What Eco-Consciousness Means, in Our Own Words

Stumptown is among Portland’s many nicknames because of the arboreal remains left behind as forests were cleared during the city’s early growth. These days, Portland’s citizens are stereotyped as extremely environmentally friendly, and the stereotype is certainly true of the diligent werkers over at Plywerk. Plywerk uses sustainable bamboo, which only requires three to seven years to grow mature enough to harvest, compared to one hundred and twenty years for oak. Thus our wood works will never leave behind a stump-strewn landscape that would make the Lorax cry. We would lobby to change Portland’s moniker to Sustainably-Harvested-Forests-Town, except we’re too hooked on caffeine and graphic novels to step on the toes of Stumptown Coffee Roasters or Stumptown Comics.

Plywerk: Hand Crafted in Stumptown Sustainably-Harvested-Forests-Town

Here at Plywerk we take green design seriously. We are profoundly aware of what wastefulness and pollution do to the Earth and the life on it, and hence put in real thought and effort towards keeping the planet as pleasantly pristine as possible. We even hired a sustainability adviser to ensure we maximize our ability to minimize our environmental impact. Beyond using materials that keep forests forested, Plywerk uses locally sourced materials and makes sure what little scrap we produce is reused or recycled. When shipping bamboo mounted art to you, Plywerk uses recovered corrugated cardboard boxes, encourages you to keep the cycle of box reuse going with A Box Life, and utilizes UPS’s carbon offset program.

Plywerk’s green design doesn’t end with the product. Come to think of it, we’re borderline compulsive in our environmentalism. At the office we recycle our re-re-reused paper, obtain used furniture and equipment instead of new whenever possible, and compost any food waste from lunch. Alternative energies power the building and we dress warmly rather than cranking the heat. Plywerk encourages us to ride our bikes or public transit to werk, and most days most of us do. I’ve yet to arrive any other way than on my bike, whether the Portland weather grants us torrential downpour or merely a light drizzle. You can depend the same level of dedication to eco-friendly practices in every aspect of what we do as Plywerkers.

Written By Landon Goldberg. Before joining Plywerk, Landon studied philosophy at Reed College, taught English in Korea for two years, and wrote a few half-completed books. He enjoys travel, hiking, inventing stories, and building elaborate nonsense. 

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Win Custom Plywerk in Our Summer Photo Contest!

Want a Plywerk print mounted on bamboo but don’t feel like paying for it? Well, before you plan an elaborate heist, consider entering Plywerk’s Summer Photo Contest. Wait, what are you doing shopping for spy gadgets? Come on, be serious. That grappling hook alone costs more than a Plywerk, much less that laser alarm bypass device. Alright, now that I’m sorry I ever brought up the heist idea, let’s talk about how you can acquire a free Plwerk through legitimate means. It’s simple!

First, delve into the summer pictures that you’ve taken. Pick out your best shots of beach vacations, barbecues in the backyard, mountains with shrunken snow caps, ripening berries, outdoor concerts and festivals, national parks, Bran Stark’s direwolf, your kids slip and sliding down the neighborhood park, campfires, sunsets, or whatever else makes you think of the sunny season.

Second, go to Plywerk’s facebook page to enter the contest. Simply upload your summer picture, which is just as easy as putting a picture anywhere else on facebook.

Third, vote. You can also check out the competition to see the astoundingly beautiful pictures taken all over the world by accomplished photographers. Then vote for your own anyway because hey, free Plywerk.

Finally, game the system in your favor. Mobilize your political machine by sharing the contest with your Facebook friends. You automatically earn 3 extra votes for each Facebook friend who also enters the contest. You all want to share your pictures with each other anyway, so why not do so in a way that increases your whole friend group’s chances of winning? See, you’ve been cultivating that social network for vitally important reasons, and definitely not as a procrastination tool.

You have until June 21st to enter. If you win you’ll get your own made-to-order art panel! You’ll also get bragging rights for your photography skills that you can bring up anytime someone compliments your lovely hand-crafted art panel.

Written By Landon Goldberg. Before joining Plywerk, Landon studied philosophy at Reed College, taught English in Korea for two years, and wrote a few half-completed books. He enjoys travel, hiking, inventing stories, and building elaborate nonsense. 

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5 Tools Plywerk Can’t Operate Without

1. The Sawstop Table Saw

At Plywerk, we like having hands. Without hands we could not handcraft our quality bamboo panels on which to mount your awesome photos. Unfortunately, our bare hands alone do not have the sharpness or rotation speed required to turn huge sheets of bamboo into neat little panels, so we must enlist the aid of heavy machinery. In order to both keep our hands AND make our awesome product, we rely on the Sawstop table saw, which uses heavy-duty safety science to stop the blade within milliseconds of coming into contact with skin.

plywerk tools

2. The “Plywerk” Branding Iron

Branding cattle is cruel, but branded panels sure look cool! This tool is exactly what you think it is. We burn our signature into every panel so that your friends and family will know who is responsible for your sexy new eco-conscious home decor.

