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 bamboo iPhone cases, SkateBacks for iPhone, and Grove Notebook leather covers for Moleskines.

(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 iPhones 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 Skatebacks. 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.

If you are a fan of Apple and a fan of Rumors, you might like this juicy round-up of tidbits. Stay ahead of the curve...

• MacRumors shared a photo from a French site Noweherelse.fr, which allegedly shows the new iPad fifth-generation front panel sporting thinner bezels down the sides. This would mean, like the iPad Mini, the new iPad would have a wider screen. According to DigiTimes, production on the iPad 5 would start in July or August of this year.

• Analyst firm PiperJaffray’s just recently completed its 25th bi-annual teen tech survey. CultofMac reported teens in the survey found Apple to be the most desirable tech brand, with Google following closely behind. Of teens surveyed, 48% already own an iPhone and 62% plan on buying one soon.

Data from PiperJaffray

• Think Apple’s on the way out? I would guess again. But also, visit the new Apple Pop-Up Museum just in case! The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) shared news of the traveling exhibit that showcases a nearly unabridged collection of Apple’s technology since 1976. The Pop-Up Museum consists of the private collection of curator Lonnie Mimms. Check out the photo below of the awesome 20th Anniversary Mac released in 1997, which featured golden hues and black leather!

As far as Grove rumors go, let’s just say that if you are a fan - or even just a slave to - the “old school” when it comes to iPhone models, you may be in store for a treat within the next month. Be sure to stay up-to-date on our product launches by signing up for our newsletter on the bottom of our site!

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

We love Mother Earth-- who doesn’t? These days it’s easy and a bit cliche to state that you are environmentally aware, but together we Grovers are an eco-friendly bunch both at work and at home. This week we wanted to share a little of what we do to live conscientiously.

Living in the Pacific Northwest we are close to the natural environment. It’s a hop, skip, and a jump to the mountains, desert, coastal rain forest, the plains, and the Pacific Ocean. Grovers are an outdoor loving bunch and we want to do our small part to help to keep our environment clean and protected!

It’s hard to do everything yourself. So, here are some of our daily practices that collectively team Grove contributes to:

• We recycle our trash and use our materials as efficiently as possible to reduce waste.
• Many of us ride bikes every day!

• We use metal water bottles and ceramic mugs for our piping hot green tea.
• Some of us roll in hybrid cars.  
• We have a compost pile which makes happy healthy worms for Scott’s indoor aquaponic gardening project!
• We cook at home and pack our lunches.
• Sean’s got big plans for a small scale solar project at our new shop. (He’s also building a chicken coop at home!)
• We support local organic farms and for those of us who buy meat and eggs we try to support free range farms whenever possible.
• We try to reduce our plastic consumption by buying items in reusable glass containers.
• In the summer months we garden and grow sprouts!
• Grover Mike “Mac Daddy” Dowty has even sworn off showers to save Portland’s water supply.  :)

How do you practice living conscientiously? We know that you can’t change everything, but every little bit counts. goGrove!

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

We’re pumped to finally announce Grove Sweepstakes winners, who took home the Bamboo iPhone 5 case of their choice at the end of last month! The Sweepstakes was our way of celebrating the completion of our busy season of the iPhone 5 case launch and pre-order rush. Thank you so much to all who entered through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, including the following winners:

• John From Annapolis, MD

• James From Avon, CO

• Jordan From  Queen Creek, AZ

  
  

No worries if you are not one of the lucky three; most of us aren’t! And, with our new 1 to 2 week lead time on our Bamboo iPhone 5 cases, you won’t need to wait long to hold your very own handcrafted bamboo case.  Check ‘em out here, starting at $79 for plain!

Woohoo! We’ve been swimming in the deep end of the pool of iPhone 5 orders since the product release in October. And, after many long days and nights of work, we’re finally catching up. Starting now, all orders will officially ship out on a 1 to 2 week lead time (plus two weeks for custom orders)! We’re so excited to help you kick those last-stretch-of-winter blues with some handcrafted goodness!

