A group within the product team was tasked with turning wood-backed phones into a reality. That meant first finding the right materials: wood that could be shaped into the X’s rounded back, that wouldn’t crack or splinter or warp, and that wouldn’t interfere with the phone’s radios or operation. “It took us several quarters,” Osterloh says, “just to figure out which types of wood we could use, what kinds of finishes we could do, and how in the end it would look.”

Finding wood that won't warp, or splinter, or crack, is hard

Motorola is sourcing wood and bamboo from all over the world, from a mostly new set of partners — Osterloh declined to be more specific — and it had to rethink some of its manufacturing as well. Wood is the enemy of mass production: no two pieces are alike. And Motorola’s process isn’t exactly basic, either, Osterloh says. “Making the holes for the camera and the flash, that requires a step to laser cut and actually create these holes without burning or scarring the material. And then you’ve got another step to put our logo on there, and any regulatory requirements on there, all that printing work.” All that comes after the wood is cut into thin slices and rounded into the phone’s shape.

Motorola put a tremendous amount of work into creating a sustainable process and supply chain for materials like wood, but Osterloh admits it’s still not exactly mass production. That’s why the Natural Collection comes with an additional $25 cost: Motorola simply couldn’t keep up if everyone bought it. “There is a point where… we don’t have a lot of flexibility in making these. It would take us a long time to get the supply chain warmed up to making an enormous quantity.” The process, he tells me, takes weeks from beginning to end.

If wood does make a comeback, that’s the danger: that in an effort to capitalize on the popularity of the material, some manufacturers cut the same corners they did decades ago. Grove’s Ken Tomita says he’s already seeing this happen: “Sometimes it’s not even real wood. It’s just a picture of wood. Because it’s becoming trendy, there’s some poor-quality stuff out there.”

And unlike with plastic or aluminum, unskilled craftsmanship and poor materials don’t just make the device look or feel bad; “the big weakness is durability,” he says, and it doesn’t take much to cause huge problems. Motorola’s Osterloh told me over and over that he’s committed to using only the best materials and production techniques, but as demand grows it’s not hard to see the temptations he’ll face. And even now, the ebony, teak, and walnut models are made of a different wood and then treated to look like their namesake.