There are so many folks who live in this valley that are interesting and talented, it's amazing, it's like we live in some sort of creativity vortex. One of my favorite people is James Wolf. A member of the WCA for years, he lives in both Woodland Valley and Vietnam with his lovely wife Jen. He sent me some photos of one of his latest projects and I asked him if he would mind if I shared them and some background information with the community. So here goes......
He basically has 2 businesses in Vietnam, one using his factory, and one using other factories where he does freelance design and product development for furniture, home and garden décor. His design business is DRiVN – Design Resource in Vietnam, where he does product development and quality assurance for companies looking to get well-crafted furniture from Vietnam. He makes sure it happens to their expectations.
Here is his website and some samples of furniture.
www.jameswolfdesigns.com
He and his wife also own a bamboo factory (workshop) and can custom make anything in bamboo. They just finished building it in March are hoping to make more contacts in US for manufacturing.
Bamboo has been his environmental passion for almost 14 years. He made (from scratch) bamboo flooring in Vietnam in 1995, long before the eco-boom when it became trendy. In ’97 he imported 2 pallets of bamboo wood (like the flooring but in 1 foot wide boards) to Woodland Valley and built the first bamboo kitchen in America in the home he shares with his family on Pantherkill.
He has been making bamboo toys to suit the green and safe toy market. His company is called Green Elf Toys. Here are some photos of a few of the things they make.
Here is a quote directly from James. "When I am not here dealing with work and pollution, I love to go home to Woodland Valley and enjoy the fresh air and extraordinary natural beauty of our valley. And what do I do when I am home? Make more custom furniture! So local customers can place their orders and I can be home and work more from the valley. Mom would love that!"
His bamboo company is called Tre Vang (Golden Bamboo) www.trevang.com.vn
Check that site out too!! The kitchen he built in WV is on the opening page.
I have more photos of James' projects that I will put on the blog in the coming weeks. He is so extraordinarily talented and hard working it is hard to fit in everything he is doing in one post. So keep an eye out for more news about the immensely talented James Wolf!
