of going from a napkin drawing to a finished product for sale on our website!

Ken: How well the team as a whole worked. The prototypers, of course, but also everyone else on the team -- we were running like a fine swiss watch.

The End Product

In the end, the beautiful and functional Wood Smart Case for iPad Air and iPad Mini was born -- Thanks to Almond Snickers, always smiling at each other, and the lessons we’ve learned on how to work well as a team. Every product developed is a victory for trust!

Team Grove loves Halloween, period. But, like many of you, we don’t celebrate it traditionally. We don’t stand around lighting candles and remembering the dead -- who does that anymore, amirite? We don’t even really dress up in ghostly or haunted costumes. Like many people out there, we prefer to dress in costumes expressing our love for our favorite movies, animals, puns and jokes, obscure pop culture characters, etc.

Here’s a little look behind the scenes at some of our costumes (not all pictured above), in case you dropped the ball this Halloween and need some inspiration for this weekend’s inevitable costume parties.

Barrett, the dancing king, is a regal marching band leader, ready to lead us all to the party of the year.

Galen, the unenthused, is “three-hole punch Galen”, in the style of Jim from The Office. His Jim Halpert-like unwillingness to spend more than the bare minimum effort on a costume is genuine.

Joe is a flying pig. He’ll be running around for the rest of this weekend making dreams come true and giving people faith in the most unlikely outcomes.

Ken is a Gila monster.  Though the Ken Tomita is venomous, its sluggish nature means it represents little threat to humans. However, it has earned a fearsome reputation and is sometimes killed despite being protected by state law in Arizona.

Dashia is her spirit animal, the lovely Butterfly. It’s always fun to don a pair of wings!

Danielle is the Pi[e] Piper. She’ll have a pun-filled weekend for sure, wearing all that’s pie and pi related, and beckoning others to follow with her lovely horn melodies.

Sean is an X-wing starfighter from the original Star Wars trilogy. Well, technically, he’s the expanded universe, and the X-wing is attached at his waist. His hips don’t lie, or take their aim off the Death Star.

Halloween is definitely not over for us. We’re probably most excited for Barrett’s legendary annual costume party on Saturday. This year, the theme is “Hallow-pocalypse,” and a dangerous amount of dancing is in order. The dance floor is on the second story, so we might literally bring down the house.

Max illustrated an amazing poster for this year’s bash. You can check it out on Society 6, and purchase a print there. For apocalypse or thriller movie buffs, it’s kind of a must-have. Can you pick out the different movie characters and scenarios depicted throughout the house?

We do Halloween right in Portland!

It’s no secret that here at Grove we love the films of Hayao Miyazaki, one of Japan’s most celebrated artists and directors. Some of us were weaned on his anime. Some of us tear up every time we watch My Neighbor Totoro. Some of us have collected all of his movies. What can we say? We love them!

Last year the Portland Art Museum’s NW FIlm Center showcased a select few of his films. Together team Grove took an evening off from sanding iPhone cases and Bamboo Backs to enjoy Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke-- it was nothing short of epic to see it on the big screen! Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have made a lot of movies-- so if you are new to his work you may be wondering which ones should you see? We can help! Here are our top five Miyazaki films (and what we think they’re about in a nutshell).

5. Spirited Away (2001) - This is a story about finding oneself.  It is the story of a somewhat bratty girl and her frustrating move with her parents. After getting lost in a spirit world and being put through a series of trials she faces adversity and overcomes her problems by finding her real strengths.

4. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) - This is the amazing story of a young witch who needs to learn how to survive on her own.  Many of Miyazaki’s movies are coming of age tales.

3. Princess Mononoke (1997) - This is an epic story about humankind and its relationship with nature. We love the Kodamas!

2. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) - This is another story representing humanity and it’s relationship with the earth. Many of Miyazaki’s films deal with environmental themes.

1. My Neighbor Totoro (1988) The undisputed champion of Miyazaki’s animation is My Neighbor Totoro. It is known as his most endearing movie and Totoro is everywhere in Japan!  

My Neighbor Totoro is a story of two young children going through a difficult time. They meet wonderful forest spirits (Totoro and friends) who help them to cope with the trials and tribulations they are facing in their lives. 

What do we love about his films the most? Sean says we love his stories because they are unique, endearing and remind us how to see the world with childlike wonder... Yes! And what do Miyzaki’s films have to do with inspiring our iPhone cases? Everything!

goGrove!

The new Wood Smart Case for iPad Air and both generations of iPad Mini is here, and we want to shout it from the top of a mountain! Style, function, craftsmanship - all in one well designed case made of natural materials. Lightweight bamboo and sturdy maple add organic warmth to the cold metal of your iPad or iPad Mini. Smart construction makes the case stronger than ever.

The case features a new construction method and three versatile standing positions. The natural grain of bamboo and Eastern Hardrock Maple work in your favor. In the world of wooden cases, our construction method is revolutionary. A flexible bamboo cover gives you standing options, while strong rare-earth magnets hold the tablet in place - Great for cooking, typing, watching, and sharing.

