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I like the word, “Serendipity.” Google tells me its “The art of finding something by looking for something else.” That’s close but not complete. To me, serendipity has divine orchestration written all over it, which I personally find somewhat comforting these days. I mean, let’s face it, humankind hasn’t exactly shown a lot of foresight of late.

LJUrban had a serendipitous moment recently. We had some custom cabinets made for our office. It took a long time to get the design and material choices down, but we finally got it right, thanks to the patience and persistence of Jon at blankblank. A clean, urban, modular design. Lots of counter space. Custom to our specific needs. Eco-friendly materials (wheatboard and Japanese kiri wood).

However, when we actually got the cabinets, there were some flaws with the kiri wood front panels. Jon took one look and assured us that the panels would be completely redone.

In the meantime, Vanessa learned about the coffee table dilemma at Café Refugio. Joy had these re-used tables that worked but didn’t add any style points to her shop. Hmmmm…our botched front panels might be a good fit. We invited her to take a look and as soon as she saw them, she flipped out. Turns out that way back in the interior design phase, she had done a little research on green tabletop materials and really, really wanted kiri wood tabletops in her shop but, alas, it was too expensive. What about the flaws?, we asked. No concerns. So, we asked Jon what would be done with the panels and he said the manufacturer would just throw them away.

Micah, being the generous volunteering-type he is, offered to refabricate the panels to fit her tables and VOILA!, Joy suddenly found herself with eight custom-made kiri wood tables. Jon gets to spin a problem into an eco-opportunity. We get to support local eco-effort.

Nice.

Serendipity.

Jason