Container day surprise...

New container came in yesterday, and if you've come by in the last few months, you'll know that one of the artisans we work with in Indonesia creates horses from found teak branches, which always seem to be impressive.

This time we had a couple of surprises...squirrels climbing our meh coat trees...



Some of us loved them...others...not so much


We ended up getting some great reclaimed doors from deconstructed buildings. Veterans of the warehouse will recognize them as staples of our slab & lumber area.



The biggest container surprise this time was a fantastic carved piece from reclaimed teak. An eagle that seems to appear out of nowhere, with fantastic detail and feathers that fade back into grooves and valleys of the driftwood. We'll definitely have to put this front and center, and maybe use it for the 4th of July.

One of the special parts of working at a place like From the Source is having the opportunity to work with materials (especially wood) in a more respectful way than typically found. We notice when people come in and say “I just love the wood” or how people sigh with relief when we tell them all of our material is either responsibly harvested or reclaimed. There are so many companies – more and more everyday – that respect the stories wood has to tell: How old it was, where and how it grew and fell. We love how the edges and bark show the struggle of life, or how the knots, holes and grooves in an old railroad tie tell the life story of age, a life in the elements, and even the struggle against the saw’s blade that’s eventually lost. There’s a certain nobility in that story, more so because it’s so easily told. Working so closely with materials in this way always reinforces my belief that they are much more than just blank canvases for carved moldings or latex paint, but stories told by cracks and rings are often ornament enough. It reinforces the poignancy of the story of life that’s sacrificed for our shelter and comfort, and that sometimes the greatest respect paid to that sacrifice is to just let the wood tell its story.