About

Detroit Forests started in unlikely place, the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in New York. One of my careers was in lumber and bio-mass manufacturing companies in New England. I had clients in urban centers across the Northeast US (New York, Boston, Long Island). I enjoyed the bustle of urban areas and then returning home to rolling hills in Upstate New York. My city connections kept seeking local crafted wood items to purchase but could not interact with the correct artists.

Life took punches during “The Great Reorganization of 2008” and we decided to move back to Detroit, MI area. I got away from the wood industry. I kept coming back to trees, nature, wood and unique handmade products. I re-discovered my passion in nature and vision for community, use of regional materials and redefining local craftsman lumber.

Detroit is a unique opportunity. Detroit and Great Lakes Region preserves a harvest of diverse old growth urban wood, art and new life. Trees left by Detroit’s unavoidable collapse, failed low-density housing and abandonment left in dying urban communities holds a treasure. I am convinced beauty, worth, space and creativity is contained in all of it.

Detroit Forests is building a community to support makers/artists/craftsman who desire sustainable local community while increasing the impact of handmade wood products in the Great Lakes Region and beyond.