Find What Matters
We've been operating in our hometown of Portland, Oregon since 2009. We reflected on who we are and what makes us Grovemade—here is our story.
The seeds were planted by pure chance when I moved my custom furniture business into a humble workshop backing up to the railroad tracks. Across the street in a run down home we called the “Fight Club House” lived enthusiastic entrepreneur Joe Mansfield. He was somehow running a very successful laser engraving and digital art business out of a spare bedroom. We soon became friends and would often throw a football around in the street—endlessly tossing creative ideas back and forth dreaming up the next big thing. One hot day in the summer of 2009, Grovemade was born. There was no business plan or much deliberation, only a moment where we went all in to “make cool stuff and have fun doing it”. We never expected it would turn into what it is today, with global reach and a great crew of fun-loving, hard-working trail blazers.
graphic of an array of grovemade desk products
Over the last thirteen years, we’ve been on a winding path to navigate the chaos of the human experience. Through luck, skill, and hard work we have been able to carve out our own version of happiness, with no investors breathing down our necks. It hasn’t been easy, and we have nearly gone under a few times, but we embrace the journey, learn, and get better. The challenge never ends, yet here we are, a team aligned and pushing hard to make great product on our own terms.

We wouldn’t want it any other way...
Ken Tomita

"The beginning was two friends and our spirit to create. Now we are so much more, a team."

KEN TOMITA
Co-Founder & Head of Product
image of Linneah
image of Linneah
image of Linneah

Linneah

Linneah roller skated to Portland from her home in Montana, carrying only a Meyer lemon for sustenance. At Grovemade, she builds things and challenges herself, sometimes in that order, sometimes challenges first, building later. She shares her name with Linnea borealis, also known as Twinflower - perhaps this led to her love of houseplants? A mystery!  Outside of work, she’s a talented painter—you can check out her artwork here.
I'M GOOD AT: PAINTING
image of Max
image of Max
image of Max

Max

Max, named for the main character in Where the Wild Things Are, knows everything about every movie ever made. He’s got a passion for storytelling, from graphic novels and 80s horror films to Ray Bradbury. His resume paints a picture of a colorful life: projectionist, graphic artist at a modeling agency, bartender in foggy Astoria, photographer and videographer, and illustrator extraordinaire. Check out his illustrations here.
I'M GOOD AT: CRIBBAGE
image of Victor
image of Victor
image of Victor

Victor

Victor, aka Victor Sweet, aka Victor Strong is not only our awesome Production Manager but he’s also one of our most powerful Grovemaders. Victor’s secret for superhuman  strength? A steady diet of hip-hop, rap, R&B and heaping scoops of white hot magma. When through with his morning routine of deadlifting small cars and tiny houses, you’ll find him fishing the banks of the Columbia River, where he reels in trolley-sized carps with his steely bare hands and a visage of extreme aplomb. When not performing unmatchable feats of strength, you’ll find this dynamo enjoying the many tasty tidbits found far and wide in our fair city.

KINDRED SPIRIT: A MEAN BEAR
FAVORITE GOOD WORD: "THANK YOU!"
image of Sean
image of Sean
image of Sean

Sean

Sean is a man-bear hybrid who rules the woodshop with the ultimate weapon: love. His heart is so big he doesn’t have room for any other organs, and he’s got a PhD in Silliness. Alright, he does have a brain, but, it’s part of his heart -- it’s like a heart-brain. His heart-brain is SMART. This guy is a space camp graduate and a product design genius! He’s also got an amazing collection of embarrassing stories to make you cringe with joy.

I LIKE TO HELP PEOPLE LAUGH.
IF I CAN'T HELP THEM, I MAKE THEM.
image of Ken
image of Ken
image of Ken

Ken

Ken started the company with Joe in 2009 under the impression that eventually there’d be free pizza. Ken is a design nerd and furniture designer with a passion for photography and collecting weird things, like fruit stickers. He’s an active field trip enabler and enjoys bribing the team with Trailblazers tickets and empty promises that someday we’ll all get to see his expertly curated apartment. Check out some of his furniture designs here.

