Summer 2003 TREE OWNERS NEWS - part two

(back to Summer 2003 Tree Owners News - part one)

Raleo™  Art/Surfaces

    As you may have read in our earlier newsletters, we have developed a line of exquisite Raleo Surfaces, crafted from our young tropical hardwoods, to add unique beauty, warmth, texture and style to nearly any interior surface.

    Last year, we tested Surfaces’ appeal by previewing approximately 100 prototype designs at the 2002 PCBC, Pacific Coast Builders Conference, and SEBC, South East Builders Conference, two large, upscale building trade shows. We received an incredibly enthusiastic response at both shows as people flocked to our booth to see and touch our Surfaces. More than 700 designers and architects signed up, specifically requesting more Surfaces information when it became available.

Our Raleo™ art is created with hand-shaped and polished cultured tropical hardwood nuggets in a limitless array of delicate colorations, textures and hues.

    Sherry and I quickly realized that the demand for Surfaces would significantly exceed our production capacity at the time, so we decided to first bring our Raleo furniture and art to market, and then, after we had built up a good bit more manufacturing capability, formally introduce Surfaces. Our thinking was that that would likely be in mid-2004.

    As we have exhibited our Raleo art at design shows and seen how people love our art’s unique look and feel, we began to realize that its appeal goes well beyond hanging or framable art.

    In addition to creating our art on canvas as we have been doing, we began to test, in prototypes in our shop, the idea of also creating our art in the same form as our Surfaces, so that, like our Surfaces, our art images, or images specified by the customer or designer, can be incorporated into nearly any interior surface - floors, walls, ceilings, doors, cabinetry and furniture.

    That would substantially extend the range of appeal of our art and Surfaces, to businesses who want to incorporate their logo or corporate image in our unique format into an accent wall, entry floor or lobby furniture, to individuals who want to incorporate a favorite image into their home or furnishings, and builders who want to put the latest upscale touch into their homes and condominiums, much beyond the floor medallions, borders and other accent materials they are now using.

    As we were choosing which furnishings to display at the design shows this year, Sherry and I decided that NeoCon would be an excellent opportunity to reaffirm Surfaces’ appeal and test our concept of combining art and Surfaces by presenting a few examples there, in addition to our Raleo furniture and art.

    At NeoCon, we would be in front of a huge audience of international design professionals in the commercial, hospitality, health care, and residential segments of the market and up against many of the finest and best-known designers in the world.

    We were stunned that our answers came in the form of our Art/Surfaces winning the Best of NeoCon 2003 Award. In that venue and against that competition, the Award dramatically confirmed Surfaces, and our new Art/Surfaces wonderful appeal to top design professionals.

    After that dramatic confirmation, Sherry and I immediately reevaluated our timing and decided that we must introduce Surfaces, including Art/Surfaces, now, much ahead of our schedule.

    Surfaces and now Art/Surfaces, together represent a huge potential additional volume for Raleo  and fit perfectly with our objective of getting our Tropical American Tree Farms  hardwoods in front of discerning buyers, specifiers and manufacturers everywhere. And with the design trade articles that will follow having won Best of NeoCon, we know that we need to move now.

Our Raleo™ Art/Surfaces can also be made into corporate logos and other commercial imagery

    Introducing Surfaces will require a significant increase in our Raleo production capacity and a large additional investment of time and capital for additional space, equipment and craftsmen, but the additional benefit and impact to all of us who are growing trees will more than justify the investment.

Beautiful Tropical Hardwoods

    To give you an idea of just how beautiful our young Tropical American Tree Farms™ hardwoods are, at the five design shows, where people could see and touch our Raleo tables in person, all crafted from our young hardwoods, our tables have sold at designer net prices of $2,400 to over $5,000 per table.

    Clearly, over the last two years we have gone to great efforts to build and train our superb Raleo team to craft the very highest quality furnishings. But it is the beauty of our tropical hardwoods that really makes our furnishings so appealing.

    As an indicator of how other design professionals view our Raleo  furnishings, we received a brochure in the mail for the next Chicago Design Show, this coming November. When we opened their brochure, right there in the center of the main page of the first fold is a photo of two of our Raleo  tables and a work of our Raleo  art from last year’s Chicago Design Show. Chicago Design chose our Raleo  furniture and art to be one of the main focal points in their brochure to promote their next upscale design show.