• Works with iPad Air or iPad Mini 1 & 2

• 3 Versatile Standing Positions

• Thin and lightweight

• Smart cover turns iPad on and off

• Stronger construction method

• Access to camera and ports

• Protection for your precious device

• iPad slides in and out of case securely and easily

• Made from mostly natural and entirely awesome materials

• Designed and crafted by us in our Portland, Oregon workshop

At less than 1/2 an inch thick, the Wood Smart Case is a good match for the new, ultra-slim iPad. Don’t give up that svelte feel for a bulky case. Slide your iPad in and out with ease, and enjoy a secure fit. Lined with super soft Ultrasuede, the case protects your precious hardware from dirt, dust, and the little bumps and bruises of the day. (Warning: case may not survive drops or games of monkey-in-the-middle.)

Your new iPad is an amazing device; your case shouldn’t hinder any of its features. We designed our case with access to ports, speakers, camera, and flash. A smart cover to automatically wake and put the iPad to sleep is the icing on the cake. Actuated wooden power and volume buttons are the sprinkles on the cake. Delicious wooden cake.

The all new Grove Wood Smart Case for iPad Air and iPad Mini is available now at $99 and $79.

In 2011, Mary Yaiko showed up to her first day of work dressed up as a fox! Sure, it was Halloween day, but that takes guts! Since then she has been an integral member of the Grove family, brightening our days with her sense of humor, stylish outfits, and sudden dancing fits. (Think: fun cheetah print shoes and Cyndi Lauper!)

Like a lot of us here, she’s worn many hats for Grove, including heading the Customer Relations department, writing for our blog, and managing our Instagram feed. Now, she is working full time as a copywriter, both for Grove, and freelance. Basically, nearly everything you read on our website, and all of Grove’s newsletters and press releases are written by Mary.

She offers copywriting services under the name Raven Desk Writing. Check out her website here! The name comes from a riddle in the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

The Mad Hatter asks: “How is a raven like a writing desk?”

There is meant to be no answer, but people have come up with a few over the years:

Poe wrote on both.

They both have ink dipped quills...

Outside of work Mary is busy bee! She loves music more than anything, and enjoys writing and drawing outside of work. She’s currently working on a children’s story, and can’t wait to share it with the young and young at heart here in Portland. The top of her playlists include Laura Marling, M.I.A., Pure Bathing Culture, and Cults. Last year, she even came to Barrett’s Halloween Bash dressed to the nines as Yolandi from Die Antwoord.

We’re so lucky to have her writing for us!

goGrove!

We’re excited to feature a new artist series Bamboo iPhone 5/5S case along with matching Grove Notebook leather cover for Moleskine. Only the Strong is a design from US-based artist and graphic designer Steve Goodin, also known as DEMEN1. Goodin works professionally as a motion graphics designer and also has his hands in 3D modeling and animation.

His typography design Only The Strong was inspired by his brother-in-law’s unlikely survival of a vicious house fire and his long but steady road to recovery after the incident. Goodin felt as though "Only The Strong" would make it through something like that, and it emboldened his whole family. The artist’s proceeds from this design will be donated to his brother-in-law’s recovery fund. Read more about that here.

Goodin says, “theres a pretty powerful quote that my wife would carry with her throughout her brothers recovery which also inspired this custom typography piece: ‘You never know how strong you are until being strong is the ONLY option you have.’"

The Only the Strong Bamboo iPhone 5/5S Case is now available at the special limited time price of $79, and the Only the Strong Grove Notebook leather Moleskine cover is available starting at $59 for pocket-sized notebooks.

Go forth and be strong!

The Marriage of High Tech and Old World

Back in the day, Grove co-founders Joe Mansfield and Ken Tomita combined their expertise. They collaborated to innovate how we can use high tech machinery in combination with old school woodworking techniques to make objects that are both beautiful and precise. We think it’s this combination of using machinery to mill our parts with exact measurements along with the use of the hand finishing (and the human touch) that gives our products that special something.  

Who are these robots anyway?

In our woodshop we have a small fleet of high tech machinery that we have happily anthropomorphized (just because it’s fun). These machines are our day to day workhorses, churning out everything from Skatecases to Bamboo Backs. Sometimes they work with us... other times the machines act as if they have a mind of their own, possibly just to keep us on our toes. If nothing else, they have taught us how to adapt with a quickness to what they need in order to perform!  

Everything we do, from all of the computer programs that direct these high tech robotics, to the jigs that hold the material stable while it is being milled, is all custom made. It’s a lot of work, but we love it!

Terms

CNC Mills: Our computer controlled mills are essentially large scale robotic drills mounted on a metal backbone of cast iron/steel. They have a precise moving table/bed which the fixtures are attached to. The computer orchestrates the drill and the bed together in unison and holds a precision to .001 inch.

Meet the Fleet!

Rusty - A reliable behemoth of a CNC Machine that has a will of it’s own.

Falcon - A true hero among Woodshop CNC Mills, Falcon has saved the day with its consistency many times.