I'M GOOD AT: DANCING TO 90s MUSIC
image of Dashia
image of Dashia
image of Dashia

Dashia

Dashia is the magical fairy of the woodshop; actually, she’s the magical fairy of everything good about Grovemade and life in general. When she’s not in the workshop, she’s building bookshelves at home or crocheting scarves and hats. Maybe all the gravel she sucked on as a child contributed to her talent with natural materials? Look out small stones, Dashia is a force of positive energy to be reckoned with. She’s also a loving Mom of two, and her true number one passion is family.
I'M GOOD AT: BUILDING THINGS
image of Sara
image of Sara
image of Sara

Sara

Sara is so good at learning about things, that sometimes you say, “When did she learn to do that?” But before you even finish saying that she’s learned about something else! She’s a chocolate enthusiast with a degree in design. She likes to ponder low-waste living and sustainability while biking to work, which is nicely consistent of her. Unsurprisingly, she excels at many things in the shop, from woodworking to customer service and writing.

KINDRED SPIRIT: KOALA
I'M GOOD AT: LEARNING!
image of Nozomi
image of Nozomi
image of Nozomi

Nozomi

Nozomi is a world-traveling musician and number wizard extraordinaire. She makes sure all of our business details have nice snug little homes where they don’t get lost or swept under the rug. In a past life, she was a scientist, and we all feel much smarter when she’s around. Her ideal Sunday includes Dim Sum - but she wouldn’t tell us about the rest of the day, because she says she really likes to be mysterious, so there you go.

KINDRED SPIRIT: MONKEY
I'M GOOD AT: REMEMBERING DETAILS
image of Ben
image of Ben
image of Ben

Ben

Ben is a fellow of numerous talents. Here at Grovemade, he's our manufacturing engineer, meaning he commands our machinery to do as he wills! He also fixes them when they break and puts them on timeout when they disobey the rules. A dedicated father of two radical daughters, Ben also loves taking them to the backcountry for adventurous excursions. When the perfect river or stream is found, they bring in the fish with Ben's handmade rods and flies. In his free time, Ben is also hard at work inventing a robot that will sing his favorite lullabies as he prepares to dive into his daily afternoon nap. And beware of disturbing Ben when he's at rest—his prototype Lullaby Robot X-25 is also outfitted with lasers.

KINDRED SPIRIT: CUTTHROAT TROUT
image of Gerardo
image of Gerardo
image of Gerardo

Gerardo

Gerardo once ate an oyster with an actual pearl inside. He keeps the pearl—his good luck charm—in a little glass bottle. As far as we're concerned, this is plenty of high quality biographical information, but we'll tell you a little more—Gerardo loves Esports, and once completed a Dot-to-Dot with over 2000 dots. That’s called patience, folks!

I'M GOOD AT: VIDEO GAMES
image of John
image of John
image of John

John

John is the master process-optimizer and efficiency aficionado in our shop, where he gets his hands dirty each day building beautiful products. He is a Portland native, and, so, naturally, he’s also an accomplished rock drummer. He has a rad collection of bikes, which he uses exclusively for cruisin’. He likes the Flaming Lips, and suggests that if you see them live, you should pay attention to the drummer.

KINDRED SPIRIT: SNOOP DOG
I’M GOOD AT: DRUMMING AND MAKING BEAUTIFUL MUSIC
image of Nick
image of Nick
image of Nick

Nick

Nick is an accomplished toothbrusher. He used to do 20 pushups every night before bed, but he stopped a while ago and hasn’t looked back. Some of his favorite things are coffee, cooking while wearing aprons, throwing anything round, and music. Nick is our resident word-smith and idea generator and customer question answerer. He loves email subject lines and looking at numbers for a long time and then drawing graphs.

