Respecting the land is a core tenant of Walnut Studiolo. That’s why we are so proud to live in a region where the natural environment seeps into everything we do: our back yard is a forest and the powerful ocean is nearby.
We carefully source all of our materials and are mindful of waste. Valerie even sends our mail in used envelopes she cleverly recycles from bills and other correspondence. Even with the volume of products we produce, our waste bin is rarely full.

All of our products are made to withstand the rigors of everyday use – handbuilt for the long haul. We don’t want you to have to toss them in the landfill and buy something new; we’d be honored if they last a lifetime, maybe you’ll even pass them on to the next generation.

Sustainability Declaration

We think about our footprint in everything we do!

• We create durable, high quality, and repairable products to prevent landfilling.
• We only use vegetable-tanned leather as our main material, which not only provides the structural rigidity that only high quality leather can provide our products, but also uses no chromium and no mercury in tanning. Learn more about the differences in leather in our blog posts.
• All  of our leather is sourced from a tannery that is exclusively tanned in the USA, following more stringent US environmental laws, and purchased from a local supplier.
• Hardware is sourced wherever possible from made-in-the-USA suppliers.
• Wherever it is an option, we choose FSC-certified wood.
• In all of our operations sourcing, we look for materials in the following priority order: upcycled/reused, recycled or otherwise certified sustainable, and last, new materials.
• We re-use waste our own materials wherever possible in our operations, including refilled ink cartridges and upcycled packaging and shipping materials. We are members and customers of our local re-use charity, SCRAP PDX, where we buy many of our upcycled materials and office supplies.
• We create products, like the Headphone Organizer, out of our scrap materials. Whatever scrap materials we can’t use, we donate to our local re-use center, SCRAP PDX.
• We design our retail packaging with an eye towards reusability, to prevent landfilling.
• Where re-use is not an option, we opt for maximum recycled content (such as using 100% recycled paper for printing our packing slips).
• We encourage and reward alternative transportation, including bicycling to work and for errands.
• We support fellow bicycle-based businesses, choosing bicycle-based service providers for food delivery, janitorial services, and more.
• We compost food waste in our break room and at events using the City of Portland’s curbside compost program.

Do you have questions about our sustainability practices and policies? Send us an email, we’d love to hear from you.