To celebrate our new 1 to 2 week lead time, we’re giving away three iPhone 5Pattern Series cases in the Grove Sweepstakes! It only takes two easy steps to enter.  

Step One: Enter your name and email address (we promise we’ll only send you the good stuff).

Step Two: Click “Like” on the landing page to share it on Facebook.



Bonus Round: For extra entries, you can also Instagram the landing page with the tag “#grovesweepstakes” or Pin or Tweet it using the buttons at the bottom of the page.

Winners will be contacted on March 15, and announced the following week!

We owe one ginormous THANK-YOU from our <3 hearts <3 to yours! Grove would not be possible without its fans and supporters and your incredible patience and faith in small business.

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.

Every morning at the break of dawn all across our fair city of Portland, OR we Grovers are awoken by the triumphant calls of the wild beasts who live among us. They are the descendents of grey wolves and Middle Eastern wildcats. They are our pets. We feed them, walk them and love them. Here are some of the animals that we love!

Sylvia’s cat got her name from the month of June when she was adopted. She’s a 5 year old ragdoll mix who goes by many handles including Juniper and Junebug. “We keep her because she's cute, and when she does show affection or allow us to cuddle her it's a golden moment.”  Haha. And the piglet? Well, that cute little guy lives on her friend's farm, and holds a special place in Sylvia's heart after looking after him for a few hours one summer afternoon. 

San and his wife Junghwa recently found themselves a furry little angel with the heart of a lion and the temperament of a burning phoenix. Carmelo (aka lil’ Mello) is a 3 month old cockapoo puppy who just wants to play and wear his yellow rain slicker that his aunt Wendy got him. Also, he enjoys keeping his new mom and dad up at night with his whimpers. But oh my goodness is he cute... Good luck, San and Junghwa!

Laura and her fiancé Tobin rescued their dog from the Oregon Humane Society on Mothers day in 2011. He’s a black lab mix who they named Ninkasi, after their favorite brewery.  But mostly he goes by Kasi for short.

A great companion, Kasi likes to be in the middle of everything-- especially hugs! He loves his hand knitted winter scarf his Gramma Peri made for him, and enjoys car rides, chasing shadows, nighttime laser runs (sometimes we think he identifies as a cat), and helping Laura and Tobin with their house construction.

Laura said, “His secret bad habit is putting both his paws into the water bowl when he's really thirsty. Even so, we still love him very much and our family wouldn't be complete without him.”
Awwww...

Mike Dowty aka Mac Daddy received his cat Leo under mysterious circumstances. No one knows who left a kitten in a basket on his doorstep on Christmas morning, but life wouldn’t be the same without him. Leo aka Big Cat aka Daddy Cat Like is a Maine Coon with gorgeous cascading locks and an attitude that strikes fear in the hearts of small dogs.

After moving into a new house Sean and Priscilla felt like something was missing. One fateful day they visited the Humane Society, where petless people go in and pet owners come out. “We went just to look and came home with Oli.” Oli is a pekingese papillon mix whose favorite things are taking Sean for a walk every morning and letting his mom Priscilla snuggle with him in his bed.

Ken’s dog Roy is a rescue animal from the Humane Society who was named after the Blazers star Brandon Roy! He was such a skittish, shy dog that he remained un-rescued for over a year... :(  However, the Humane Society did a promotion where they had the Blazers come in and name a dog for themselves.  Hence, Brandon Roy!  

The cat that I live among is known as Scratch (aka Annie Oakley). Currently, it is unclear who is the domestic pet and who are the people as she seems to run the house. Pictured above, she is relaxing on a ceramic tile (Is that comfortable, Scratch?) and also likes to sing the most beautiful and melodic songs for hours on end (also pictured).

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 giddy over our new design Seasons for the leather Grove Notebook cover by our longtime contributing artist Lotie.  Maybe it’s because love is still in the air from Valentine’s Day, or maybe Spring fever is kicking in a little early here in Portland. But, it’s probably just that this notebook cover is so darn perty. We can’t keep our eyeballs off of it!