I'M GOOD AT: THINKING ABOUT THINGS
KINDRED SPIRIT: SHEEP
image of Joe
image of Joe
image of Joe

Joe

Joe is the other half of Grovemade’s founding pair, along with Ken. After six years of life changing challenges at Grovemade, he decided to switch things up and start a new paper goods company called Pacific & West. He continues to laser anything he can fit into his machine, including a line of premium customizable leather goods called Engrave Goods. 
I'M GOOD AT: RUNNING
image of Christian
image of Christian
image of Christian

Christian

Christian is a jack of all trades, but don’t call him “Jack”. Event planning? Check. Building everything? Check. Resident wakeboarder? Check. Producing a vodka brand? Check. He came to us from Lake Tahoe and the University of Oregon Product Design program, where he says he built a particle accelerator that fits in your pocket, but we think he was exaggerating. In his spare time he advises on ideal burger toppings and talks about his Subaru.

KINDRED SPIRIT: COOKIE MONSTER
I'M GOOD AT: MAKING THINGS
image of Emma
image of Emma
image of Emma

Emma

Emma is our resident whistler and omnichord enthusiast—a musical predilection that suits our workshop well. (Whistle while you work, am I right?) Moss and lichen are her favorite growy-things, which are quite suited to the Pacific Northwest. Outside of building things at work, you'll likely find Emma doodling. Doodling what? Wouldn’t you like to know?

I'M GOOD AT: WHISTLING "MEMORY" FROM CATS
image of Christof
image of Christof
image of Christof

Christof

Christof knows exactly one more thing about exactly one more movie than Max does. How? Well, by writing so many short stories. Short story authors, in contrast to long story authors, can watch more movies. And, in Christof's case, make more movies—including ones screened at the Northwest Film Center. And to top it off, one time they performed stand-up comedy in the Portland Art Museum. Brava, Christof!

FAVORITE SAUCE: PESTO
I'M GOOD AT: PUNS
image of Kacy
image of Kacy
image of Kacy

Kacy

Kacy has a plan and his plan is to watch basketball later, after work. He likes to build things, at Grovemade and at home, things like custom PCs. On the basketball court, he uses magical mind-power and strong ankles to best his opponent. In the basketball arena, you can find him wielding whatever wild collectable cup they have because he goes “all out.”

I'M GOOD AT: EDITING VIDEOS
FAVORITE ANIMAL: BIRDS OF PARADISE
image of Gillian
image of Gillian
image of Gillian

Gillian

To start with a bang: Gillian once made eye contact with Paul Giamatti while he was inside of a dumpster. She dabbled in stand up comedy, until she decided she hated it, and now she holds down the fort at Grovemade. Gillian is a published poet, is good at making soup and has some very particular daydreams about adopting (direct quote here) "a bunch of grumpy geriatric chihuahuas."

FAVORITE ANIMAL: CAPYBARA
image of Justin
image of Justin
image of Justin

Justin

Justin's a laid back guy who enjoys the finer things in life: a Tom Collins, a clean haircut, and the finest of contemporary cinema (Young Guns II; Cool Runnings; The Mighty Ducks). With a voice reminiscent of radio men of yon, Justin's soothing baritone brings an exuberant calm to the woodshop.

KINDRED SPIRIT: EMILIO ESTEVEZ
image of Caroline
image of Caroline
image of Caroline

Caroline

Caroline is an inter-continental dog-rescuing field hockey-playing curbside treasure-hunting extraordinaire. She's considered starting a TV show about renovating houses using only found furniture, called "Kicked to the Curb"... or at least, she could consider it, if she wanted to. She likes homemade baked goods and lavender scent. And, probably, lavender-scented homemade baked goods. Or homemade baked goods which contain lavender! Oh, the possibilities!

I’M GOOD AT: KEEPING THE PEACE
image of Seann
image of Seann
image of Seann

Seann

What's the longest bridge in the world? Who produced "The Godfather II"? Which oceanic current is used by migrating humpback whales? Just wanted to kick things off with some trivia, which is Seann's forte! Not only is he good at trivia, but he also likes disco, retro video games, and antiquing. The past, to Seann, is a rich playground for exploration. At Grovemade, you'll find him being extremely helpful.

