Design from Destruction - Press Release
Sustainable furniture and precision craftsmanship are hardly ever combined with charitable fundraisers and viral international media stories, but thats what happened with Robin Wade of Robin Wade Furniture. Walnut 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 manually, using age-old woodworking skills alongside modern tools.
In April of 2011, a large number of tornadoes struck the American Southeast, especially Alabama. One of many hardest hit towns was Phil Campbell, not far from Wades studio in Florence. Nearly half town of Phil Campbell was physically erased, and twenty-seven died in a town of only a thousand people. Alabama philanthropy
Wade wished to help in the aftermath, but didnt understand how. He then found out about someone named Phil Campbell who had been organizing to assist their namesake town. The Phil Campbells, twenty in most, hailing from Alaska to Australia, were planning to arrive six weeks after the 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 several other outlets.
Wade went to start to see the Phil Campbells, who arrived in here we are at the towns hoedown, and was stunned in what he saw. Instead of residents waiting on, paralyzed by the tornados terrible power, he saw friendly faces everywhere, with individuals wearing shirts announcing their refusal to be daunted from the devastation. There is a parade. There were the Phil Campbells, who separated itself since they sported "I'm with Phil" shirts and happen to be given a heros welcome. In six short weeks these working-class Phils had created an international viral media storm to boost 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 your Oprah Network trailing him. Wade picked out a tree, and with the mayors help Brooklyn Phil known as a work crew armed with chainsaws. The downed tree chosen by Wade for his Im with Phil contribution was an oak tree that was still standing, though nothing remained nevertheless its bare trunk. The task crew soon had the tree, which stood about four hundred yards from your Phil Campbell town hall, over a trailer in the back of Wades truck.
Going back to his Florence, Alabama studio, Wade immediately milled the sign in to flitch cut natural edge slabs, retaining the form of the tree. The slabs were then stacked and air dried, slowly - naturally, before going into the kiln for that final cure. After more than a year the lumber was back 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 capital of scotland- Phil Campbell, Alabama.
Brooklyn Phil Campbell has become the chief producer with 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 from your film to town of Phil Campbell.
Brooklyn Phil said, I love what Robin Wade did. He created not just two gorgeous pieces of furniture, also, he designed for the city synonymous with rebirth - a defunct tree, destroyed by a tornado, repurposed into something totally new, both beautiful and functional. Of all of the stories from your Im with Phil fundraising I experienced or heard, this can be my absolute favorite. Wade told through his craftsmanship a true story of hope.
Campbell and Reed intend to sell the tables to aid fund the film, even while they fight to utilize the film to discover new, more innovative ways to assist the tornado-devastated capital of scotland- Phil Campbell. Meanwhile, the tables having, experienced display at the Frank Lloyd Wright - Rosenbaum House, they are going to now be displayed at the Museum of Alabama's Background and Archives building in their grand opening this Saturday, February 15, in Montgomery, Alabama, from 9 a.m. to five p.m.
Contacts:
Robin Wade Brooklyn Phil Campbell
256-394-9868 917-432-4218
(A very special video was developed of Robin Wade, his practices, that tables: HYPERLINK "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jUb4cs8SBI" \t "_blank" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jUb4cs8SBI
For more information on the tables, i.e. dimensions and the way to buy them unless you live close to the An artist - Rosenbaum House in Florence, Alabama, please contact Robin Wade or Brooklyn Phil)
www.imwithphil.com