We are very excited to report that Grove has just moved into our brand new shop in a great location! Since 2009 we have occupied two different spaces in the same building in SE Portland, OR. Our 5th floor office space had an incredible view of the Willamette river and Portland’s downtown, but the woodshop needed to be on the ground floor because of the weight of our mighty CNC machines that do our milling. We made it work in two different spaces, produced tons of iPhone cases, and got really good at climbing stairs! But we are thrilled to now have a unified shop and wanted to share some of our enthusiasm and highlights of our move!

The building we are now in needed some work! Ken’s back to his carpenter roots building walls and installing doors, while others like Galen, Scott and Sean have been working around the clock to get our new space in order. At one point a mysterious gigantic robot even showed up to lend a hand...

We are excited about our new view of the hills, all of the big windows and wonderful natural light, but mostly, we are psyched to finally be together for the first time. We’ve designed the new shop so that there is a distinct production flow snaking through the space-- our raw material is delivered in one door and goes out the other to the delivery trucks and into your hands! We are putting the principles of lean manufacturing to the ultimate test to design a unique space that lends to as little waste as possible.

The one piece flow from handwork to shipping.

Lastly, we are enthusiastic about our new neighborhood! Still located in SE Portland, we are looking forward to all of the new neighborhood eats like the Sweetpea Baking Co. and the Gonzo Falafel and Hummus cart attached to hip brewery Basecamp!

Thanks for letting us share some of our new shop with you!  It was a long weekend, but production is already up and running again!  Go team and goGrove!

Written by Mike Schultz. He is an oil painter from Ithaca, New York.  When he is not working for Grove, he’s painting and drawing to his heart’s content.  You can see his work on his blog and his website.

We’re pretty psyched to bring back the beloved Bamboo Backs for MacBook, and we’ve added some for iPad 2, 3, 4, and iPad Mini as well! Turn your MacBook or iPad into an instant conversation piece by decorating it in smooth, all-natural bamboo. Check out the sweet video below of them in action!

Back by popular demand, our Bamboo Backs come with one of 50+ unique and quirky cutouts. Express yourself the moment you open your MacBook display or pull out your iPad. It’s a fun and affordable way to stand out from the crowd, even when you’re hiding behind that Apple logo for most of the day, like so many of us do.

About the Bamboo Back:

• Compatible with the MacBook Air 11” and 13”, MacBook Pro 13” and 15”, iPad 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation, and iPad Mini

• Made with all-natural bamboo veneer

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

• Choose from one of 50+ fun cutouts

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

  
  

Barely altering the size of your device or your wallet, Bamboo Backs instantly add style and smile to your everyday gear. When your MacBook is turned on, the Bamboo Back cutouts illuminate just like the original Apple logo!

 

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

Written by Mary Yajko. Mary is a Grove customer support rep and crazed blogger originally from upstate New York. She enjoys opened minds, uncontrollable fits of laughter, and large amounts of french fries with ketchup.

We’re really excited about our new Skatecase product for the iPhone, and today we wanted to share some of the behind-the-scenes production with you. The Skatecase comes from a collaboration with Lindsay Jo Holmes of MapleXO, who uses recycled skateboard material to make jewelry. (We love her work-- what a great way for an avid skateboarder to make a living!) Originally we teamed up with Lindsay to make the Skateback for the iPhone, and so naturally it evolved into a case. Using a material that would otherwise be a waste product is not only a good way to reduce manufacturing excess, but it’s a fun challenge to make it all work well!

From the get go, it was a test of the skills of our engineers, designers, and woodshop production crew to fabricate an iPhone case from recycled skateboard material. Our engineers worked around the clock for months to find the best way to mill and produce our Skatecase. (Is sleep for wimps? We can’t say. But a sleep deprived Barrett did make a CNC jig called The Millenium Falcon for just this product!) Once our crew dialed in our large CNC machines to get the milling just right and we were happy with the fit of the cases, it was go, team, go!  

After the Skatecases come off the mill they go through a rigorous quality control check where each one is inspected by hand at several work stations. If they do not pass the tests they are fed to the beast. Once inspected they are cleaned up by resident edge sanding genius Sean, and readied for the woodshop production team to knock them out one by one.

