The Harpoon House

We recently had the opportunity to work with designers Matt Kirkpatrick and Katherine Bovee on the Harpoon House in a south east neighborhood  of Portland, Oregon.  The Harpoon House is an inspiring example of conscious design that includes an efficient and small footprint, eco-roofs, and sustainable choices throughout. The Harpoon House is expected to receive LEED platinum certification.

A dividing wall between the kitchen/living room and bathroom was designed to be a cabinet accessible from both sides.   We built the wall as a deep cabinet with both sides seamlessly covered. We then routed out openings on either the living room side or the bathroom side to make the most efficient use of the storage space.

In the kitchen we worked with Sapele plywood and highlighted the gorgeous linear grain.  We left the plywood un-edgebanded to reveal the multiple layers of material that make up the plywood sheet.

Small cut-outs for the drawer pulls and a touch latch system for opening doors made for a clean and modern look.

An all-in-one stainless steel counter top, sink and backsplash looked incredible against the luster of the sapele wood.

Looks like it will be a great kitchen to work in with the sunshine streaming in.

Shimojima Project

This project, designed by Building Arts Workshop, highlighted horizontal grain Sapele. The choice of sapele wood brings a tangible warmth to the clean and modern aesthetic.  We paid great attention to sourcing sheets of plywood that would allow for a continuous grain match along the length of the hearth.

The two sided hearth held an integral sapele open cabinet on one side and a hidden cabinet on one end.











The choice of wood continued into the open plan kitchen, with a large pantry wall and eye catching island.

This was Earthbound Industries first large scale project with sapele and it won our collective hearts.  The sapele showcases a depth and richness of color that is highlighted perfectly through its linear grain.

Open doors

Here's a look at our shop. We have been in this space for two years and share it with guitar maker, Clayton Pledger. Its a great old building in NE Portland that houses a whole floor of talented craftspeople.

We have access to top quality tools such as this SCMI sliding table saw from Italy.  This tool has allowed us to be safer, faster, and more efficient with use of materials.  It has been a luxury to use.

We have also brought in some older tools, like this rather heavy duty Powermatic planer, that has beautifully handled oversized reclaimed beams.

We are committed to living low impact lives and so it is essential that the work we do and the materials we use are in direct alignment with our ethics.