For years, Grove founders Joe Mansfield and Ken Tomita worked on their separate small design businesses...
Joe did custom laser engraving and Ken built furniture, until they met in 2007 by chance when their workshops ended up being across the street from one another. They became instant friends with a shared passion for quality products and smart design.
Grove is a small team of passionate creators changing the way you think about products. They do everything themselves from start to finish, in Portland, Oregon, USA.
The result is greater innovation, complete accountability, direct human relationships, and superior quality. We do whatever it takes to make the most badass products possible and we have fun doing it!
They’d often break from work to toss a football in the street and shoot the breeze, trying to one-up each other’s design ideas. One day, an impulse turned their talk into action. The plan was simple: make the best iPhone case possible, and everything else would take care of itself.
Without knowing anything about heavy machinery or even how to run a larger business, Ken and Joe took out loans, bought expensive equipment, and dove in head first. From day one, Grove’s attitude has been “GO HARD OR GO HOME.”
After nine intense months of struggling to learn a new business and wrangling a CNC machine to do their bidding, Ken and Joe finally launched their iPhone 3GS Case on April 19th, 2010.
That very same day, in a case of comically bad luck, the story broke of an intoxicated Apple engineer who’d lost his iPhone 4 prototype at a bar. Following a firestorm of coverage on the leaked design, both the iPhone 3GS and the Grove Case were suddenly old news. With months of hard work wasted, Grove was nearly never to be!
“Our roots are in thoughtful design, quality craftsmanship, and most importantly: people. We produce a level of quality and service that big corporations cannot because we operate like a small, family business by doing everything ourselves. We believe there is value in actually manufacturing our designs instead of maximizing profits by moving production overseas.” Not only they are creating jobs and livelihoods for the Grove team, but the product is better because of their intimate involvement in the entire process.
Simply put, we take pride in what we do. This attitude creates a constant drive for improvement as we continually refine our products and process. We strive to be a fun and energetic place to work, and believe that when we’re happy, our products and services will be great, and our customers will be happy, too.
iPad Case includes a solid bamboo shell and a study single-panel cover of all-natural leather or wool felt. Complete with integrated magnets, the wrap-bound cover and hand-finished shell come together for a smooth feel.
The Grove Notebook cover is made in Portland, Oregon from premium vegetable-tanned leather. Compatible with Moleskine brand notebooks and completely refillable, the cover is built to last from book to book.
Select an engraving from our series or create your own! A truly inspiring work of these young artists!
