a manufacturing Worker Cooperative
Mindful Maker Co is a manufacturing Worker Cooperative based in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley
Our first product will be the Leaf Tree – a modular, scalable, portable, tool-free assembly cat/pet tree made from as many natural materials as possible with no exposed plastics
We’re seeking additional Founding Members and Investors who share our values of socio-environmental sustainability, and want to help actualize our vision of Mindful Manufacturing and demonstrate the robust viability of worker co-ops!
Stay-tuned as we work to recount our ongoing experiences with starting a business, filing for a provisional patent, pursuing investors and partners to raise funds for the initial outlay, acquiring manufacturing infrastructure, and so much more! Keep an eye on our site leaftree.co for more product-specific updates
Striving for supply-chain transparency for our products is central to our cooperative purpose. We prioritize local, domestic, and cooperative organizations in our supply chain and will ultimately provide detailed information on who, where, and how our products are made—from raw resource to final product. This is why we are establishing our own manufacturing facility to meet a need for local industrial manufacturing solutions in the fields of woodworking, fabrication, and wood CNC milling.
Transparency means we can identify gaps in the supply chain that we can fill through diversifying our manufacturing processes: presently, 100% hemp rope is only manufactured overseas, and hemp production in the Valley is a growing industry. This is an opportunity for Mindful Maker Co to repurpose this agricultural waste, becoming the sole manufacturer of 100% hemp rope in North America—which can extend into the production of various hemp textiles. Diversifying our manufacturing processes can meet our own material needs and provide another sourcing option for our follow domestic manufacturers that are dependent upon international shipping for materials and products that we could be making from the materials we already have at our disposal here.
We are currently seeking additional founding Worker-Owners and cooperatively minded investors
If you are interested in working directly on a factory floor, supporting our operations through remote roles, have a background or interest in worker-owned businesses and the cooperative movement, or are curious about our need for founding Worker-Owners, you can review our About Us page and/or reach out to us at:
mindfulmakerco@gmail.com
If you are in a position to invest money in a young cooperative venture in the form of a non-extractive loan, we also would love to hear from you as well.
As a worker cooperative, the right to governance over the company can only be earned through labor—which is a major difference between us versus traditional investments. We are looking for support from people who share our cooperative values and want to see a world that is more socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable.
If our purpose resonates with you, but you aren’t in a position to become a worker-owner or an individual investor, we would still like to hear from you! We want to encourage participation and will work with any kindred spirits to make contributing as accessible and sustainable as possible.
Mindful Maker Co 