I'M GOOD AT: TRIVIA NIGHTS
image of Jim
image of Jim
image of Jim

Jim

Jim is an efficiency enforcer with a heart of gold, hailing from the ever expanding Chicagoland beast in Illinois. He's passionate about anything embodying variety and balance at the same time—think tightrope walking octopi, or sumo wrestlers practicing yoga. Jim can hold his own on the soccer field, chess board, yoga mat, and conference room. He and his wife Sarah annually host a short film festival and an audio festival through their creative group, Yumi Life.

I'M GOOD AT: CHESS (E4 SUCKAS)
image of Anthony
image of Anthony
image of Anthony

Anthony

You know how there's always random stuff around, stuff that just doesn't have a good place to be? Anthony knows the solution—build a container. Or a stand. Bingo. Now that thing has a place. Anthony is a surprisingly good dancer (he used to teach breakdancing in high school) so he might celebrate his organizational victory with a quick dance. A Portland native, he is enthused by the outdoors. In particular, the Pacific Northwest outdoors. Bloom where you're planted, they say, and Anthony couldn't agree more.

FAVORITE CAMPING SPOT: THE ALVORD DESERT
image of Wren
image of Wren
image of Wren

Wren

Wren has climbed 57 of the 58 14,000-foot-tall mountains in Colorado. The final one is on private property, but perhaps she'll summit that one day, too. She loves knitting and flamin' hot cheetos, but never at the same time. When she's not at work building things in our shop, you’ll find her en route to the desert of Southwestern Utah.

FAVORITE COLOR: GREEN
I'M GOOD AT: DRIVING FOR HOURS AND HOURS
Grovemade is headquartered in a 8400 ft2 former casket factory originally built in 1922. We are lucky to be in a quiet residential neighborhood across the street from one of the premier parks in Portland. A typical day starts with a cool breeze rolling in through the wide open garage doors as people trickle in with a cheery “Good morning”, sleeves rolled up ready to go.

We do design, marketing, supply chain management, and limited high skill manufacturing all under one roof—there are many different kinds of work to do and so little time to do it.
hands coming together
image of a section in our shop
A primal cry echoes through the design department space. 3rd generation Oregonian Sean Kelly has unleashed his uncanny Chewbacca imitation. He’s been at Grovemade since college, starting as an intern, moving on to production manager, and finally to lead designer. He has all the trappings of a full fledged adult—house, family, a charming daughter—but he may be the biggest kid of us all, and we doubt that will ever change. He is a consummate designer, and he works hard to come up with the latest and the greatest for our customers.

His research space is flooded with inspiration boards, sketches, and cardboard models. Many of our visitors ask, “How do you come up with your ideas?” and of course, there is no simple answer. Creative inspiration is finicky, elusive to pin down. With Sean you get the feeling that his joyful spirit has something to do with the products we ultimately see.
In the next room Christian Nielander is hard at work examining the latest batch of samples from a vendor partner in the Midwest. It's a new product—taking detailed engineering prints from Research and Development and turning it into a product you can hold is a careful, deliberate process. Originally from Reno, Christian started work at Grovemade right after college. He’s a learning machine—he tackles every job with no excuses, and gets things done. He’s the ‘Swiss Army Knife’ at Grovemade. At such a small place, it’s easy for this to happen organically, with responsibilities growing quickly.
image of manufacturer
A few feet away Dashia Fontleroy is on the phone with one of our local manufacturing partners, giving feedback on a new process they're rolling out. She left a good career in commercial construction to come work with us nearly a decade ago, and has never looked back. Dashia started on our production floor before rising to lead the entire production team, and now she is the primary relationship manager for our vendor partners— leveraging her people skills and years of manufacturing know-how to keep every ship in the fleet in tip-top shape and pointed in the right direction.
Dashia Fontelroy

"Do Better. That’s what I think."

