This is our company story (the long version; short version here).
Walnut from Cineastas on Vimeo.
Hi, I'm Geoffrey Franklin. I'm an 8th generation Oregonian, born and raised in Beaverton and Weston, Oregon. I graduated from the University of Oregon Architecture School.
I run Walnut Studiolo with my wife, Valerie. I design and craft all the products in my workshop, and Valerie runs the business side.
In 2008, we moved from the suburbs to the cycling-friendly neighborhood of inner Southeast Portland, Oregon to be closer to our jobs and friends. When I started bicycle commuting to work, I found I wanted things that didn't exist, like old-fashioned leather bar wraps.
I was poring over a book of modern photography of vintage Italian bicycles, when I noticed all the leather accents that must have been nearly 100 years old still looked gorgeous. I couldn't find anything on the market like I wanted, so I decided to create my own unique designs for myself, which I did happily on my own for a while.
Then in 2009, facing the Great Recession, Valerie decided to post some of my creations on Etsy to see what would happen, and we were quickly surprised and excited by the reaction. We owe a great deal to the support of the Portland bicycle community in getting started, in particular BikePortland.org and the BikeCraft festival. In the beginning, we worked on Walnut evenings and weekends while we managed our full-time jobs (me: architecture, Valerie: wind energy development).
When we each lost our jobs due to the recession 18 months apart, each time Walnut was ready to take us on full-time. The workshop evolved from our home garage, taking over every square inch of our house. Then we installed a temporary yurt in the backyard as a studio expansion.
Fast forward several years, and we had run out of space in our home! We love working together from home, so in January 2016, we moved to a rural home with a large, separate workshop building onsite. Our new home is on the gorgeous Oregon Coast, fulfilling our lifelong dream of living close to the sea.
As we adjusted to living and working in the country and taking care of 5 acres, our life and business developed into a "slow-living" homestead with vegetable gardens, fruit orchards, tropical houseplants, and medicinal plants.
Bicycle accessories are where I started, but as the business developed, I came to expand into other categories that I love, like travel games, beer, architectural accents like drawer handles, and then plants. I love learning how to work leather as a medium. Eventually I also started enjoying the juxtaposition of leather and wood.
In these products, I'm expressing my love for good design, architectural concepts, and natural materials in products that I use for myself. I design all of the products you see here from scratch and I field-test all my designs until I'm comfortable with them before listing them for sale.
My goal is to make high-quality, beautiful, durable, and most of all functional solutions to everyday problems. Thank you for buying small and handmade. I put my heart in everything I make.
10-Year Anniversary Company History (Infographic 2019)
Meet Our Mousers: The Workshop Cats
Move to the Coast (Announcement 2016)
Our Homestead: Update 10 Years After Moving to the Coast
Photo Essay: "Day in the Life"
Photo Essay: "Evolution of a Workshop"
Photo Essay: "How We Make Things"
Reputation: reviews, testimonials, feedback and more
Transparency in Ownership --> on our blog
Originally trained as an architect, Geoffrey Franklin practiced architecture until 2015 with partner Doug Ouderkirk as Walnut Architecture.
A professional project manager, Valerie Schafer Franklin does some limited outside consulting and freelance writing. Check out her work at valerieschaferfranklin.com.
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