Still haven’t finished (or even started) your Christmas shopping? If you want to give Grove for the holidays, it’s not too late!  We still have some products that will reach you by Christmas if you order them by the end of Tuesday, December 11th (deliveries within the U.S. only). Calm or Neutral SkateBacks, Plain and Artist Series Grove Notebooks, Plain or Artist Series iPhone 4/4s cases (non-custom), and gift cards will all have you gift-equipped by the big day.

Got a loved one who cares for his or her iPhone more than certain family members? Go classy grab them a handcrafted Bamboo iPhone case for iPhone 4 or 4s, or go swaggy and grab ‘em a Calm or Neutral SkateBack to Skateboard deck out their iPhone 4, 4s, or 5. SkateBacks are made from 100% recycled skateboard material which would otherwise go to waste during skateboard manufacturing.

Our Plain or Artist Series leather covers for Moleskines can also be delivered by Christmas if ordered by the end of December 11th. Got a writer, artist, planner, daydreamer, idea generator, or old-fashioned journal-keeper in mind?  Help them protect their precious Moleskine notebook with a hand-stitched reusable leather cover. Choose from black or tan, Plain or 25 different Artist Series designs.

Can’t decide on a gift? Buy a Grove digital gift card, receive it instantly via email, and worry no more! Don’t forget - if you’d like to give a Bamboo iPhone 4/4s case, Grove Notebook or SkateBack for iPhone by Christmas, make your purchase on our site by the end of Tuesday, December 11th!

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.

Are you a Black Friday or a Cyber Monday type of person? With people’s increasing comfort with shopping online, Cyber Monday might be giving Black Friday a run for its money this year. I bet even the go-getters among us can agree that there’s something enticing about doing all your holiday shopping from behind your computer screen - no lines, no crowds, no traffic! After all, there’s plenty of time this December to cradle packages in your arms without having to simultaneously dodge manic bargain hunters.

Gift cards are available in $39, $79, $99, or $129, so there’s something for everyone. Skip the crowds and check ‘em out!

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.

On the eve of Thanksgiving, Grove has a lot to be thankful for! One of the most important things we’re thankful for are the amazing customers that make our company possible. The patience and support of our fans is literally what keeps us going. Additionally, the whole team is thankful for each other, and for the support we can offer to one another throughout this busy case production season. As with many of you, we’re also thankful for the friends, family, health, and this beautiful city we’re lucky enough to enjoy. Here’s a little rundown of what some of us are thankful for:

• Mary is thankful for friends’ helping hands.
• Ken is thankful for the best food carts in Portland and all the delicious lunches they provide.
• Joe is thankful for Battlestar Galactica.
• Max is thankful to work with a bunch of bright eyed kids with awesome senses of humor, and for Adventure Time, and also for heat and showers.
• Cindy is thankful for our bi-weekly full-team work lunches :)
• Laura is thankful for the health of her family and friends, and her sweet doggie.
• Galen is thankful for steady employment in a time when many go without.
• Kim is thankful to live in Portland and work in a place where she’s able to learn and grow and can also gut-laugh on a daily basis.

• Ellie is thankful to get to experience the upcoming Civil War game between the Ducks and Beavers.
• Mike D. is thankful to never actually have to decide which to fight, one horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses.
• Barrett is thankful for apple pie.
• Wendy is thankful for hot Sriracha and warm scarves.
• Lydia is thankful for bananas and their dwindling population.
• San is thankful for all the foods.
• Mike S. is thankful for art and the internet.
• Sylvia is thankful for second chances.
• Sean is thankful for friendship, love, and his beautiful wife, Priscilla.
• Tommy is thankful to have friends he considers family and family he considers friends.

We’re a pretty thankful, loving, and food-crazed bunch, I’d say. It’s amazing to get to share time with each other at work each day, and we’re grateful to those that support Grove and help us to keep bringing our little pieces of functional art into the world.

Grove wishes you a cozy Thanksgiving with your family and friends! (What are you thankful for?)

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.

Does size really matter? With the recent release of the iPad 4th generation and iPad Mini, we’re about to find out! Bloggers are already coming head to head on the issue, and there’s praise on both sides of the fence. Business Insider outlined five key issues that should sway your vote: portability, affordability, signal strength, speed and strength, and retina display.