Check out our beautiful Wave bamboo iPhone 5 case by Lotie as well as her Nebula design on our iPad case! Lotie lives and works in Paris, creating dreamy illustrations with strong themes of nature and organic imagery. A truly unique signature style helped her work develop a strong following over time. Pencil, India ink, photography, and digital imagery come together to create her universes where the architectural and corporal meet.

Clip from Lotie’s website Lotie.com

A true Renaissance woman, before becoming a full time illustrator in 2003, Lotie received separate undergraduate degrees in history and art history as well as a Masters Degree in communications from the Sorbonne. She and her work have been featured in Form, Design Week, and Computer Arts, among other publications. See more about Lotie and her work, which has been exhibited in galleries in New York, Paris, Tokyo, and more, at Lotie.com.

Don’t forget to take a gander at the fresh Seasons Grove Notebook, starting at $69!

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.

We love using Instagram as a tool for sharing our culture, products, and processes with our supporters. There is something special being able to give a growing number of fellow Instagrammers a peek at what the Grove world is like day-to-day. We encourage other Instagram users to tag their Grove-related pictures with #Grovemade. Seeing Grove cases in different environments is exciting for us! We’re always looking for rad customer photos to add to our Grove Wall of Fame album on Facebook. 

Apparently, our love for Instagram is not unrequited. We were featured on their suggested users list in September, which sparked a sharp increase in our following. Instagram features suggested users that have beautiful photographs and offer their own flavor of awesomeness to the Instagram community. I’m sure most other users would agree, due largely to the community it builds, this app is just so fun! And, with a new full-image feed for web browsers complete with liking functionality, Instagram is becoming more enjoyable and dynamic each day. 

On August 31, 2012, Grovemade on Instagram had 901 followers; as of today, less than 6 months later, we have 19,377. Thanks to our talented community manager Kim, with her sunny outlook and eye for photography, that number is growing everyday! A picture is worth a thousand words, but what about an Instagram? We think it’s worth two thousand, at least. Share your Grove inspiration with us on Instagram by tagging #Grovemade, and don’t forget to follow us!

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.

Kim is the glue that holds Grove together. One of Grove’s first employees, she joined the crew in the summer of 2010, starting as a production assistant, and then developed our customer service department from the ground up. She now manages all of our social media on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and handles all of Grove’s press releases to get us sweet mentions on sites like Uncrate and Design Milk!



This lady wears several hats - on top of all of that, Kim also coordinates Grove’s internal social events like quarterly outings, birthday celebrations, and makes sure we all get fed at company lunches. We’re a hungry bunch, so you’ve got to be prepared if you have that job! We like to think of her as Momma Kim - the Momma bear of Grove.

Kim grew up in Canby, Oregon and attended the University of Oregon, graduating in 2009 with a degree in Art with a focus in drawing and painting.



Football is in her blood! Her dad took her to her first football game when she was just one week old. She grew up going to football games and looking up to her older brother, who taught her how to throw her wicked spiral pass. Needless to say, she is a dedicated Oregon Ducks Season ticket holder who sports green and yellow every chance she gets - especially on game day.

Outside of work, Kim loves spending time with her family and finding new adventures with friends. She has four nieces and one nephew who keep her pretty busy (they call her Auntie Kim - cute!).



Kim’s a walker, a hiker , and a professional Portland neighborhood explorer, who enjoys discovering pretty nooks, gardens, and awesome architecture. She loves photography and recently got out her old 35 mm camera to begin taking film photographs again.

Other hobbies include running half marathons - three in the past two years - and expanding her music collection. Blues, soul, and motown are her jams. Recent favorites are Allen Stone and Maverick Sabre. We’re so lucky to have a person like Kim on our team!