Our woodshop team now knows the process backwards and forwards. We hand sand each iPhone case to make them look as pretty as we can. We oil them and clean them up and let them cure until they are just right. When they are ready we do the final procedure of installing the bamboo buttons and inner materials that keep our iPhones snug as a bug in our cases. In the end each case goes through another series of quality control tests so we deliver you the best product possible! After that they are processed and shipped out to you by our team.

goGrove!

It may be hard to believe that the members of team Grove have had lives and times outside of the realm of iPhone cases, but it’s true! The approaching summer has got us daydreaming about potential travel plans and reminiscing about our past ones.

If you could add all our individual travel experiences together, we’re quite the globetrotters, having visited Canada, Guatemala, Argentina, Brazil, Belize, Costa Rica, Mexico, England, France, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Poland, Italy, Spain, Greece, Czech Republic, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Pohnpei, Macau, Palau, Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, The Philippines, Hong Kong, Australia, Morocco, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, and Ethiopia!

Check out our official Grove travel map below:

We’ve compiled some of our favorite parts of our international experiences. Maybe it’ll spark some future journeys!

Some of our favorite things about Some of our Favorite Countries:

Canada

Galen - The yummy Chinese food

Brodie - The clean cities and friendly people

Mexico

Max - Cobblestone streets of Oaxaca; warm rain; roasted grasshoppers; shopping for Christmas presents at the hectic, fantastical market.

Brodie - Warm water, great food, and the people

Thailand

Mike S. - The delicious food and my amazing experience working with Burmese migrants and refugees at The Puzzlebox Art Studio!

Brodie - The food, the people, the diving, and the history

Australia

Mary - Sailing and surfing, rock climbing in the outskirts of the city, sleeping in the desert near Alice Springs, and colorful birds and giant lizards everywhere. Oh yeah, and making friends from other countries!

Mike D. - Holding a Koala, taking a trip to Nimbin, beautiful beaches

Japan

Jim - Biking through bamboo forest, eating home cooked dinners, cold Kirin, and Toto toilet technology!

Sean - Proposing to my wife, Priscilla!!! Spending time with Priscilla and her Grandparents. RAMEN! I had so many favorite parts, I can't list them all. All of my trips there have culminated in some of the best experiences I have ever had.

China

Brodie - The food, history, people, and the temples contrasted against buildings being built for the Olympics

Ken - Attempting to play cards with an old Chinese couple on a train when I spoke no Chinese and they spoke no English

Belize

Barrett - Drinking rum, eating lobster, and singing while Hurricane Igor passed by us.

The UK

Mike D. - (in London) What was supposed to be a week turned into almost 3 months, working at concert venues, seeing Daft Punk play in Hyde Park, meeting lots of Aussies, seeing the sites, and drinking some drinks.

Ken - (outside Dublin) Our material for a large bamboo sculpture got stuck in customs, so we went into the forest, cut down some trees, and made a different sculpture designed on the fly

France

Mary - Walking through Montmartre, drinking Orangina at outdoor cafes, and meeting people who were very different from the people I grew up around.

Italy

Max - Drinking milkshakes with legs overhanging the canal, every day of our stay; Venice lives up to the postcard 100%.

Costa Rica

Mike D. - Traveling with no set plans, hanging out on beautiful beaches, sketchy bungee jumping, and surfing

Jim - Playing soccer on the beach. In a matter of minutes of pulling out the soccer ball, we had a full 10 on 10 game with locals that appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

Well, we won’t bore you with the rest, but we’ll be thinking wistfully of our trips and dreaming up more for the rest of the day. And, even if, like some of us, you aren’t leaving the US anytime soon, it doesn’t hurt to daydream about this beautiful world of ours!

Here at Grove we are fortunate to rub elbows with some pretty incredible and talented folks-- and Sylvia is one such person! She keeps a busy schedule between helping her mom’s business out in the mornings and lending her skills to our customer relations department. If you’ve had questions about products like our new iPhone cases -- it’s likely that Sylvia was the one who kindly answered you. But one thing that many people don’t know about Sylvia is that she is also a fierce fighter for global human rights. Specifically, she volunteers for groups working to stop human trafficking-- and we wanted to share a little bit about her volunteer work with you.

