Isn't he lovely? Jack seems to be as proud as these boxes as I am!
Yesterday I approved the final samples... I am so excited to have my my address files available again. And relieved! And very proud to have done it with integrity - it took me forever to find the right craftspeople to work with on these - each and every beautiful one of them had been crafted by hand and produced by a local family business that promotes sustainable forestry practices and primarily uses residual wood from small, local mills. And finished with an environmentally-safe, non-toxic, water-based finish to keep them beautiful for years and years to come. I still have and use mine everyday: numbered 000081 and dated April 25, 2002.
My craftspeople have also been putting any and all of the solid wood waste from these address files in a bin labelled “Free Wood” outside of their workshop. At the end of each work day they see a line up of people sorting through the bin. They have found that any waste is especially popular with local teachers who use the small pieces of wood for classroom projects. And their sawdust waste is sent to a nearby co-generation plant where the waste wood is used to generate heat and power. Every single scrap from these address files is put to use - from the woodworking to the paper scraps which I repurpose into other products or even use as cushioning for packaging.
It took so long to get this all sorted out, and it would have been so much easier for me to scrap my best intentions and simply get my boxes made for me overseas in China. (My partner and love Charles has dozens of relatives there willing to help me out with that!) But these address files really feel like another one of my babies. I wouldn't of felt good not knowing if they were created fairly or sustainably. It is important to me to always make a products that I can always be proud of and love.
And, it is my sincere hope that you may, too.
To all of my customers, past, present, future, and waitlisted: Thank-you so much for your support of my work - it means the world to me! And for your understanding and patience in the long wait for my products. Thank-you always for supporting the original creations as made by their original designers. It is my hope that I can continue to make the things I love to make, old and new, for a long time to come. But this would never be possible without you. Thank-you.
oh! and if you are interested in ordering an address file from me, please send me a note to sharilyn at lovelydesign . com and I will add you to my waitlist. I have already contacted everyone that I have on my waitlist, but if I somehow missed you and you did not hear from me please let me know!
0 comments:
Post a Comment