With its 7.9 inch screen, portability is the iPad Mini’s main event. The iPad 4 beat weighs more than twice the Mini. Starting at $329, affordability is the other draw of the little guy. However, if you want to run demanding apps, the iPad 4th gen. is your tablet. Its new A6X processor is twice as fast as the 3rd gen. iPad, while the iPad Mini has the same processor as the iPad 2. Both tablets have 4G LTE cellular service plans. Here’s the kicker - the iPad Mini does not have the famed Retina Display of the new iPhone 5 and the iPad 4th gen, and for good reason. This is the dealbreaker for many folks with discerning eyes, but it’s not the end-all-be-all to some.

Nick Bilton of the New York Times’ Bits blog quotes John Gruber of Daring Fireball:

John Gruber, the author of the Apple blog Daring Fireball, unsurprisingly loves his iPad Mini more than chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles on top.

“I completely stand behind mine, and still have barely even used the iPad 4 I have on loan from Apple,” Mr. Gruber wrote. “In the meantime, we have to choose: big iPad with sharp retina display, or small iPad with a fuzzy one. I’ve gone small and fuzzy.”

Even the Grove team is on the fence; co-owner Ken uses the Mini in the shop and loves its lightweight feel, but he sure does miss that sweet retina display. We agree on one point, unless you’re fundamentally against small things, the better ‘pad depends entirely on your needs. Unquestionably, though, you do need a Grove Wool & Bamboo Sleeve to snuggle your prefered iPad in this winter. 

Which iPad would you buy? The iPad 4 or the iPad Mini?

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 iPad Mini has broken out onto the tablet scene, and what better way to dress her than with our beautifully designed sleeve made from natural materials?

Have an iPad Mini that’s gotta get out on the town? Our Wool Sleeve for iPad Mini fits snugly, and is compatible with Apple’s Smart Cover. While it’s meant for the iPad Mini specifically, our new sleeve can also accommodate some other similarly sized devices (see which ones here).

A protective yet stylish sheath for your iPad Mini, our sleeve is made with our natural bamboo veneer and thick premium wool felt imported from Germany. Protect your device on-the-go, and still enjoy the mini tablet’s slim feel during use. Sewn together for durability, the sturdy felt and bamboo veneer make a strong statement and hold their shape well.

Wool Sleeve for iPad Mini is available now at on our website for just $59.

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.

Here at Grove, we believe that one of the best canvases for engraving is our new iPhone 5 case.  We’ve introduced a new collection of eye-catching patterns for our case with clever inspirations to strike your fancy. Twin Peaks fan? Check out our “Black Lodge” iPhone 5 case! Getting back into The Great Gatsby just in time for the anticipated blockbuster this holiday season? Take a gander at our “Gatsby” iPhone 5 case! 

Our patterns were designed by our creative team here as well as our friends and neighbors at PEETKEGLER, who specialize in art direction and graphic design for brands such as Burton and Nike. Grove co-owner Joe has been obsessed with patterns his whole life, sees them almost everywhere he looks. “Norwegian Wood” was inspired by his girlfriend’s mittens from Norway.  “Golden” is the Fibonacci sequence seen in the center of sunflowers. Joe has been known to embarrass his friends by stopping people on the street to admire their lovely patterns.

With the launch of our new case, we’ve also made available a new monogramming option that let’s you add a quick personalized touch to your case for a $14.99 fee. Monogramming is available on the the bottom, top, or side of the plain case, as well as on the side of any pattern or artist series case. Just check the box for monogramming before you add a case to your cart.

As always, our artist series remains a solid offering for our iPhone 5 case, and will continue to grow with new illustrators from around the world. New patterns may be added as well, if Joe gets his way. Check out our pattern and artist series cases here, at just $99!

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.

If you've ordered our iPhone 5 case and checked out the shipment date estimates, you'll know the lead time on the product takes a lot of patience. We're working around the clock to get each case finished and out the door, and we so appreciate our amazing customers that understand why we do what we do. 

In our co-owner Ken’s words: “The heart of our business is that we make our own stuff. We design and build our own products.” We’ve been working hard at designing and implementing our new production process for the iPhone 5 case. It’s always challenging to see a product through from design to use, and a main challenge this time around is that we’re combining two different materials into one product. Luckily we have the machinery and talent to pull it off! “It all starts with the team,” says our production manager and designer Sean, “all of us who make the cases. Figuring out how to use the team to create the best product we can.”

