First off is this huge log.  For reference, the guy in the photo is a little under 6ft.  So early this November and I'm in Costa Rica working with a guy who has an FSC certification (one of the strictest forestry certifications in the world), and reclaimed wood certifications, and I'm standing in the middle of one of his many mixed forestry jungle reforestation projects.  He has been doing this since the early 90's.  Think of where the environmental movement was in the early 90's and I would imagine you will be as impressed as i was.  So it's from this guy that I source some of the lumber I use.  As I round the corner in his compound, this log is what I am greeted by.  To call it a log seems a little understated.  Nine feet in diameter, cut into sections of 20 and 30 feet, it remains one log until it finally hits 120 feet and then finally splits into two massive branches.  The next photo is of one of the logs being slabbed up - it gives you a great idea of just how stunning these slabs will be.

I must admit is was a little melancholy to see such a magnificent tree down, but with a three foot hole in it for the forst 70 feet of the trunk, the tree's future was pretty certain.  This particular type of tree "ceiba"  has around a 100-200 year life cycle, and as near as we could tell, this one was aorund 150 and on it's way out.  A farmer called it in to the local government to say he had a dying tree on his property and he dodn't want it to fall down on his livestock (which aparently has happened before becasue they hang out under large trees for shade).  This in itself is a sign of where Costa Rica is environmentally.  In many other countries around the world the farmer would have cut it down himslef, but here, that means big trouble. So with permission from the Costa Rican government, my guy gets the call and is on the scene.  Through a monumental effort of engineering in felling the tree and then digging a hole in the ground for the flatbed truck to drive down into in order to roll the log sections onto it and then haul it off of the man's property, the log winds up in my guy's compund.  The reason I am posting this here is not only for the simple amazement of a tree that size and the story of one of my suppliers, but also for those of you out there that might have something in mind that could use . . oh, lets say 9-12 foot square slabs of wood. 

But the larger picture here is I am able to now stand in the forest that my lumber is coming from, see how the FSC wood is harvested, see how the deadfall and salvaged trees are found and know that it's all done in a nice happy sort of granola eating way, which I like. . . .not granola that is . . .well, I like granola, but that's not the point.  Of course the part about my job taking me to Costa Rica, all be it only for three days, starting out each morning waking up in a house on a deserted beach, surfing and boogey boarding for an our in the 10ft surf, disappearing into the jungle for the day, coming back at sunset for a little more water fun and then off for fresh seafood for dinner wan't a bad thing either.

Second random thing starts off a little unabashed bragging.  We were comissioned by a designer to make a number of things for the Vancouver Olympics welcome center, the centerpiece of which was this table.  I was going to make all sorts of jokes about training and competition to get to this level, but really what it came down to was getting the call to make the table.  But it's a great table.  Sure I could have taken better photos, or at least move the pallets out of the background, but we had to ship it out the minute we were finished, so no time for glamor.  It's made out of two bookmatched slabs of reclamined mango wood (mango has a wonderfully crazy grain), done with a wood slab base and stretcher, raw edges and this great sort of dragonfly split tail at one end.  Ten feet long by 44" wide.  So normally I never kiss and tell where our pieces are going, but in this case, I'm clearly making an exception.  When else am I going to have any role in the Olympics?

Lastly is this elephant head peice called a nettipalam.  It's from Kerala specifically and is an amazing amount of needle and metal work that points to the fantastic festivals that Kerala is so well know for.  We actually filmed an episode for the Travel Channel in this part of Kerala at one of thier massive elephant festivals, and one of these head pieces was the main object that we were focusing on up there - click here to see that part of the episode.  Earlier this year I was able to get another one from my friend in Cochin, and here it is now hanging on a wall in my warehouse for sale.  It's a beautiful piece, and to my tastes will be even nicer once the brass has tarnished a little, although I realize no self respecting elephant would wear a tarnished head piece, so if you get it and find yourself in a situation with an elephant sans head piece and you are about to offer, make sure you have a little polish to avoid any awkward situations.