Our Commitment to Sustainability
We’re a small business taking big steps to be a more sustainable company. We know that creating any product uses resources and impacts the environment. Our goal is to make that impact as small as possible.
There are 3 big steps we take we do to reduce our environmental impact.
First, we start with a low-waste design to create a minimal impact right from the start. Then, we use Baltic birch plywood for our products because it’s sustainable and very durable. Finally, we offset our impact by planting one tree for every product sold.
Here’s a bit more on each of those 3 steps.
Low Waste Design
Right from the beginning, our products are designed to be as low-waste as possible. What better way to reduce waste than to create as little as possible?
We design with minimalism in mind. A simple design can be both beautiful and practical. This aesthetic lends itself well to embracing “Less is More” and allows us to create stunning pieces without a lot of material or processing.
A lot of work goes into design before our products are built. Each of our locally crafted products is designed in a way that uses as little wood as possible. It is our goal to use every single piece of wood that gets cut to reduce waste from wood scraps.
Standing desk converters go a step further by allowing you to convert any existing desk or table into a standing desk. No need to buy a whole new desk or make your carbon footprint larger by upgrading to a larger office. The Alto Stand and Alto X are compact and create a practical standing workspace using whatever you already have available to you, even if that’s just a kitchen table.
Our desks also require little to no hardware for set up. This makes them very easy to assemble (which means no headaches for you!) but it also reduces the materials needed to make each product. The Alto Stand requires no hardware at all. Alto X uses 4 bolts attached to 2 aluminum posts which are also made from a renewable material and Desk A requires just 2 bolts per leg.
We take shipping into account when designing each of our products. They are lightweight and ship flat. Both of these factors make shipping them to your home more efficient to reduce the energy (and carbon emissions) needed to transport them.
The ease of assembly and flat shipping make our products easy to move. No need to buy a new desk when you move, ours can be easily disassembled and transported with you wherever you go.
Finally, we hand-finish each product with a high-quality finish that creates a clean, washable, and durable surface. When properly taken care of, our products will last you many years to come.
Baltic Birch Plywood
Our products are made with Baltic Birch Plywood with a Maple veneer top. We love Baltic birch plywood for its strength properties - it’s beautiful, lightweight, and smooth.
We also love Baltic Birch Plywood sustainable properties.
We choose the highest quality Baltic birch plywood that is strong, flexible, and durable. This type of plywood is the same durable material all the way through and is resistant to cracks and warping. We use this material because we know that our products will last a long time, which reduces the amount needed to replace them in the future.
Another great benefit of working with this material is that Baltic birch trees grow abundantly and quickly in northeastern Europe. When a Baltic birch tree is cut down, it can be replaced more quickly than other, slower-growing species. Since this species of tree is rapidly renewable, it causes minimal devastation or destruction to biodiversity when cut down (1).
Our Baltic birch is also California Air Resources Board (CARB) compliant. CARB regulates the emissions of chemicals like formaldehyde in products like the plywood we use as part of their effort to reduce air pollution. Since our products are made locally in our California shop, this is especially important to us and our community.
Partnering With One Tree Planted
In 2020, we partnered with an amazing, nonprofit organization called One Tree Planted.
They help us do exactly as their name suggests. For every product rldh sold, we donate a portion of the profits to One Tree planted and they plant one tree.
Why planting trees? Trees are essential for cleaning the air we breathe, housing a large portion of the world's plants and animals, and absorbing the harmful carbon emissions in our atmosphere. They’re a pretty big deal.
With forests being destroyed at an alarming rate we believe it’s important to give back.
We’ve chosen to partner with One Tree Planted because we believe in their mission to reduce the environmental impact while also helping the communities in affected areas. Their reforestation projects help to rebuild forests depleted from deforestation and natural disasters. This helps to reduce our carbon footprint, but it also helps to preserve biodiversity and provide jobs to people in those areas (2).
In 2020, their efforts (along individuals, companies, and small businesses like us!) helped plant over 10 million trees (3).
You can learn more about One Tree Planted and their reforestation efforts here.
Whether it’s the Alto Stand, Desk A, or anything in between, you can feel good knowing that your purchase is eco-friendly and ethical. Curious about our products? Head to our line of desks and office accessories to check them out.