DASHIA FONTELROY
Relationship Manager, Quality Tzar
manufacturers at work
manufacturers at work
manufacturers at work
manufacturers at work
manufacturers at work
Over in the small workshop, Anthony is working to make a small run of a new product. He leads our small in house production team, doing specialized, unique work to help us continue pushing the envelope. Keeping our manufacturing skills polished helps us to move quickly and iterate—it's a crucial part of our history and unique skill set.
manufacturers at work
Our products push the boundaries of manufacturing technology while also being grounded in hand crafted quality and uniqueness. Back in the day, we made virtually everything. Today, we've shifted to doing only the most specialized work ourselves and leveraging the majority to skilled vendor partners that fit with our culture of iterating, learning, and simple transparency. We're lucky to still have this in-house team. Our shared experiences in manufacturing help us scale our high standards to deliver to a worldwide audience.
Hailing from a small town in the Willamette Valley, Sara Segura has risen quickly from our production team member fresh out of college to lead our product quality efforts. She’s one of those people that just says “yes” and figures it out, carving out a rapidly ascending career path through … too many roles to count. Her degree is in design, and she's discovered creativity exists not just in traditional visual arts but in how a spreadsheet conveys information or even how to have a difficult conversation with a partner that needs to step it up.

Max Brown is making minute adjustments to the composition of his next shot, jumping back and forth from the camera to his computer. Among other things, he is our photographer now because one day we needed one and we handed him a camera and told him to learn it. He works closely with Director of E-commerce Nick LaPlante who joined us straight from getting his masters degree in microbiology. Burned out on science, he originally applied for a woodworking position but we only had an opening in marketing. He adjusted his cover letter and we believed in his process over his experience. Let's just say that it has worked out well.
designers and photographers working
Max Brown

"I had never even picked up a camera before and now its like my main thing. It comes down to trusting people, you know?"

MAX BROWN
Graphic Designer & Photographer
Chief Executive Officer Jim Hassert is telling another one of his strange anecdotes mixing strategy, family stories, and a fable or two. Some of us aren't getting it but it doesn't matter— because you know he wholeheartedly believes it. Admittedly Grovemade was not well organized in the early days. Somewhere along the line we moved from trying to keep things from falling apart to proactively making our culture and operations better every day—and Jim is at the heart of that movement, whether he’s working closely with our admin team solving an accounting issue, or taking people out to lunch to see how they are doing. Even with lots more work to do, we’re glad to be here.
Jim Hassert

“Small business is a life adventure. When the people and the process come together, it all flows—aspiring to be great starts with doing something you believe in.”

JIM HASSERT
CEO
When you walk through here the fancy machinery and well made products are easy to see, touch, and feel. But great work comes from a place that is not so easily defined, not so easily attained. Our drive is the common thread that underlies everything. On an elementary level we believe that if people actually want to be here, results will take care of themselves. Even after all this time maybe that original plan to “make great stuff and have fun doing it” was not so bad after all…
The Grovemade team celebrate with some tasty donuts.
The Grovemade team on an outdoor offsite, carrying coolers and backpacks.
A few members of the Grovemade team chat outside.
company lunch photo
The Grovemade office space from above.
That brings us finally to the question of why? Why are we here? Why are we doing this hard work?

We’ve thought about this for years and boiling it down to a simple statement has been elusive. Perhaps it’s too personal, different for each of our realities. Maybe showing up with a smile and a team-first attitude is the best way to describe it. But we learned this year that there was more to it than looking inward. We sought out our fans and customers, and were surprised at where that led us.

We discovered that you, our fans, come from all walks of life and from all corners of the world. The diversity was stunning. But we also learned that a shared purpose unites us all—to do great work and to live intentionally, caring and thinking deeply about who and what we choose to associate with. We are so proud to contribute even in some small way to your path.
In short, you inspire us to keep going. Thank you!

Further Reading