The Gary Rosenthal Collection and The Treehouse Green Gifts

Corporate Social Responsibility

News

11.21.2008 - 04:42pm ET

CSR News from:	The Gary Rosenthal Collection
News Categories:	Sustainability
	CSR - General

The Treehouse Green Gifts Adds Eco-Friendly Judaica Artwork

World-Renowned Gary Rosenthal Collection Features Recycled Glasswork Reflecting Green Art Movement

The A6 menorah is one of the items using recycled glass that will be available at The Treehouse Green Gifts

(CSRwire) SAN FRANCISCO, CA. - November 21, 2008 - The Treehouse Green Gifts, (www.treehousegreengifts.com), a leading eco-friendly gift shop specializing in unique organic, recycled, fair trade and handmade gifts, is pleased to add artist Gary Rosenthal’s recycled glass Judaica collection to its product offerings just in time for the holidays.

The Treehouse will carry one-of-a-kind functional Jewish art such as menorot, dreidels and mezuzot, each handcrafted by Gary Rosenthal and his team of talented craftsmen. Sculpting in welded metals and brilliant recycled fused glass and combining copper, brass, steel, and 24 karat gold, Gary Rosenthal has built a world-renowned following over the past thirty years.

"We continually seek out special gifts that match our mission of giving back to the community and environment - and hold a special place in people's hearts and homes,” says The Treehouse Owner Maureen O'Neill. "So I am especially pleased to team up with one of the world's most talented, eco-friendly Judaica artists. A recognized leader of the American crafts movement, Mr. Rosenthal captures the spirit of the green movement with his creations."

Rosenthal combines recycled materials such as crushed glass with an environmentally-friendly production process that results in beautiful, functional contemporary art. "From menorahs to mezuzahs, my pieces are inspired by the rich history of the Jewish people, and every product tells a story," he explains. "Reusing scrap glass means my team works harder in the production, planning and design stages, but we employ an efficient process that uses waste material and actually saves raw material cost, energy, and labor. The end result: unique functional art found throughout people’s homes, and a sense of pride in helping the environment."

Find Gary Rosenthal Collection items at www.treenhousegreengifts.com; by calling 510-204-9292, or visiting their shop on 2935 College Avenue in Berkeley, California. For custom recycled glass gifts and awards, contact Gary Rosenthal directly at 301-493-5577, via email at info@collectgaryrosenthal.com or via www.collectgaryrosenthal.com.

About The Treehouse Green Gifts
The Treehouse Green Gifts is committed to green business principles in operations and product selection, and is on a waiting list to be certified as a green business. A member of 1% for the Planet , an organization of businesses who donate 1% of their sales to an approved environmental cause, The Treehouse offsets all carbon emissions through Carbonfund.org.

About The Gary Rosenthal Collection (www.collectgaryrosenthal.com)
For 30 years, artist Gary Rosenthal has specialized in sculpting welded metals into unique Judaic art. Combining copper, brass, and steel with brilliant fused glass, the collection has a contemporary style rooted in tradition. Inspiration comes from the rich history of the Jewish people, which tells us it's a blessing, a mitzvah, to make beautiful functional art. Work from the Gary Rosenthal Collection has been presented to Presidents from Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton to George W. Bush, and to celebrities as varied as Bette Midler, John Travolta, and Tony Randall. Gary also frequently creates custom awards for a variety of corporations. He may be contacted directly at 301-493-5577 about custom work. The Gary Rosenthal Collection is a socially responsible company and a member of the Social Venture Network.

For more information please contact:

Maureen O'Neil, Owner
The Treehouse Green Gifts
510-204-9292
www.treehousegreengifts.com

Gary Rosenthal, Owner
The Gary Rosenthal Collection
301-493-5577
www.collectgaryrosenthal.com

Erin Mantz, Principal
Elm Tree Communications
202-744-4157
www.erinmantz.com

For more CSR news and information from this organization:

Corporate Social Responsibility Profile for The Gary Rosenthal Collection

A Behind The Scenes Story

Gayle Nadler writes in about her recent visit to the GRC.

"My Private Invitation:

I called the Gary Rosenthal Collection to ask if Gary could sign the two tzedakah boxes I purchased from Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah. Not certain who was more excited: me for having my request honored, or Gary for honoring my request! Gary invited me in to the studio where I met his mom, dog, and craftspeople. If you've never had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of what goes on "behind the scenes" at GRC, then all you need to do is take one of Gary's pieces, place it in front of you and gaze at it closely.

You will see that his beautiful designs reflect the aura of his office/studio/showroom. There is so much to marvel: these tzedakah boxes, as well as all of the other splendid pieces, exude creativity in unexpected ways. There are light areas and dark, as well as surprising shapes, colors and sizes. The metal appears to capture the sunlight and use it knowingly to enhance itself.

Each piece is unique, created with the help of everyone I met. I know they were in the studio to work, but that hardly seems to be the correct term to use because all employees appeared to be having too much fun. They were enjoying themselves while creating extraordinary works of art. Gary has also enabled others (fundraisers, breast cancer survivors, those wishing to create personal projects) to be a part of this process in very meaningful ways. After spending about an hour with Gary touring the building, I now have a greater understanding of why each piece is so special, just like the home and craftspeople of GRC."

Gary Rosenthal Menorah Featured on This Old House Blog

As part of my job as blogmaster here at the Gary Rosenthal Collection, I browse around from time to time online looking for interesting mentions of our artwork. This article I ran across is from last year, but it's new to us and with Hanukkah around the corner I thought it was relevant and interesting.

Reprinted from The Hardware Aisle, This Old House Blog:

Hanukkah hardware: The Nail Menorah

December 4, 2007
Happy Hanukkah from the Hardware Aisle!

The Nail Menorah's golden solder and copper candle-holders span a series of creatively reused flat-cut nails.

The elegant cantilevered design reminds me of those "My boss is a Jewish carpenter" bumper stickers I used to see down south--though I don't think this product, by metalsmith Gary Rosenthal, is exactly what those stickers' owners had in mind.

The Jewish Gift Place was actually boxing up a couple of Nail Menorahs when I called this morning. It's a popular item, I'm told, but they don't know if the buyers are actually into the DIY aspect of it.

Maybe they just have good taste.

After the jump, another shot of the Menorah, showing its Star of David base (and a spooky shadow effect).

____________________________________________________________________

Thanks to TOH for their kind words.

Please visit the original blog post and be sure to check out the rest of the blog if you have a good spot in your heart for hardware!

Brandeis Event

Though The Gary Rosenthal Collection studio is not regularly open to the public, we do like, on occasion, to make arrangements with special groups. This past Friday, the 7^th, we had such an opportunity as we welcomed about 30 participants in a fundraiser for Brandeis Women. Each participant donated $25 which will go towards supporting Brandeis Women's good work. They also participated in a Hiddur Mitzvah project, creating custom pieces of glass that will be used in pieces of the Gary Rosenthal Collection whose profit will also be donated to charity. In exchange, the group was able to get a behind the scenes tour of the studio as well as get the exclusive opportunity to use their $25 donation also as credit towards any purchase directly off the shelves that day. It seemed that everyone involved had a great time and it was a lively change of pace around the office.

If you are part of an organization that would be interested in organizing a similar event, please contact Gary at info@collectgaryrosenthal.com.


For more photos and video of this event and other happenings at The Gary Rosenthal Collection, check out our Facebook page!