3. Geami Machine

When your mounted Plywerk arrive on your doorstep and you open the package to find each panel is safe and sound and distinctly lacking in damage, you have this tool to thank. Geami is an eco-friendly alternative to plastic wraps which, when wrapped snugly around a completed Plywerk, protects the bamboo and your image on its journey to your home.

plywerk tools: wrap

4. Blue Tape

While it might not be the most sophisticated tool on this list, we definitely could not function as a company without our trusty rolls of blue tape. Tape to identify panels that need to go back to the shop for a little extra love, tape to make extra-big pieces of freezer paper to protect large-size prints, even tape to label the spots where the other tools live. Tape on everything!

plywerk tools: blue tape

5. Google Nexus Tablet

This tool is absolutely crucial to day-to-day operations in the Plywerk studio. A tiny, powerful internet machine with many different clever applications and abilities of which we use exactly one: music player. A silent studio would be a miserable studio, and the Nexus helps us all keep our sanity as we truck on through the workday handcrafting your Plywerk.

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All About Plywerk’s Customer Service Lead, Nichole!

Have you read the Plywerker bios and yet are still wondering who these bicycling, tofu-eating Portlanders are? Fear not! Monthly profiles will fill you in on all the vital information about these hitherto mysterious Plywerkers, starting with Nichole, Plywerk’s magnificent Customer Service Lead!

Nichole in her natural habitat: the Plywerk front office.

Q&A:

Favorite dog breed? 

Hmm. I can’t say that I have an all-time favorite breed but lately I’ve really been into Corgis. Those big ears and that face just kill me. 

Last costume you wore? 

I love an excuse to dress up! For my last costume, I was a frozen fairy, adorned in white and silver with wings. 

What topic fascinates you?

Human behavior.

What does an average day at Plywerk look like for you? 

I get in at 8 am, choose the office music, check my email, listen to phone messages and drink coffee. I take care of any issues that may arise and work with customers for time-sensitive orders. Around 10 am, I typically eat a delicious baked good that my coworker has made for us. I spend the rest of the day responding to emails and doing various other things like assisting with some of the social media sites, answering the phone or misting the plants. 

What activities do you do for fun when not werking? 

I’m really social and don’t like sitting still much so I’m constantly on the go. I spend most of my time-off going out to eat, frequenting coffee shops, going on walks and hanging out with my husband, family and friends. I love to travel, even if it’s just for the day to a nearby town. Cross country skiing is highest on my list of winter activities. I also make and sell jewelry (www.dangledesign.etsy.com) which occupies the rest of my time.  

What is your favorite memory involving Plywerk or Plywerkers?

One of my favorite memories was maybe my second week of work a couple of years ago. It was a nice summer day and for our morning break we decided to go to a coffee shop about a mile down the road. There were about 7 or 8 of us on bikes, riding in the sun through the streets of Portland with thoughts of only the latte that lie ahead. We continued to do this occasionally and it was one of my favorite things about work that summer. 

Check out the resulting enormous meals and other Plywerker antics on Plywerk’s instagram page. Go to http://instagram.com/plywerk, or just click on the giant whisk above.

Ideal smoothie ingredients? Almond milk, peanut butter, cocoa, banana, honey, frozen yogurt. Delicious. 

What is one thing you would like to accomplish in the next year? I’d like to go to a new continent. I’m working towards hitting all seven and I have two more to go…will it be South America or Africa?

Written By Landon Goldberg. Before joining Plywerk, Landon studied philosophy at Reed College, taught English in Korea for two years, and wrote a few half-completed books. He enjoys travel, hiking, inventing stories, and building elaborate nonsense. 

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So You Forgot Your Wedding: Better Call Plywerk

It’s a tale as old as time. Two people of like minds and ambitions meet, fall madly in love, and eventually make a lifetime commitment to each other in a beautiful wedding ceremony. Unfortunately, since both of these people suffer from crippling short-term memory loss, neither of them remember a single detail of the wedding! Fortunately, they managed to hire a photographer to capture the memories that they were missing. Sound familiar? At Plywerk, we know that forgetting weddings is an all-too-common problem these days, but it’s hard to forget a ceremony of which there are dozens of photos, mounted on eco-conscious high quality bamboo art panels. If you or someone in your family are among the thousands of people who forget their wedding every day, Plywerk is here to help.

bamboo photo panel

First, pick your favorite photos. Walking up the aisle, exchanging vows, the flower girl tripping into the ring bearer, Uncle Don’s dance floor incident. The more the merrier. Don’t worry about the quality – any photo looks pro on a classy product like Plywerk.

Next, make your way to Plywerk’s website and poke around the options for sizes and substrates. Our friendly customer service reps are available by phone or e-mail to answer any questions you might have. Be sure to take a moment to read some testimonials from happy customers!

plywerk wall art

Finally, fill up your cart, head to the checkout, and put your feet up while we get to work mounting your photos on our sleek hand-crafted panels. Since you won’t remember ordering them any more than you remember the happiest day of your life, it will be a fantastic surprise when you open the mail one day to find a parcel of Plywerks, safely bound and lovingly made, ready for you to hang.

bamboo photo mounting

Click here to get started. Cheers!

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