Sustainable furniture and precision craftsmanship are hardly ever coupled with charitable fundraisers and viral international media stories, but thats so what happened with Robin Wade of Robin Wade Furniture.
Wade takes downed local trees to produce natural, beautiful, usually functional artwork included in the search for sustainable manufacturing practices. His furnishings are shaped by hand, using age-old woodworking skills alongside technology advances.
In April of 2011, lots of tornadoes struck the American Southeast, especially Alabama. Among the hardest hit towns was Phil Campbell, near Wades studio in Florence. Up to 50 % the city of Phil Campbell was physically destroyed, and twenty-seven died in a town of just a thousand people.
Wade wanted to aid in the aftermath, but didnt know how. Then he heard about someone named Phil Campbell who have been organizing to assist their namesake town. The Phil Campbells, twenty in every, hailing from Alaska to Australia, were likely to arrive about six weeks following your tornados, and happen to be covered by HYPERLINK "http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/43446850" \l "43446850" NBC Nightly News, HYPERLINK "http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/phil-campbell-save-town-phil-campbell-destroyed-by-tornado-share-name-us-13871747" ABC Nightly News, HYPERLINK "http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/us/18alabama.html?_r=2" The brand new York Times, HYPERLINK "http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=137231291&m=137231265" NPR, HYPERLINK "http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13818591" BBC World News, HYPERLINK "http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/18/us-tornado-alabama-philcampbell-idUSTRE75H2AQ20110618" Reuters, HYPERLINK "http://blog.al.com/wire/2011/05/world_of_phil_campbell_prepare.html" Associated Press, HYPERLINK "http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/episode/2011/06/17/friday-june-17-2011-1/" CBC, and lots of other outlets.
Wade went to begin to see the Phil Campbells, who found its way to here we are at the towns hoedown, and was stunned in what he saw. Instead of residents waiting on, paralyzed through the tornados terrible power, he saw friendly faces everywhere, with folks wearing shirts announcing their refusal to be daunted by the devastation. There was clearly a parade. There were the Phil Campbells, who separated itself because they sported "I'm with Phil" shirts and appeared to be given a heros welcome. In six short weeks these working-class Phils had created a worldwide viral media storm to improve awareness for your town, raising $42,000 as you go along.
Wade approached the lead Phil Campbell, Brooklyn Phil, and offered to help. A couple of months later Brooklyn Phil returned to satisfy Wade in Phil Campbell, a TV crew from the Oprah Winfrey Network trailing him. Wade chosen a tree, and with the mayors help Brooklyn Phil called a work crew armed with chainsaws. The downed tree chosen by Wade for his Im with Phil contribution was an oak tree that has been still standing, though nothing stayed but its bare trunk. The task crew soon had the tree, which stood about four hundred yards in the Phil Campbell town hall, over a trailer in the rear of Wades truck.
Going back to his Florence, Alabama studio, Wade immediately milled the log into flitch cut natural edge slabs, retaining the shape of the tree. The slabs were then stacked and air dried, slowly - naturally, before you go into the kiln for the final cure. After more than a year the lumber was away from the kiln and prepared for shaping. Wade completed a lovely cocktail table and smaller side table in mid-July 2013.
Wade is donating both tables to Brooklyn Phil, who is still in the industry of improving the little town of Phil Campbell, Alabama.
Brooklyn Phil Campbell is now the manager producer of the documentary Im with Phil, and hes dealing with director Andrew Reed, a Phil Campbell resident. Both Campbell and Reed pledge to donate the majority of net profits in the film to town of Phil Campbell.
Brooklyn Phil said, I love what Robin Wade did. He created not merely two gorgeous pieces of furniture, he also made for the town synonymous with rebirth - a dead tree, destroyed with a tornado, repurposed into new things, both beautiful and functional. Of all stories from the Im with Phil fundraising I experienced or heard, this can be my absolute favorite. Wade told through his craftsmanship a genuine story of hope.
Campbell and Reed want to sell the tables to assist fund the film, even as they struggle to utilize the film to find new, more innovative ways to assist the tornado-devastated capital of scotland - Phil Campbell. Meanwhile, the tables having, experienced display on the A professional - Rosenbaum House, they are going to easily be on display on the Museum of Alabama's Background Archives building throughout their grand opening this Saturday, February 15, in Montgomery, Alabama, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Contacts:
Robin Wade Brooklyn Phil Campbell
256-394-9868 917-432-4218
(A really special video was made of Robin Wade, his practices, and these tables: HYPERLINK "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jUb4cs8SBI" \t "_blank" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jUb4cs8SBI
To learn more about the tables, i.e. dimensions and how to get them if you don't live nearby the An artist - Rosenbaum House in Florence, Alabama, please contact Robin Wade or Brooklyn Phil)
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