On Monday, Apple announced iOS 7 Beta, a new operating system for its mobile devices. Here at Grove, we’re looking forward to getting the new system installed on our iPhones and iPads this coming autumn. The main theme of the new system is improved design and simplicity in user experience. To quote Apple:

“Simplicity is often equated with minimalism. Yet true simplicity is so much more than just the absence of clutter or the removal of decoration. It’s about offering up the right things, in the right place, right when you need them. It’s about bringing order to complexity. And it’s about making something that always seems to “just work.” When you pick something up for the first time and already know how to do the things you want to do, that’s simplicity.”

A big draw of iOS 7 is its sleek new appearance. With each aesthetic aspect redesigned, including all icons and countless Apps, the operating system is looking quite fit indeed. Apple chalks up the good looks to good design, stating, “When something is designed to work beautifully, it tends to look that way too.”

Here are seven facts about the new iOS 7 that we found especially interesting (find more facts on MacRumors):

1. Parallax Attacks! - The interface shifts slightly as the phone is moved, giving depth to the screen, which includes wallpaper, alerts, notifications, etc.

2. Dynamic, Panoramic Wallpaper-amic - The two provided wallpaper options are dynamic and animated, or users can upload their own panoramic image instead and watch their screen pan around the image as they shift their phone.

3. Your Time in the Spotlight - Access Spotlight through the home screen by swiping down from the middle of the screen and manually change settings for the result categories that will show up.

4. Please, Sir, Can I Have Some More [data]? - Track and ration out your cellular data usage manually from App to App.

5. Take Control of Your Land[scape] - You can now access the App switcher and Control Center in landscape mode as well as manually quitting Apps by swiping up and closing multiple Apps at once.

6. The Right to Free Skips - Each hour, skip 6 annoying songs per station in iTunes Radio, whether or not you are a paying user.

7. Hold Your Horses! - Experts say to be patient and remember that iOS 7 is still in Beta, recommending that users wait instead of purchasing a developers account for $99 or paying someone online to register your UDID for you.

   
   

One of our favorite things about the new beta is the sense of dimension it can bring to the iPhone 5, iPad, or iPod Touch while still retaining its signature simplicity.  “Distinct and functional layers help create depth and establish hierarchy[...]The use of translucency provides a sense of context and place,” says Apple on their site. “And new approaches to animation and motion make even the simplest tasks more engaging.” Very profound, indeed

Read some designers’ reactions to iOS 7 on TUAW and check out the video on Apple.com. Did we already say we’re excited!?

As Grove’s new Operations Manager, Jim sees to the day to day running of the company. He’s a dynamic thinker and is quickly becoming an integral member of team Grove. For his first five months he familiarized himself with how we use lean manufacturing to make our products.  He spent a lot of time getting to know the behind the scenes at Grove and is especially interested in inter-departmental communication, process, and flow.  Jim is also a project manager, primarily for product launches - the most recent being for our new Wood Speakers!

Jim hails from Romeoville, IL, a place he describes as “an industrial nexus in the ever expanding Chigolandland beast with lots of options for good Italian beef.” He came out to Portland in 2001, where he now lives with his wife Sarah Toor-- a photographer who also does marketing for Portland’s White Bird Dance Company.

Outside of work Jim loves to get his exercise playing soccer at Portland’s longest running pick up game in West Moreland Park. He practices yin yoga-- a very slow, gentle, restorative yoga which takes place largely on the mat.  Yin wards off those pesky soccer injuries and also helps him stay grounded and chill.

He and his wife Sarah host two annual events-- The ShortShort Film Fest and The Blacklight Audio Fest. The ShorotShort attracts between 50-60 people and shows 10-12 film submissions usually ranging 3-5 minutes in duration. The Blacklight Audio Fest features found sounds, spoken word poetry, and longer sound pieces similar to our favorite NPR shows This American Life and Radiolab. Fun! These events are in their sixth year running!  You can learn more about these at yumilife.com.

goGrove!

