OUR STORY

What's old is new
I unearthed an old wood mallet in the garden shed out back of the house. It had the same shape as an ancient mallet I'd seen on a recent visit to the Smithsonian. Elated with my find, I gave it a place of honor on the kitchen countertop.

An everyday object, a favorite thing
The mallet proved a simple yet effective tool. Its aged wood with mellowed grain was beautiful. Freestanding, its base sat solidly on a surface, and its upright handle made for an easy grab when I needed to whack something (surprisingly often). Its base was good for rolling odd bits of dough and easily crushed spices and nuts. It soon became my go-to tool for all kinds of jobs and everybody else's go-to tool, too.

Maybe you've discovered this also—you create, find, or even buy something that becomes a favorite object simply because you like having it around. You like looking at it; it's useful, and it brings you joy.

Life imitates art
Life upheavals prompted me to return to college and complete the degree I'd abandoned years earlier. A maker at heart, I left the biz world to pursue Fine Arts. During a woodworking class, we were tasked to turn a mallet as an introduction to the lathe. The sample we were to duplicate was a sad mass-produced version of my garden shed find. A fan of contemporary art, I reimagined the tool as both a wood sculpture and a mallet. Convinced of its potential appeal, I spent numerous hours refining models on a lathe. After crafting countless design iterations, Detroit Malletworks was created.

OUR TEAM

Real people behind the scenes
Our small team is passionate about designing and crafting simple, stylish, and distinctive wood mallets and tools. Feel free to reach out to us anytime through our Contact Us page. We're always happy to help!

OUR IMPACT
We create products with thoughtful, sustainable design. We are committed to supporting our communities through our production processes and sales.

PEOPLE CARE

We donate a percentage of our annual sales to Noah at Central in Detroit, MI, a hub for services, resources, and relationships for individuals on the path to stable housing. Furthermore, we support children's education in Traverse City, MI, through ad hoc donations.

PLANET CARE

We do our best to limit our impact on the environment, and here's how: Our mallets are crafted from sustainably sourced hard maple. We use environmentally safe Tried & True® plant-based finishes, making our mallets 100% food-safe and entirely biodegradable. Bump's leather straps are made of environmentally friendly vegetable-tanned leather. Our totes fabricated using recycled cotton (Recycled Cotton/PET Blend 10 oz.).

Crafted with quality
Crafted from hard maple, we utilize both solid wood and laminated blanks from wood offcuts that may otherwise be discarded. The boards are joined using food-safe, water-based glue during the lamination procedure. This process helps avoid warping and cracking that can happen with solid wood items.

Crafted to last
Today’s mallets are tomorrow’s collectibles. With proper care, our mallets can be handed down to future generations.

Made in the USA
We design our collections at our studio in Michigan. They're crafted and hand-finished for us in Indiana.

Eco-friendly packaging and shipping
We use shipping boxes and kraft paper void fill that are designated EPP (Environmentally Preferable Product), and non-reinforced paper tape. Palletized orders are metal banded. Our tags are printed on recycled cotton paper using water-based inks; stringers are 100% cotton fiber. Our print collateral uses 100% post-consumer waste paper and water-based inks. All incoming shipments are requested to come to us plastic-free. We also subscribe to Shopify's carbon offset program, Planet, to ensure our shipping emissions are carbon neutral.