If you’re designing and crafting products on a fast timeline like in the mobile phone industry, you’ve got to be up for a challenge. Our general manager, Galen, secretly relishes the little “headaches” that go along with production process design. “Even though it may seem simple,” he says that there’s a whole lot of research and development that goes on behind the scenes. Especially when working with a new material. He stands behind our commitment to “maintaining an attitude and drive of constant improvement.” Our production team knows first hand it takes teamwork and patience to figure out every detail - Sean says, “We need to fail a lot before we can succeed.” It takes mental and physical strength for this type of hands-on production, and our entire team is willing to go the extra mile and work overtime hours to reach our goals.

Innovation is a big part of our everyday process. Ken explains, “The fact is that we can make changes and improvements rapidly - because we do it ourselves!” Most production facilities will outsource a lot of work, but we do it all here in our little shop. From website photography, copy and programming, to filing all the holes in your iPhone Case, to sewing each stitch on your Felt Sleeve, we do it all. Challenge-wise, the new materials certainly make for increased complexity in production, according to everyone on production. Galen clarifies that “Ultimately, the goal is to create the best iPhone case we can for our customers, and with the new design, we think we've done that.” And that’s where the challenges pay off.

Ken states, “What’s really important is to have an open mind and constantly make our production and processes better.” Sean has other reasons for our hands-on methods though: “Our hands touch every case everyday, so when you use your phone it is like we are touching your face tenderly. If I stand still and quiet I can almost feel your voices in my hands...”

We appreciate our customers more than anything, and we couldn't exist without your patience and support! Thank you for enabling our vision. Weekly-updated shipment dates for the iPhone 5 are posted here.

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.

Wendy Oh is the custom arts specialist for our iPhone cases. When you want a custom design on your Grove case and you send in an image- it’s Wendy who adjusts your picture to make sure that it is beautiful and ready to be engraved!  



She grew up in southeast Portland, OR near Reed college with her mom, dad, and younger brother. One of her favorite places in Portland is still the extraordinary Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden near her childhood home.

Wendy graduated in 2011 with a Bachelors of Architecture and a minor in Art, with an emphasis in ceramics from the University of Oregon. While she is technically a U of O “duck”, she says she does not quite “fit the bill”. (We have a lot Ducks in our midst here at Grove.)



While in school she found that art and ceramics helped to balance out the heavy workload of the architecture program. Infamously, she applied for her position at Grove three days before her thesis presentation for her Architecture final!

While not at work what Wendy really loves to do is to eat great food. She recently stated, “I am the Hulk when it comes to desserts.” Macaroons and ice cream are in the house!



Besides eating amazing food, Wendy likes to keep herself active with yoga, kickboxing, bootcamp, and running. She also loves hip hop, jazz, watching basketball, and reading books. Currently she is enjoying The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut as well as What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell.

Famously, Wendy’s met Trey Songz in a line at Burger King at the San Francisco airport while she claims she was looking disheveled, but probably not this disheveled.

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.

Summertime! After working hard through Portland’s gray winter and enduring months of rain and cold we Grovers need to replenish our vital life energy with fun, food, and sunshine!  

A brief poll around the shop led to this summary of favorite summer adventures and getaways taken by us lucky Grovers.

First, one of us got hitched! Wahoo!

Highlights include: An excursion to wine country in California for a wedding, a trip to Alcatraz, drinking hot cups of joe in beat poet cafes in San Francisco, ziplining through the forest like maniacs, enjoying a demolition derby northern Washington, camping, hiking, and sasquatch spotting on the Oregon coast, padding the pavement in New York City and Brooklyn, museums, art, amazing food and friends, and lot and lots of summer heat and sunshine!



Apart from our big trips, there have been other good doses of summer in our everyday activities like bike rides up to Mt. Tabor and Laurelhurst Park, picking berries on Sauvie Island, running in Forest Park, and enjoying walks Portland’s Rose Garden.  There have also been picnics, barbeques, birthdays, and excursions to Ken’s secret swimming hole.  

Last but not least every day on misty Oregon mornings Ollie the dog is taken for his walk!

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 are so excited to finally get our hands on an iPhone 5 today! In honor of “the arrival”, we’re running a little Sweepstakes on Facebook! Here’s how it works:

1. Take a photo of something you find to be absolutely beautiful with your new iPhone 5.
2. Post the photo on our Facebook wall.  
3. THREE winners will be chosen at random to win the most beautiful case on the planet: the Grove iPhone 5 Case.

Happy snapping, everyone!

*Official contest rules here*

The iPhone 5 was announced by Apple at their 2012 iPhone 5 keynote today! Everyone here at Grove was anxiously awaiting the specifications of the phone, and a chorus of high-fives sounded throughout our workspace as the details came to light. We took a risk this year and decided to design our new case and make it available for pre-order before the specs of the phone were officially announced. Lucky for us, the rumor mill was on target (Although Ken thinks it's less exciting this way)!

