Naomi Neilson Howard, the Founder and CEO of Native Trails, started the company with a dream to partner the stunning copper craftsmanship she found in her travels through Mexico with contemporary design and sustainable business practices. Her care for the earth led her to use recycled copper in each of the copper items Native Trails offers and also reclaimed wood in the Old World Vanities. “Sure, the bottom line is important,” says Naomi, “but what creates lasting value is providing a high quality, sustainable product and cultivating strong, long term relationships with our artisans and staff.” The company is proud that it supports and promotes craftsmanship traditions in its products. “We are very close to our artisans and their families,” states Naomi. “We sponsor their soccer teams; attend their family weddings and baptisms. We also provide loans and micro-finance for capital improvements so that they can grow and prosper with us. Growing together is a great part of the excitement of working with Native Trails!”
Artisan Crafted With Excellence
“Our artisans have been working with copper for generations,” notes Naomi, “but the designs we create are determinedly fresh and work beautifully with today’s well appointed home. This is the essence of ‘soft contemporary', which describes much of our design style. Our new, fresh designs work with many styles – traditional, cottage, modern, or rustic. Bringing warmth and texture through hand-hammered copper sinks or our reclaimed wood vanities is a really unique way to add the human touch to a room.” Some of the sinks, like the heavy 15-gauge Maestro Vessel, endure up to 30,000 strikes of the hammer to bring out the copper’s exquisite splendor.
Native Trails’ products are in touch not only with modern home design, but also with high standards of quality. The Native Trails quality control team is in the workshops daily, actively involved in quality control from the very moment when the copper arrives from the foundry. “Our products go through five stages of inspection after they are finished to ensure that they meet our strict standards,” says Naomi. “Of course, with handcrafted product, much of the beauty is in the variations that make each item completely individual. But while each product is unique, it is consistently exceptional in its quality.” Native Trails was the first company to have its copper sinks certified by the UPC and listed by IAPMO where they assisted in writing the copper basin standards.
Visit the Native Trails website.
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