Flying High: How Maple Landmark's Birds Took Off

The telltale signs of spring are popping up all around us – longer days, warmer weather, budding flowers, mud, and, of course, birds. Our feathered friends journeyed back to Vermont from their wintering grounds and the skies are filled with their flight and song once more. A popular subject here at Maple Landmark, the return of the birds is a welcome sign. One of our staff members is even an avid birder, both through bird spotting and carving. In his spare time, he sculpts intricate shapes from wood and paints them to look just like the real thing.

With our affinity for birds, it is no wonder that we tasked our talented graphic designer, George Macedo, with developing a line of bird artwork. George, pictured here, is an artist in his own right, graduating from the University of Central Florida with a degree in fine arts and dabbling in pencil drawings, watercolor, acrylic paintings and digital vector art. He is an active member of his town's artist community, supporting fellow creatives. George joined the Maple Landmark team in 2013 and has produced nearly all the artwork on our products since then, including fresh takes on antiquated designs (see: Scoots).

The bird artwork collection is entirely George's work, from the more common chickadees and cardinals to the more obscure (but no less spectacular) barred and snowy owls. He has even included the American national bird, the bald eagle, and the scourge of the beach, the gull. These birds, in various assortments, are featured on door stoppers, ornaments, memory tiles, dominoes, and more with new products on the way.

The initial quest for birds came from our mission to eliminate wood waste. When looking to use a common piece of scrap (from NameTrains bridge ramps), we turned to the product that would become our door stoppers. You can see the shape of the door stopper against the shape of the scrap piece in the picture. The bird shape lent itself well to the piece and, before long, we had a set of door stoppers which also double well as shelf or desk ornaments.

The convenient convergence of our bird fascination, a talented artist, full-color printing technology, and classic woodworking has resulted in a robust line of vibrant, bird-themed décor that is bound to bring a smile to any bird lover. Good thing we don't share the same fascination with spiders…