Picture this: you and your special someone walk into your backyard on a warm summer’s eve with blankets, pillows, and local craft beverages in tow. Fireflies waltz around you as you make your way onto a series of colorful, whimsical nets stretched taut between the trees in your backyard. After you climb on and bed down your makeshift nest, you lay back, settle into each other’s arms, and toast each other and the beauty that surrounds you. You look up at the night sky as the stars peek through the leaves. You’re in something like a comfy tree house, but way cooler.
These functional and fun works of art are Tree Weaves, which are custom hammock platforms that are expertly hand woven into the topography of your yard, forest, and in some cases even indoors! They’re essentially see-through tree houses in the treetops, which makes it easier to keep an eye on the kiddos as they play.
And unlike traditional wooden tree houses, kids won’t outgrow them; adults can have just as much fun chillaxing in them with a cold beer in hand while chatting with friends! Did we mention that while the nets are tied tightly, they’re even bouncy like a trampoline?
Founded by River Echeverria and Alex Patton in the spring of 2017 out of a mutual passion for slacklining, the idea came about as a result of the nets that the two would weave out of scrap material on the sides of the cliffs to hang out in for the day.
“We thought that these were awesome and that people might want them in their backyard that aren’t part of the slacklining community; and would think that these custom-shaped hammock things would be cool,” said Alex. The business started out as a hobby, but quickly expanded within its first year. While initially there was a slight learning curve in creating nets on a larger scale, River and Alex were already net experts, and train their growing number of employees in the art of Tree Weaving.
“We want to get people involved in nature and get them outside. It’s one thing to sit on your deck versus actually being in the trees. It’s just really therapeutic to be in nature, and when the wind is blowing through the trees, the trees move, and you can feel the net pulling gently in different ways. It’s just a cool feeling, and you feel very integrated into nature. It’s almost like a green room, and you get completely encapsulated by foliage,” added Alex. This also ensures that you keep cool on even the hottest summer days as the breeze blows through the nets.
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