Thrill over our case design is one thing, but I think everyone’s got a bit of a crush on the iPhone 5 itself. I’m pretty sure most hearts in Grove are lusting after the new iPhone - yes, partially because it means we get to use our iPhone 5 case.

Here’s a rundown of some initial reactions from the Grove team:

Sean (Designer and Production Manager):
“I love the mix of materials and how elegantly they use them. I love the back. The sexy back. My favorite part of the presentation was when the iPhone rose from the stage. It reminded me of the golden statue in Indiana Jones.”



Max (Lead Graphic Designer):
“I can’t believe I’m getting my fourth iPhone. Things have come a long way since 320x480!”

Ken (Co-owner):
“It wasn’t exciting this time because there were so many leaks!”

Joe (Co-owner):
“I guess I’m just blown away with the meticulous attention to detail as always...and the manufacturing methods employed.”

The specs of the iPhone 5 courtesy of CultofMac:

• Same width, but slightly taller
• New 4-inch, 326 ppi Retina display with 1136×640 resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio
• A6 CPU is 2x faster than the iPhone 4S’s A5 CPU
• New 8-pin Lightning sync-cable replaces old 30-pin connector
• LTE, HSPA+, and DC-HSDPA cellular data and 802.11 a/b/g/n Wifi
• Battery life improved to 8 hours of 3G/LTE talk time
• Camera upgraded to 8-megapixel sensor with hybrid IR filter, five element lens, and f/2.4 aperture
• Panorama feature can create 28-megapixel photos
• Screen has 44% more color saturation and improved integrated touch sensors
• Three new microphones and Enhanced Audio
• 7.6mm thin, which is 18% thinner than the iPhone 4S
• 112 grams, which is 20% lighter than iPhone 4S
• Comes in black and white at 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB
• Priced at $199, $299, and $399 with a two year contract
• Pre-orders start September 14th and ship on September 21st

Let’s set the record straight-- Arthur “Arty” Johnstone’s mom makes all of his clothing, and he looks great!  He is like a handsome sasquatch, tall like a brontosaurus, and he loves bad movies like The Norseman (1978). He is also a painter who loves Die Antwoord-- check out his website here!



Arthur is a light hearted sanding machine who keeps everybody happy while we work. He is known in the woodshop as The Beard of Zeus-- one who has perfected the art of sanding and shaping iPhone cases, skatebacks, and iPad cases. He excels at chamfer and backsanding!

A few months ago, we wrote a post about Arty and his woodshop series of prisma color drawings that he made here in Grove’s shop! He keeps a painting studio in a space at the Recess Gallery, and has recently been working on a large volume of collaborative work, including a time lapse video of painting of a Portland’s Willamette River.



Sadly, like a meandering and lonesome cowboy on the prairie, he is now leaving Grove to move on to greener pastures. He will first embark on a pilgrimage to the major art hubs of the United States. You may catch a glimpse of him on the Amtrack train or Greyhound bus trolling through your town. He’s destined for Seattle, San Francisco, LA, Chicago, Boston, and New York City.  He wants to see how independent artists make a living outside of the corporate structure.

Arty says more than anything he will miss working with this collection of well dressed people.  While drawing his coworkers on our breaks he says he imagines us wild stallions...

Bon voyage, Arty!  We’ll miss you!

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.

The Grove team is delighted to announce that our new iPhone 5 case is available now for pre-order! We re-designed our case to be thinner, sleeker, more durable, and still made with all-natural bamboo. Give your new phone a case that’s modern, gorgeous, eco-friendly, and practical!



Equal parts sustainability and eye-catching form, our smartest design yet involves combining two materials - a renewable bamboo exterior and a strong, solid surface material core. In signature Grove style, we design and make the case entirely here at our Portland workshop.



Up until September 30th, you have the chance to pre-order the case for a special discounted price ($20 off) AND a secure place in line before those who don’t pre-order. Pre-order prices for the case start at just $59*. (For more information on the pre-order, please visit our iPhone 5 case FAQ).

We don’t get any special insider information on the new iPhone, so we’ll be watching patiently when the new iPhone is released on September 12th - just like you! Once we have the new iPhone in our hands, we’ll finalize the case so it fits like a glove.

Thank you for reading and don’t forget to reserve your iPhone 5 case!

