Introduction To Carved

As I was wandering rather aimlessly around the Internet, I came across a website – www.carved.com. iPhone and Android smartphone cases made of wood. Hmm that’s interesting. There must be a catch.

They must be made from some sort of fake plastic wood.

Nope… these are actual wood (except for the rubber and plastic surrounding the edges of most of the cases).

They must be poor quality if they are selling them for $29.

No… the reviews are very good.

Well, that’s what you get for cheap labor overseas.

Wrong again. Everything is handmade and assembled in Indiana.

I was even more surprised to find out they are manufactured in Elkhart, Indiana – a short trip from me. I sent a quick email and had a nice chat with Darrick Hill from Carved. He graciously invited me to take a tour of their workshop and ask any questions.

I hopped in the car on Friday and decide to make a day trip out of it. Carved is temporarily located in Goshen, Indiana as they continue to renovate an old building in Elkhart to support their growing operations. For those unfamiliar with the bustling cities of Elkhart and Goshen, they are located about 15 minutes apart in northeast Indiana.

Inside The Carved Shop

First, let me just say everyone at Carved was incredibly friendly and welcoming. When I asked to take pictures, they would stop what they were doing to accommodate the snapping of a picture or to answer any of my many questions.

Although a temporary location for Carved’s manufacturing and distribution, everything in their Goshen office looks surprisingly homely. I would have assumed this place was their residence for many years instead of months. Standing desks, bikes hanging on racks, a ping pong table, and a break room all adorned with custom wood ornaments.

Everything is created within this relatively small workshop. Carved receives the orders, creates, assembles and ships dozens and sometimes hundreds of custom cases every day from this location. It’s a fun environment with pretty much entirely people in their 20’s or early 30’s running the show. When I arrived, I expected to see many shortcuts in the manufacturing process. Surely, for $29 they weren’t actually assembling the cases onsite?

Every piece of wood is touched by someone in their workshop. The veneer (read: thin slice of wood) is all created in house. The majority of Carved cases have a custom wood back with many unique designs and rubberized plastic surrounding the edges of the case. The rubberized plastic surrounding the phone is not created in house. The molds are custom created for Carved and sent to their shop. Every wood hexagon in the case above is placed by hand onto a special glue backing with careful attention ensuring the grain of the wood on each piece is placed in the same direction. It really looked like a tedious and labor intensive process.

Every puzzle piece, continent in the world, or panel is hand-cut and laser etched on premise. The fact that a small company, in America, can hand assemble each of these phones cases is a testament to two things: 1) products can be profitably made in America and 2) many case manufacturers overcharge for what you get.

The truly beautiful cases are currently only made for iPhones. These cases are made from two pieces of a solid block of wood or resin. Carved will place the blocks of wood or resin casts into their CNC machine and each one will undergo special treatment. They are truly one of a kind cases. Each one is placed on their website and sold to the first buyer. An exact replica will not be created.

Unfortunately, it does not look like there is any immediate future for these special completely wooden cases Android phones. Their CNC machine is kept busy every minute of the day creating the iPhone cases.

The Wood Of Carved

Carved takes wood seriously. They have dozens of varieties of wood all with their own unique grain, finish and hardness. All of the wood is obtained using sustainable practices. Most is obtained from local Indiana trees that have fallen naturally.

Carved also loves to use recycled or reclaimed wood. Some pieces of wood are from recycled skateboards or, my personal favorite… the Ironsides Collection. The “Ironsides Collection” are wood cases created from early 1800’s naval timbers. They are made from white oak originally uncovered from their buried graves at the old Charleston Navy Yard in Boston, MA.

Ironsides was a name given after the USS Constitution, the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel. The ship was named Old Ironsides due to the immense strength of the white oak which proved nearly impossible for British cannon balls to penetrate during the War of 1912.

Now, here we have these timbers that are incredibly rare. Some of the trees were 300 years old when they were cut in the 1800’s. It is incredibly dense and useful wood. When I saw this I thought, “Isn’t there a better use for these rare naval timbers?

A video with Mike Windhom, the man who owned the bulk of the timbers and sold a small portion to Carved, really changed my mind. Mike could have sold these rare, high quality timber for a lot of money. The wood could have been sold to the highest bidder and purchased in bulk. It would likely end up as fancy furniture or to build a yacht. Instead he sold a sizable amount to Carved. Using a tiny bit of wood, a piece of history can be shared to many, many people. A naval officer might not be able to afford even a chair made out of this wood but they can carry a piece of the naval history every single day.

Before I visited Carved, I checked their website and much to my dismay they do not currently make any cases for my Galaxy S6 Edge. I asked my tour guide, Darrick, whether they had plans to create cases for the S6 Edge and if I might be able to be one of the first to try it out. He said it wouldn’t be a problem. On the day of my tour he handed me a prototype of the Ironside Collections for the S6 Edge.

The Quality Of The Case

I have had my Ironsides Traveler Wood case for all of 5 days. So far, it’s almost perfect for me. It’s very slim, even slimmer than my previously reviewed Spigen Neo Hybrid.

Due to it’s slimness, it’s not nearly as protective as the Neo Hybrid. The rubber and plastic surrounding the phone is particularly hard and if dropped the bulk of the energy would transfer to the phone.

The wood back does seem to provide good protection for the glass back on the S6 and is thick enough to raise the camera lens off the table when it’s laid flat. The corners are well covered and it’s certainly better than no case at all, though be warned, the Carved Traveler cases offers minimal protection.

For me, it provides the most important reason why I even use a case at all. It is grippy. The S6 Edge is rather slippery. The glass black and a particularly thin edge make me worry. The Carved case has a rubberized checkered etching along the side, similar to the pattern on a nail file. It makes it really easy to hold.

My only minor complaint is that the power button and volume buttons are just barely raised off the edge of the case. The buttons are smooth instead of the checkered etching so you can feel where the button is without looking but it’s a little hard to find without looking. Over a few days I’ve gotten used to it though. I actually really like that the volume buttons aren’t raised. With the Spigen case I was finding myself accidentally raising the S6 to full volume when pulling it out of my pants.

Aside from that, the wood is gorgeous. The laser etching of the ship is particularly well done. When people see it, it becomes a conversation piece. The Carved smartphone case actually has a story.

P.S. If you’re looking for a Carved case for the Galaxy S6 Edge like I was, Darrick said they will be available on their website very soon (within a month).

Carved Cases Summary

Carved creates truly original cases. It’s a conversation topic – people will ask you where you got your case. I know that sounds silly. It’s a phone case. It’s true though, even over the past few days several people have asked me about the case. Why does it have a ship on it? Is it actually wood? People are impressed when they hear it’s made in America and also affordable.

People especially like hearing about products made in America. The Makers of America. Carved is an example of these Makers. They really care about their work and it’s evident in every case.