    As an example of our Raleo customer satisfaction, a gentleman who ordered a custom Raleo coffee table after reading about Raleo in a recent Forbes FYI article, e-mailed us the same day his table arrived. His e-mail began, “Steve, am totally thrilled with the table... brilliant” and then mentioned the possibility of acquiring some Raleo art as well.

    Sherry and I would love every one of you to see and touch our beautiful Raleo  furnishings in person, and know first-hand how incredibly beautiful your tropical hardwoods really are.

Now Showing

    We will keep you up to date as we work to establish relationships with galleries and design centers throughout the U.S. and Canada so that those of you who are nearby can see in person why we are so enthusiastic about Raleo and its excellent showcasing of our Tropical American Tree Farms hardwoods.

Raleo™ art - Copas - displayed with other upscale furnishings and accessories in Marshall Field's
 2003 Trend House in Chicago

    Right now, you may see our Raleo furniture or art at:

• Niedermaier in the D&D building in New York City

• Tall Walls Designs in Yardley, PA

• Ave Maria Gallery in Ann Arbor, Michigan

• Thomas W. Ruff Business Interiors in Columbus, Ohio

• Marshall Fields 2003 Trend House in Chicago

• Our art is also being presented to corporate and private clients by Novo Art, professional art consultants of New York City.

Trend House

    We wrote late last year that we were honored when a Marshall Field’s senior designer came to our display at the Chicago Design Show and chose Nine Squares, one of our Raleo works of art, to exhibit in their 2003 Trend House in Chicago, a very special display of what they consider to be the best in upcoming design trends.

Raleo art - Nine Squares - displayed with other upscale furnishings and accessories in Marshall Field's
 2003 Trend House in Chicago

    Right after they received Nine Squares, she called to say that it is perfect for their display and said that she would also like to display another Raleo work, Copas.

    When Sherry and I were in Chicago for NeoCon, we visited the 2003 Trend House and were thrilled to see our two Raleo  works so beautifully displayed. We have included photos of the two on display at the Trend House.

Thomas W. Ruff & Company

    Those of you in or near the central Ohio area will shortly be able to see a fairly extensive display of Raleo furniture and art at Thomas W. Ruff & Company, an upscale showroom of fine office interiors. Their showroom is located at 1114 Dublin Road in Columbus.

    Mike Gorman, president of Thomas Ruff, is enthusiastic about our Raleo  furnishings and has said that any of you are more than welcome to visit their showrooms to see the Raleo display or call him at 614-487-4300 or e-mail him at mgorman@thomasruff.com if you have any questions.

    Mike has also very kindly offered to put together a tree owners’ event there. If you would be interested in attending, please let us know.

Sales/Marketing Team

    Our highest priority for Raleo now is to develop a professional team of representatives who will introduce our Raleo furnishings to top design showrooms and galleries throughout North America.

    Displaying Raleo at the top design shows, along with the blessing of our Best of NeoCon Award and the articles that have already been written about Raleo , are a very strong start. But to succeed in the way that Raleo  deserves and build a consistent volume, we will need experienced professionals selecting and calling on the right showrooms and galleries throughout our target markets.

    To build our team, we have identified and contracted with a national sales-marketing-public relations firm that specializes in developing representative teams and marketing upscale furnishings, fixtures and accents in North America. They have reviewed our Raleo products first hand and studied our Raleo  story. Their assessment is that Raleo’s potential is beyond even what we had been thinking.

    They will begin by focusing first on the major markets in the U.S. and Canada and then extend into the more regional markets.

    Developing Raleo is indeed exciting, especially knowing its potentially huge benefits to Tropical American Tree Farms.

Recent Articles

    We are always happy to have articles written about either Tropical American Tree Farms or Raleo and are pleased to tell you of several recent articles.

    Natural Home Magazine – a magazine featuring the best in home design, earth-friendly décor and natural living. November/December 2002 issue. Money Can Grow on Trees, by Joe Hurst-Wajszczuk

    Woodshop News – a well written publication for and about woodworking professionals and non-professionals. February 2003 issue. Growers Turn Culled Wood Into Furniture Line, by Brian Caldwell

    Forbes FYI – Forbes’ sister magazine dedicated to upscale style and living. Summer 2003 issue. Family Trees

    Furniture Style – a magazine directed to furniture industry professionals which “scans the market for the hottest looks, cutting-edge trends and newest design ideas.” June 2003 issue. Open & Shut - interview with Raleo  designer, Jake Brunner, by Romy Schafer.

