A spare bedroom, a pile of salvaged staves.
The steel gave the watches structure. The wood gave them warmth, variation and an immediate connection to the brothers' Pacific Northwest upbringing.
Ryan turned an unusual wood-and-steel watch into a direct-to-consumer brand built around material, meaning and story.
Read about my story
Ryan graduated from the University of Oregon in 2011. Rather than taking a traditional career path, he moved to Asia, immersing himself in a world of physical products and manufacturing.
In one of the world’s oldest product categories, Ryan saw an opportunity to make the familiar feel new: combining natural wood with stainless steel to create something that felt both durable and distinctly personal.
The steel gave the watches structure. The wood gave them warmth, variation and an immediate connection to the brothers' Pacific Northwest upbringing.
As reclaimed woods entered the collections, the product became more than an accessory. The source of the material became part of what a customer chose to wear.
Collaborations and licensing partnerships extended that idea, connecting each watch to places, organizations and cultural stories people already cared about.
Working alongside distilleries and heritage brands turned a nice story into a verifiable one. The wood came with paperwork. That changed what we could charge and who took the call.
Collaborations and licensing partnerships extended that idea, connecting each watch to places, organizations and cultural stories people already cared about.
Collaborations and licensing partnerships extended that idea, connecting each watch to places, organizations and cultural stories people already cared about.
The campaign gave the brothers more than capital. It gave them customers, proof and momentum.
But a successful launch only proved that people wanted the idea. The next decade would test whether they could build the company behind it.
Kickstarter was the signal. Product, sourcing, positioning, fulfillment and customer trust became the system.

Five lessons from more than a decade of building a physical-product brand.
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