What is Wayfaren?
Alongside Hatteberg Woodworks & Design, my bride Abby and I own and run our other full-time woodworking business located in Deep Ellum, the creative district of Dallas, Texas. Wayfaren began in the summer of 2012 out of a passion for the beauty and life-changing power of travel. So we dove into the world of the handcrafted, exploring our love for woodworking, lettering, and design and soon we had a vision for a high-end push pin travel maps, custom wooden keepsake boxes, and travel journals for the modern traveler. Timeless, handcrafted keepsakes worthy of their adventures. By the grace of God, our products took off and in 2014 we took the leap into full-time entrepreneurship and have loved it ever since. You can watch the whole thing unfold on our Instagram with a good bit of family and travel involved as well. To date at Wayfaren, between all our platforms, we've sold over 8,500 handcrafted items and we believe our reputation and the reviews speak for itself.
Our Handcrafted Custom Keepsake Boxes
This is one of the keepsake box designs I've made for literally thousands of customers over the years in Black Walnut, Hard Maple, or American Cherry. Utilizing 18th century techniques for hand-cut joinery, traditional hot hide glue, and a hand rubbed oil and wax finish, our keepsake boxes quickly became a flagship product of Wayfaren.
Push Pin Travel Maps
When we first looked to initially purchase a push pin travel map, everything we found on the market was made of cheap plastic, flimsy poster paper, foreign production, and overall terrible quality design and craftsmanship. So we decided to build one made out of sustainably harvested lumber, a high-resolution map, premium soft-touch laminate for a gentle matte sheen, and an antique-style personalization label. It is available in different sizes, colors (navy/grey/ivory), and maps in World, US, or Texas. There are now literally hundreds of options on the market, but all of them basically revolve around our design we created six years ago. And to this day we're confident ours is by far the best quality push pin travel map on the market.
Essential Travel Journal
We believe this is everything you need in a travel journal and nothing more. Timeless and beautifully designed for the modern traveler-- with just enough structure to help you intentionally plan your trip, but not too many details that would stifle the most life-giving part of the adventure: the wanderings. And we also provide a nice little Weekender which is a more slim lined journal you can easily slip in your bag wherever you go.
"Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living."
-Miriam Ritter Beard