    Contract Magazine – a magazine of commercial interior design and architecture. August 2003 issue. Best of NeoCon Winners.

    Interior Design - Raleo is now listed in Interior Design Magazine’s Buyers’ Guide.

Upcoming Trade Shows

    We have just returned from California where we exhibited our Tropical American Tree Farms hardwoods at AWFS, the Association of Woodworking and Furnishings Suppliers Fair, in Anaheim. AWFS is the major trade show for the woodworking industry in the U.S. this year. This show is a biennial event that attracts manufacturers of fine furniture, cabinets, architectural millwork, and store fixtures with over 30,000 attendees during the four-day event. There were more than 800 exhibiting companies in 400,000 square feet of exhibitor space.

    In October and November we will be exhibiting our exquisite Raleo  furnishings at High Design-High Point, part of the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, North Carolina, and the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

    High Design-High Point will be October 16 to 22, 8:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. daily, and is open only to design professionals. We will be displaying our Raleo furnishings in Suite 536 of Suites at Market Square, 200 W. Commerce Street, High Point, North Carolina

    High Point is the largest wholesale home furnishings show in the world with 2,600 exhibitors in more than 10 million square feet of exhibition space and an attendance of 75,000 industry professionals from the U.S.A. and 110 countries around the world.

    We are honored that Raleo will be featured in High Design - High Point, a 12,000 square foot juried display where only the best new contemporary furniture, decorative accessories and home textiles will be exhibited.

    The Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show will be October 30 to November 3, 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. Thursday through Sunday and 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. on Monday. This boat show spans six locations including the Bahia Mar Yachting Center, six marinas and the Greater Fort Lauderdale / Broward County Convention Center. We will be in booth 3012 on the third floor of the Convention Center. General admission ranges from $14 a day to $55 for a five day pass.

    More than $1 billion in boats, yachts, furnishings and accessories will be on display from every major marine manufacturer worldwide. It is the world’s premier venue for super yachts.

    We will be exhibiting our beautiful Raleo furniture, art and Surfaces.

Website and Brochure

    We are in the process of substantially updating our Raleo website and invite you to visit us at http://raleo.com to see much more of our Raleo furniture, art, and soon, Surfaces.

    The men and women of Raleo have worked diligently to design, develop and produce these wonderful furnishings. We very much would like you to be able to see their, and our, work and progress.

    As Raleo grows, we will continue to update our website and add new products, so please check back often.

    As we promised in an earlier newsletter, we have also enclosed a copy of our first Raleo brochure for you to enjoy.

    Please share Raleo and our beautiful furnishings with every designer, architect or interested buyer that you know. The more we get Raleo out in front of consumers and specifiers, the more we all will benefit.

We would love to help you plan a visit to the farms!  We have now had the blessing of nearly 500 happy tree owners who have come to see their trees and enjoy the incredible beauty of the farms.

Tree Owner Discount

    As a special thank you to you, our tree owners, you may buy any of our exquisite Raleo furnishings at a 40% discount from the list price. As you review our Raleo brochure and website, if you see furniture, Surfaces or art that you would like, or would like to give as a wonderful gift, please let us know and we will give you the 40%-off price.

    Within some limits, we are able to accept custom orders for our furniture, modifying the dimensions or adding a drawer for example.

    Please also know that for our Raleo art, you are not at all limited to the designs you see on our website. Our artists can create nearly any scene with our tropical hardwood nuggets, mounted on canvas for framing or on a backing for affixing directly to a surface in your home or office.

    You are also welcome to use any thinning credits you may have toward any Raleo product.

Distributions

    As many of you already know, Raleo late last year began its production and sales of beautiful furniture and art, and from those sales, purchasing the youngest hardwoods from our early thinnings. And with those proceeds, Tropical American Tree Farms began making distributions.

    As Raleo’s sales continue to develop, we will continue that process in the approximate order that the trees are thinned until the export/import market will pay more than Raleo can support paying.

    This has all taken much more work, time and capital than we originally anticipated, but it is truly exciting to see it all develop and fit together so well.

Thank you again!

    It is our hope that as you read this newsletter you will see and feel the building excitement and momentum. We want you to be proud that you are an important part of this wonderful endeavor.

    Sherry and I thank you very much for making this all possible!