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 so pleased and flattered that MacTrast featured our Wool Felt Sleeve for iPad! Writer Chris Rauschnaut gave our sleeve an in-depth review after an extended testing period. If you want to know how a Grove Wool Felt Sleeve can change your life, check out Rauschnaut’s write-up. He says, “The new iPads are premium products and the accessories chosen to cover them should be made with similar workmanship.”

We can’t help but agree that there’s nothing better to slip your iPad into at the end - or beginning - of a long workday. We sew each sleeve in our Portland, Oregon studio with care. Slide your ‘pad into premium wool and all-natural bamboo, snap shut the magnetic closure, and keep your sleek tablet covered while you’re out and about.

“Grove certainly changed my idea of what quality, made in the USA accessories for the iPad, should be made like,” writes Rauschnaut. “Stepping up to a premium and fashionable case for the latest iPad, while simultaneously knowing the tablet is secure, is easily accomplished with the Bamboo & Wool sleeve made by Grove.”

Read the whole review on MacTrast, and don’t forget to check out our Wool Felt Sleeves for iPad, priced at $79.

Grove Bamboo + Wool iPad Sleeve from Grove on Vimeo.

In a time ruled by touchscreens, there is still something sacred about putting pen to paper. This is why we love our notebooks, and why we chose to design a reusable product that protects them in style. Our Grove Notebook leather covers are carefully hand sewn here in our Portland, Oregon workshop, and they can be engraved with one of our beautiful artist series designs or your own custom image.

Choosing the leather...
We work with one of the largest tanneries in the USA to source the highest-quality vegetable-tanned leather for our products - always tanned right here in the States using bark tannins. Our natural, vegetable-tanned leather is free of harmful chromium and ages gracefully, developing character over time. 

What is vegetable-tanned leather...
The natural leather we use contains no harmful chromium. Most leathers are chrome-tanned, or tanned using chromium sulfate and other salts of chromium. Vegetable-tanned leather is tanned using ingredients found in vegetable matter and tannin, such as tree bark. This is the only acceptable leather for engraving, because it does not release harmful fumes when heat is applied.

Why Moleskine notebooks are the best choice to fill your Grove leather cover...
Grove chooses Moleskine because they stand behind their philosophy of timeless excellence in notebook making. Moleskines are modeled after the trusty notebooks used by artists and thinkers of the past, such as Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Bruce Chatwin. As the company’s philosophy states, Moleskines are “A simple black rectangle with rounded corners [...] a nameless object with a spare perfection all its own [...] invaluable sketches, notes, stories, and ideas that would one day become famous paintings or the pages of beloved books.”

Do you have some ideas worth protecting? Check out our Grove Notebook leather covers for Moleskine, starting at $39 for plain/pocket-sized. Happy imagining!

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.

The truth is that the woodshop where we make our cases would literally grind to a halt if it wasn’t for our production manager, Sean Michael Kelly. To sum up what he does is a difficult task because he wears so many hats -- and even Sean says he doesn’t really know what he does here at Grove. But here’s a try: Sean does his best to make Grove a fun and upbeat environment to work in. He guides everyday production, works in line, continually develops production processes, and does specialty design work with both products and packaging. He’s also one of Grove’s original members who started as an intern two and half years ago! Sean likes to think that he has literally touched every single case that has been made at Grove.

Sean grew up in the Southwest Hills of Portland with his parents and two younger siblings.  He attended the University of Oregon and graduated in 2010 with a BFA in Product Design.  

During his time at Grove Sean got married to the love of his life Priscilla, bought a house, and they now live just outside of Portland with their beastly man-dog Oli who is believed to be a reincarnation of a Civil War era soldier name Oliver.



Sean breathes and thinks design. More than anything else, he’s interested in how we interact with each other and the world around us. He’s made beautiful streamlined furniture, an interactive communication device using light, and is currently working on an engaging teaching tool for children with Autism. He grew up with a carpenter father and an architect grandfather who both influenced and inspired him to do this type of work from a young age.    

To see some of Sean’s work you can visit his website here. Sean is the one who found the coveted shop wheelchair in which each and every one of us eats our lunch together. Thank you, Sean!

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.