Written by Mike Schultz. Mike is an oil painter from Ithaca, New York.  When he is not working for Grove, he’s painting and drawing to his heart’s content. You can see his work on his blog and his website.  

You’ve been asking for it, and we listened! Check out our new SkateCase for iPhone 5; It’s a full case made from post-industrial skateboard waste! The first 100 customers to order get a free limited edition keychain made from recycled skateboard by MapleXO. Take a look at this video if you want to know more about how the SkateCase is made:

The Making of the SkateCase for iPhone 5 from Grove on Vimeo.

PS Stix makes more than 4,000 skateboards a day, 200 per hour, three per minute! Each week, the factory throws away one city-bus load of scrap wood material. Together with MapleXO, we’re rescuing the waste from the dumpster and giving this vibrant wood a second life. The SkateCase for iPhone 5 is crafted from recycled skateboard veneers here in our workshop. Each case is hand-sanded and rubbed with citrus oil to bring out its unique color combination.

• A special collaboration with jewelry and accessories designer Maple XO

Made from upcycled skateboard material at the Grove workshop in Portland, OR

• Colors vary because the sheets of skateboard material are formed into a solid block by hand

• Re-enforced with a solid surface material core and topped with an actuated wooden power button

• Hand-sanded and finished with citrus oil to make the vibrant colors really stand out

The unique SkateCase is made using a dual material design, which combines a solid surface material core and an outer shell of recycled skateboard. We design and make the case here at our workshop in Portland, Oregon through a combination of precision milling and good old-fashioned handiwork. We take pride in finishing each of our pieces by hand to guarantee a smooth feel, an accurate fit, and artisan character.

After pioneering the original SkateCase two years ago, we're bringing it back due to popular demand with the new and strengthened design. Our cases are crafted with care here in the USA. Each Grove iPhone case journeys through several days of hard work: milling, filing, gluing, sanding, soaking, oiling, lining, laser engraving, quality control, and packaging, before finally shipping directly to the customer.

The SkateCase for iPhone 5 is now available on Grovemade.com for $149! (Don’t forget: the first 100 customers to order get a free limited edition keychain made from recycled skateboard by MapleXO!)

Barrett is a multi-faceted creature who wears several hats here at Grove. Besides being an avid outdoorsmen, Eagle Scout, and wild party thrower -- he is a Systems Engineer and a Product Developer. Basically, Barrett works alongside Ken to wrangle the CNC machines and design products like our iPhone cases (Thanks, Barrett!). He then imagines the manufacturing process from A to Z -- the “how-to” from raw materials to creating a product with them -- and implements that process in the most feasible and efficient way possible.

He does a lot of other things for Grove too, including being our computer fix-it guru, resident mathematician, network administrator, and our in-house masseuse. (He’s pretty popular among our tight shoulders...)

The guy has lived a full life so far and has been all over the world! Before the age of 13 he had lived in 5 different states and one micronesian island, and had visited over a dozen countries. He then moved to Kailua, Hawaii and spent the rest of his childhood bodysurfing, hiking, cruzin’ on the beach, and playing lots of ultimate frisbee.

He came to Oregon to be a student at the University of Oregon (where he met Grove co-founder, Joe). He got a double major in Physics and Math, with lots of extra curricular activities including: computer science, acting, art history, economics, urban farming, and studying abroad in Tübingen, Germany. The guy is a smarty pants!

Out of college, Barrett went on a number of adventures before he ended up in Portland. To name just a few, he has: fought forest fires at Tiller, OR with the National Forest Service; spent 3 months living, WWOOFing, and bike touring in Italy, France, and Spain; worked as a barista/baker at the Blue Scorcher bakery in Astoria, OR; and apprenticed as a cargo-bicycle builder at the Center for Appropriate Transport in Eugene, OR, where he learned to weld, use machining tools, and design 3D models (some of the skills he uses at Grove today).

After his apprenticeship he moved to Portland into a house across the street from our old CNC shop and got job sanding iPhone 4 cases. From there his position blossomed into what it is today--Grove’s Master of CNCs!

