The giving tree
Growing up, the apple tree in my family’s backyard was my favorite hangout. Indeed, the rise in adult tree houses proves that a leafy canopy life never looses its fairytale charm. But you don’t have to pull a Michael Jackson and start climbing trees to recapture that childhood sense of whimsy. As we suggested in ReadyMade’s Green Design Issue, you can bring a little bit of the tree hugger spirit into your life with woodlands-inspired furniture.
Inclined as we are to build our own recycled-timber tables and salvaged-wood seating, we coudln’t help but ogle the work of Brooklyn-based furniture makers Uhuru. Using mostly reclaimed, recycled, repurposed, and reused materials, the company designs and builds beautiful furniture that cleverly references the outdoors. Consider The Stoolen, their posh version of an RM stump stool; made from reclaimed scrap wood and a found bicycle rim, it’s a stump even Julia Butterfly Hill could love. Call me sentimental, but I hope that, like the stump in Shel Silverstein’s classic story, after giving and giving, the wood in this stool is happy.