HAL - Named after computer that controls the spaceship in one of our favorite films, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). HAL laser cuts everything from Bamboo Backs to buttons for our iPhones.

WALL-E - WALL-E is the name of our smaller laser (named after, well, Pixar’s WALL-E...)  WALL-E is a fine machine who busts out engraved iPhone cases, Notebook covers and more everyday.

Mr. Jones - Mr. Jones is the name of our fancy new printer who is tasked with all of the ink printing on our WoodPrint cases! He was named after Grove’s laser master Mike D’s favorite Counting Crows song. (Sometimes he puts it on repeat… and we secretly love it.)

Not unlike some sci-fi fantasy future, here at Grove we work among robots that do our bidding. Will they eventually turn against us to take over the world? We hope not! Until then, we’ll live in harmony with the machines, making cases to our heart’s content.

goGrove!

We’d like to make a shout-out to one of our BFF companies here in Portland, Oregon: Plywerk! Plywerk mounts your digital photos onto beautiful, sustainable plywerk (bamboo plywood panels). The panels are a gorgeous thing on their own, with visible cross-layers of bamboo grain, and the careful application of a print truly creates a keepsake. You can upload your Facebook, Instagram, or other digital photos directly to the site, and your Plywerk print will ship to your door once it’s finished.

Plywerk... because your memories matter. from Plywerk on Vimeo.

Bamboo + photography + ethical manufacturing! How could Grove not love Plywerk? The company prides itself on sustainability and a positive business model. Bamboo is an incredibly sustainable material to work with; since it grows so quickly, it’s highly renewable. But the happy team over at Plywerk values not only sustainable materials but also a local economy working toward self-sufficiency:

“The vast majority of today's economy revolves around cheap overseas manufacturing. As a consequence, the local economy in which we all thrive is often forgotten. We pride ourselves on bucking this trend. [...] Every piece of Plywerk is handmade by real humans in Portland Oregon, our materials are sourced from local suppliers with a similar business ethos whenever possible[…]” -Plywerk.com/About

Photo credit: PLYWERK

The possibilities for your own Plywerk are as endless as your online photo galleries! The results are exciting - whether you’re documenting your solo adventures, showcasing family memories, or outdoing yourself with some remarkable office decor. Plywerk takes a photo and turns it into a substantial piece of art for treasuring, hanging, or displaying in a number of ways. And, it almost goes without saying that we are big fans of the natural look of bamboo. So are Kim Oanh Nguyen-van Zoen and Kjell van Zoen, who started Plywerk in their basement after mounting their first photo to a piece of discarded plywood.

Photo credit: PLYWERK

Check out Plywerk’s products and get your first 5x5 photo panel for just $19 at Plywerk.com! (Also, be SURE to check out the Goo Goo Gaga special at the bottom of their website.) I highly recommend following them on Instagram as well, @Plywerk.

We are really excited about WeMake, a proactive group of creatives that works to foster art and design in the community by providing a platform for fun, interactive events like the sketchXchange and this month’s “Put A Bird In It”. The event, Put A Bird In It (a pun off of a Portlandlia sketch called Put A Bird On It!) is a benefit for arts and music education in the Portland Metro area. All of the artists, designers, and makers who participated were asked to build birdhouses to be sold at auction. Representing us this year, Grove co-founder Joe Mansfield designed and built a truly beautiful piece of art to donate to the fundraiser.

Born and raised on the rugged Oregon coast, Joe Mansfield attended the University of Oregon, where he majored in Digital Arts. He started a custom laser business right out of college and has collaborated with a variety of artists, architects, and designers.
 

Check out Joe’s collaborative work with engrave!

He put his digital design skills to use creating this multi-layered birdhouse, constructed entirely of precisely cut slats of plexi-glass which are simply held together by two well placed dowels. One of the concepts behind this piece was that the cut plexi-glass holds within the center of the birdhouse a spherical shaped empty space, or nest. This space also connects the front and the back of the house with two entry points leading into the hollowed core.

The birdhouse was cut out using our lasers-- yes, the very same workhorse lasers that cut out our Bamboo Backs and delicately engrave our bamboo artists series iPhone cases. The piece also contains a cascading spiral of fauna imagery, printed with our state of the art printer (the one and the same that we use for our new WoodPrint cases). The hues of the fauna imagery, reminiscent of tree branches or the veins of an anatomical heart, shift slowly from pane to pane through a spectrum of colors from light blue to red.

The visual effect is really fun, and we had a great time trying to get a good photo of it, which Ken finally got! We are so excited to have this piece represent Grove, and look forward to the rest of the show which includes work from some of our favorite local artists and designers like Amy Ruppel, Emily Katz, Tom O’Toole, Terrazign, and Ryan Bubnis.

Joe has worked with WeMake in the past, and even hosted a laser bamboo workshop last summer!  Make it out to the benefit show Saturday, October 12, 2013, and help to promote arts and music education in Portland & Multnomah County Schools!

goGrove!