These days when he’s not at Grove you can find him working on art projects, sailing on the Columbia river, snowshoeing on Mount Hood, or throwing his annual Portland Halloween party. It’s a four story house party that hosts 200-300 people in fully decked-out, amazing costumes... The house is fully decorated with a theme -- this past year’s being A Halloween Dream. It’s epic!  One particularly clever party goer once remarked, “I didn’t even know parties like this existed! It’s like all of the Brat Pack movies in one, but it’s real!”

We’re very lucky to have this great guy on our team!

goGrove!

Written by Mike Schultz. Mike is an oil painter from Ithaca, New York. When he is not working for Grove, he’s painting and drawing to his heart’s content. You can see his work on his blog and his website.

We love Instagram here at Grove! Check out our posts and follow us - our handle is Grovemade. We’ve recently surpassed 20,000 thousand followers, and we’re super excited about that! Check out some of the awesome shots from our fans and followers, which they tagged with #grovemade.

From coreyhayman: “From the UK, thank you Grove! I love it!”

From xJaninacornx: “love it”

From Donttashthis: “Free advertising for #grovemade” (Thanks, Donttashthis!)

From KingslyZissou: “No whales or bears today, but I sure love my case”

(A little Grove out on the town) From Barista_Dan:

From Jvera_: “Best iPhone case I’ve ever had”

From traviswerbelow: “Love my new #grovemade #skateback for my iPhone!”

From janzurek: “#love #these #bamboo #accessories”

From HealthyTurtle: “Love my new grove case!!!”

Thank you so much to all our Instagram followers for your beautiful iPhone case photos. Keep ‘em coming by tagging your Grove photos with #grovemade! Happy ‘gramming!

Written by Mary Yajko. Mary is a Grove customer support rep and crazed blogger originally from upstate New York. She enjoys opened minds, uncontrollable fits of laughter, and large amounts of french fries with ketchup.

If you know anything about Grove, you are probably aware that we like to do things ourselves, all from our single location in Portland, OR. Our woodshop and engraving studios share the same building on the east side of the city. In simple terms, the bamboo, skateboard material, or leather comes into our shop in large sheets and then leaves again in the form of iPhone cases, wood watches, and titanium key rings.

(See more of Max’s work at OrangeYear.com)

The first step to doing what we do is actually product development - dreaming up and designing new products is one of the most exciting things that goes on under our roof. Co-owners Joe Mansfield and Ken Tomita are designers by trade. Here at Grove, we even design our own packaging. Product designers Sean Kelly, Barrett Hafner, and Mike Dowty get in on the action, and illustrator Max Brown makes it all look nice and perty.

Once the product is designed, it’s time for the woodshop crew to bring in the material and craft it up. For our bamboo iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 cases, the material is prepared and then milled - each case is cut roughly from a sheet like a cookie. Then, our team hand-sands the cases until they are nice and smooth. To really complement the wood grain, we rub on a natural citrus oil and wax blend. The final step - after trying each case on a real iPhone, of course - is laser engraving the artist series design on the case. Finally, we package up each case and ship it to the customer, straight from our shipping desk to the post office.

You might be surprised at some of the things we do here behind the scenes, aside from the thrilling design eurekas and vigorous sanding and shipping. Some of our other hats on the Grove Team include web programmer, copywriter, photographer, customer support contact, production manager, machinist, and more. All for the love of making beautiful products!

Go Team!

Written by Mary Yajko. She is a Grove customer support rep and crazed blogger originally from upstate New York. She enjoys opened minds, uncontrollable fits of laughter, and large amounts of french fries with ketchup.

This week we’d like to share what we love to do for summer fun when we’re not sanding and shipping out mountains of iPhone cases. We Grovers are an active bunch and here are some of our favorite summer activities.

Strap on your boots and pack your water bottles because we love to hike! There are great trails out in the Oregon wilds. Our main spots are hiking out in the gorge-- up Angel’s Rest, and also Saddle Mountain. Ginger just climbed Dog Mountain!