*Discounted pre-order prices : Plain Case ($59), Engraved Case ($79), Custom Case ($109)

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.

Grove’s co-owners, Ken and Joe, are honored and excited to speak on the panel at the inaugural Portland Digital eXperience (PDX), a part of MusicFest Northwest (MFNW)! Ken and Joe will be participating along with Lindsay Jo Holmes of MapleXO, our collaboration partner on our iPhone SkateBacks. Discussion will be framed around the ins and outs of running tech-inspired small businesses in the creative oasis of the Portland Metro Area. Check out this panel “Technology as Inspiration” on Friday, September 7th at 2:15pm; PDX activities will be ongoing September 6th through 8th.  Tickets and schedule are available online.

Portland Digital eXperience is a thrilling addition to Time-magazine-lauded MFNW, giving Portland’s many tech-focused start-ups (aka the Silicon Forest) an outlet for discussion, celebration, and exploration! PDX was planned and organized by Rick Turoczy, co-founder of P.I.E. (Portland Incubator Experiment) and creator of Silicon Florist. Friday’s “Technology as Inspiration” panel will be moderated by Garrett Stenson. Garrett currently works for Ziba as a business developer and all around “dot connector”, and previously founded db clay. Check out Garrett’s blog, Twitter feed, and Linkedin profile for more information on this mover and shaker.

Lookout South by Southwest (SXSW)! The Northwest is giving you a run for your money with MusicFestNW and its awesome new events, like PDX. Read more about Portland’s tech-savviness and “creative streak” on OregonLive and CNNMoney. And if you’re coming out for MFNW and PDX, be sure to stop by Friday’s panel with Ken, Joe, Lindsay, and Garrett to learn more about “Technology as Inspiration”! 

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 wanted to share a little about how Grove operates day to day in our work space. Because we share a building with several other creative businesses and individuals, our workshop is divided between two different floors. In this charming, brick, industrial building, our woodshop is on the very bottom level, and our laser studio is located on the very top floor. That’s five flights between the upstairs and downstairs teams. We only use the industrial lift when we have something heavy to carry, so we all have super strong legs. “Legs like trees,” we like to say!



I asked our general manager Galen and our woodshop production manager Sean to add some insight into how they keep everything together, without being two places at once:

How do you manage two production areas?
Galen - “It used to be a challenge but like many of the hurdles we’ve faced over the life of Grove, we’ve adapted and we’re working as hard as we can to unify our production team.”
Sean - “You have to constantly remind yourself to get in contact...we meet every morning...we levitate to each other out the windows too. And use cans with string. I use smoke signals as well...carrier pigeons. You know.”

The downstairs woodshop, or “the shop” as we call it, is where we bring in our raw bamboo or skateboard material, mill it with our machinery, and sand and finish each case by hand. That’s also where we have our barbeques, manage our compost pile, and grow our fledgling patch of bamboo!

Upstairs, or “laserland”, is where we have our lasers, sewing machines, and quality control areas, as well as our shipping, design, and customer service pods. Laserland also has arguably one of the best views of the Willamette River, downtown Portland, and all its bridges!



Before our current building, the lasershop and woodshop used to be in two different locations entirely. Even though we’ve got Grove down to one building, we’re still moving toward eventually having one large workshop and more streamlined and unified processes. The production teams have been spending time lately cross-training in various tasks.

Before our current location, Grove used to be in two different buildings. How has being in one building affected the company?
Galen - “Going into one building - super game changer - now everyone knows each other. Now we have to run up five flights of stairs instead of running for 2 ½ miles.”
Sean - “When I worked in the old wood shop we didn’t really see the laser shop people very often, so it’s been really great merging the two shops...Plus we’re not sharing a space with other woodworkers that have their own projects going on.”

You’ve started cross-training the production team so everyone learns every task. What are the benefits of that?
Galen - “It gives us ultimate flexibility if people are out on vacation or sick. We can shift them and still get production done.”
Sean - “It makes our relationships with each other stronger, and it makes us understand how our actions can affect each other. You see the big picture, where before it was compartmentalized. I mean, we’re all BFFs, but now we’re even closer BFFs.”

What’s the ideal Grove space?
Galen - “The ideal would be one ginormous production space so that we can all be happy together forever.” [the end].
Sean - “Maybe we should get an elevator...to space. Or an underground mountain lair. In a volcano.”

Grove probably won’t be moving into a ginormous underground volcano lair anytime soon, but we’re always working toward being the most unified and productive team we can be!

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.