After a year of use, my leather iPhone case finally bit the dust. Well, not entirely, but the few cracks it had made it annoying enough to warrant a replacement. I always choose leather every chance I get, but I figured I would try something new for this new year. What’s the second-best choice after leather? Wood.
I’ve always been a sucker for blending high tech gadgets with low tech earthy materials. There’s just something charming about it, no? After a fairly long search, I decided to try out the Carved Redwood Burl iPhone Case. Not only did it have pretty nice reviews, but the mid $20 range price point made it extra appealing. After looking more into the company, I thought I would pull the trigger on this bad boy and give it a shot. I really like how everything is handmade in Indiana, very much the opposite of the iPhone itself.
The case arrives in a small box with a groovy 1965-ish hand drawing depicting what looks like a tree turning into something electronic. It’s kind of awesome, kind of kitschy, but seems to fit the company’s personality.
The edge of the case is clear plastic, and was my biggest worry about this case. However, the width of the plastic is a nice size, and isn’t as slippery or tacky as I imagined it would be. The wood on my particular case has a lot of knots and imperfections in the grain–awesome. You never know what your case will look like, and there’s something awesome about that idea.
The inside of the case has a thin rubbery material on it, and it’s signed by the case’s makers (aww). It’s a nice touch, really, and I think this niche company is on to something fun and unique. They also make iPod, iPad mini, and Galaxy cases–but no full-sized iPad (get on that, Carved). So far so good with this case; I look forward to watching this one age as nicely as my old leather iPhone case aged.