But we also love any kind of hike involving swimming. Bagby hot springs is a favorite as is Punchbowl Falls in the gorge and Ken’s secret beaver swimming hole. We love to raft down the rivers, swim in the lakes, camp out at sites like Lost Lake and on the coast at Cape Lookout. We go crabbing on the beaches, surf in the ocean, and go sailing when we can.  

In Portland we toil lovingly in our gardens raising vegetables, herbs, and fruits. We brew our own beer and enjoy the Oregon Brewers Festival in July. We eat a lot of late night summer snacks from the food carts and work it all off in yoga classes at Yoga Bhoga the Bhaktishop.

We ride bikes everywhere! Summer months here are the best for biking in the fresh air and sun. Machinist Scott participates in the World Naked Bike Ride. This year it convenes at the Portland Art Museum where the admission for the evening is $1 per piece of clothing!

Mike D. aka “the other Mike” aka Mike 2 says his favorite summertime pastime is chilling in his front yard in a kiddie pool and blasting his favorite jams (anything by Counting Crows).

Basically, whether we admit it or not we Grovers are hippies at heart and love to commune with nature in the summertime!

goGrove!

We are in good company making our products here in Portland, OR. This is a city with a vibrant economy for established businesses and startups that make handmade goods and sell beautiful objects. This week we wanted to share five local companies that we love!

1 Pigeon Toe Ceramics - Pigeon Toe makes elegant ceramic pieces that you will want to keep in your home for life!

2 Vanilla Bicycles - Vanilla Bicycles are so pretty you almost don’t want to ride them in the rain. But you do, because it rains a lot here. These bikes have strong frames with a fantastic design and are highly sought after. We even know someone who got married on one and rode away down the aisle on it!

3 Studiomoe - Studiomoe makes simple striking furniture pieces to brighten up your home-- and it’s made from either sustainably harvested forests, reclaimed wood or local trees that died naturally!  Their furniture is influenced by clean Scandinavian lines, and it shows.

4 Caravan Pacific - If you are looking for classic American lighting then check out Caravan Pacific. Their products have a modern and sleek look to them, but the designs are reminiscent of mid century America. They join wood and clay seamlessly into beautiful and elegant pieces to light up your rooms.

5 Pendleton - Pendleton is a local staple in fine wool products- they’ve been a family owned business for more than 140 years! Is Oregon that old? Yes... barely! Check out their beautiful woven rugs when you get a chance.

These are five Portland companies that we love- hope you do too!  Portland has experienced a burst of small business growth over the past decade. Check out more shops, individuals and goods here on the Made in Portland site.

goGrove!

Laura is Grove’s Sales Account Manager heading our wholesale, corporate and co-brand categories. Basically, if you want to buy our iPhone cases in bulk, Laura’s the lady you talk to!  

We love her! She’s an upbeat ball of energy-- she’s positive, fun loving, and lives by the words Work hard, play hard! But did you know that outside of Grove Laura’s got a very full life? It’s true. Here are five things you didn’t know about Laura.

1. She’s building her own house with her betrothed, Tobin! Check out the salvaged kitchen beams from a barn in Mollalla, OR.  

2. Every week Laura coaches U-14 Girls for the Hollywood soccer club (This is her 8th season in a row!) She also plays soccer on a local team sponsored by the Lucky Devil.

3. Oregon love. Laura grew up in the Pacific Northwest (the PNW!) and the girl loves the great outdoors-- she often out of the city camping, skiing and playing on the beach. While she kills it on black double black diamonds Laura’s favorite thing is to ski in fresh powder down through the trees.

4. Community and volunteering are both very important to her. For five consecutive years Laura travelled to Guatemala and volunteered as a translator and blogger for the Newburg Rotary Club. They went with a dental and a medical team that continues to work with the same village over the years, practicing general medicine and educating the local population on oral hygiene. Now, each year because of their continual effort in the same area with the same population they are seeing less dental extractions and more restorative cases to work on. What a success!

5. Laura is the proud mamma of a rescue dog from the Oregon Humane Society named Kasi-- who was named after Ninkasi Brewery. He’s the best dog in the world (she wants you to know he’s way better than your dog). Did we mention that Laura is feisty?  :)  

You can peep her personal links here:

https://twitter.com/_gfunk

https://www.vizify.com/laura-gonzales

goGrove!

