walden woods

The Walden Woods Piano

I've seen some gorgeous custom pianos over the years but this is one of the most striking. It is a unique collaboration between Steinway and Sons, marquetry artist Silas Kopf, popular recording artists, and two charities (the Walden Woods Project and American Forests). The Walden Woods Art Case piano is being auctioned off tonight by Christie's at a fundraising event in Manhattan. Proceeds benefit the Walden Woods project which preserves Walden Woods and fosters the next generation of conservationists and American Forests, the nation's oldest nonprofit conservation group.

The plate of the piano has been signed, and the piano has been played by a variety of artists including Elton John, Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock, Bruce Hornsby and Billy Joel. Billy Joel will play the Walden Steinway during his performance at the fundraiser/auction and Don Henley, the founder of Walden Woods will also perform. The marquetry wood art on the piano is made of naturally felled wood from the area surrounding historic Walden Pond in Massachusetts. The piano has a series of plaques surrounding the rim that depict trees and plants that Thoreau wrote about. The legs of the piano are inverted arches that depict Walden Pond and one of Thoreau's most well known quotations ("I went to the woods to live deliberately...") surrounds the upper rim of the piano. It is hoped that the piano will go for at least $500,000. The hi-res pic is in the gallery below so you can see the detail on this amazing piece.

Gallery: Walden Woods Piano

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Tags: charity, christie's, piano, steinway, walden woods

Faber-Castell Walden Woods Pen

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Writing Instruments

Like the Great Works dishware that I mentioned earlier, the Graf-von-Faber-Castell Walden Woods roller-ball pen celebrates a literary legacy. The Walden Woods pen is created of ash wood that was salvaged from naturally fallen trees in Walden Woods and features a Thoreau quote. The cap of the pen is platinum. The pen is limited to a quantity of 2006 and retails for $600. A percentage of the sales will be donated to the Walden Woods Project and will also enable American Forests to plant a tree for each pen sold.

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Tags: faber-castell, pens, thoreau, walden woods, WaldenWoods, writing instruments