Written by Mike Schultz. He is an oil painter from Ithaca, New York.  When he is not working for Grove, he’s painting and drawing to his heart’s content.  You can see his work on his blog and his website.

We love our fair city of Portland, Oregon. It’s green, it’s gray, and when it’s actually sunny it can be heavenly here. This week we wanted to share our favorite places to be in Portland!

1. City Parks

Everyone has different parks they love to hang out in. Some of our favorites include Colonel Summers Park for summer evening beers and badminton and Laurelhurst Park, a rolling landscape with a gorgeous pond called Firwood Lake. But Mt. Tabor takes the cake-- it’s a dormant inner city volcano which boasts some of the best views of Portland and hosts fun events like the adult soapbox derby race each summer.

2. Powell’s Books

When you need to read, there’s only one place to be-- Powell’s Books!  Founded in 1971 Powell’s books is located in a building that is four stories high and takes up a full city block in downtown Portland, OR! It is said to be the largest independent bookstore in the world.

3. Springwater Corridor Trail

The Springwater Corridor is a 21 mile (34 km) long paved bicycle and walking path that winds through woods and towns all the way out to Boring, OR. (Yes, that’s its name.) It’s fantastic for long uninterrupted bike rides and feeling the wind in your hair when you need it.

4. Music Venues

Do you like music? We do too! There are a lot of great venues in town to see some amazing shows. Favorite haunts include the Aladdin Theater, The Mission Theater and Crystal Ballroom, and the Doug Fir Lounge.

5. Food Places (everywhere!)

There’s so much good food in Portland that we can’t agree on where we like to go the most . . . so here are the food spots near Grove that fuel us while we make mountains of iPhone cases and iPhone docking stations. Produce Row for burgers, food carts for tater tots, Rontoms for drinks, Sheridan Fruit Company for the daily special, and Pho Green Papaya for some of the best pho soup around!  

So next time you’re in Portland, be sure to check out all 5 of these awesome establishments!

goGrove!

Team Grove’s Master of the Woodshop (yes this is her official title), Ginger, was recently featured on the Carhartt blog Crafted in Carhartt! The post shows off her amazing bamboo crafting skills along with her ability to seriously rock some Carhartt gear. It was so nice to welcome Crafted in Carhartt into the Grove workshop for the day, and a couple of us even got to visit The Carhartt Store with their team. Check it out!

Around here the story of Grove’s beginnings is the stuff of legend. Grove founders Ken and Joe were neighbors who occasionally liked hang out, talk shop, and toss a football in the street. One evening in 2009 while doing just that they realized that if they combined their efforts they might be able to pull off an iPhone case made out of bamboo, a notoriously difficult material to work with. Ken’s background was fine woodworking and at the time Joe was running a laser engraving business out of his bedroom. At once they realized that the idea was too good to pass up so they agreed then and there to go all in and the rest is history!

When Grove began there were mountains to climb and rivers to cross. Ken and Joe didn’t know anything about how to run a large business or how to operate the heavy duty CNC machines that we use to mill our products. But with a DIY spirit (Do It Yourself!) they figured out and overcame every problem that arose-- from Apple’s accidental leak of an iPhone 4 prototype that jeopardized our iPhone 3 case launch . . . to wrangling the CNC machines to operate with finesse and create products that are aesthetically pleasing as well as strong and precise.  

“Go hard or go home” has been Joe and Ken’s mantra all the while. Through the ups and downs they strove to stay positive and focused on making high quality products that we could be proud of like our laser engraved iPhone 5 cases, Moleskine covers and Skatebacks. But the truth is that we wouldn’t be where we’re at without the help from our friends and families and especially without you! Thank you for your support and making Grove possible! goGrove!

It’s spring, and the skate parks in Portland are rollin’ with the homies. Show off your deck on our Twitter, Facebook wall, or Instagram for the Grove Skatestakes to win one of three SkateBacks for iPhone! It’s the perfect time of year to add a lil’ skate mojo to your phone, and it only takes three easy steps to enter.