Grovemade Wood & Leather iPhone 6 Plus Case Review

I have a soft spot for wooden cases; I love the way they transform metal and glass devices into a more caressable object and how they add protection without adding weight. Wood cases never interfere with phone antennas, and some are like works of art. The Grovemade Wood & Leather iPhone 6 Plus Case does all of this and more.

Look at the beautiful interlocking corners on the Grovemade case

Available in either walnut and leather or maple and leather, the Grovemade Wood & Leather iPhone Case’s most notable feature (at first glance, anyway), is its smooth vegetable-tanned leather cover that wraps around the front and back of the phone. It’s absolutely lovely in either color.

The cover has been minimally treated with vegetable tannins to retain the inherent beauty of the leather, complete with the scratches, dents, creases and dings characteristic of a 100 percent natural product. Through everyday handling, a rich and beautiful patina will develop, making a piece that is uniquely yours.

When offered a choice, I requested the walnut and black because I figured it would go with everything, but the lighter leather on the maple case really appeals to me, too.

These pictures show how the leather just drapes so beautifully over the front and back of the case; there is a bit of an extended tab on the front to make lifting the cover a matter of flicking it with your thumb.

The inside of the case is just as gorgeous as the outside; it is completely lined with either maple or walnut. While we are peeking inside, allow me to point out a few things worth noting:

• There are three magnets on the tab that line up with three metal disks on the wooden shell; these keep the cover firmly shut.
• The spine of the case is grooved leather to allow it to easily open, close, and fold all the way behind the wooden shell.
• There are three notches cut into the wooden cover; they correspond with a tab in the wooden shell to allow three different viewing angles in landscape mode.
• There is another grooved leather section in the middle of the wooden shell’s back which allows that portion of the case to fold back for insertion and removal of the phone as well as propping the phone for viewing.
• There are cutouts for the camera, mute switch, 3.5mm headphone jack, and the charging port. Worth noting is that this cutout is sized to only work with original Apple cables (or aftermarket cables that have a similarly slim collar near the Lightning connector).
• There are wooden covers for the power and volume buttons.

This is that tab I was mentioning that fits into one of the three notches in the cover.

So how do you get your iPhone into the case? Considering that this is a single shell with no sliding parts, it’s actually a lot easier than expected. Follow along with the pictures to see…

Lest you think that this iPhone 6 Plus case is going to flop loosely from the back when you don’t want it to; it won’t. More tiny magnets hold the side of the shell to the back of the case.

When you are ready to watch a movie or if you are using your phone as an alarm clock, you just separate the left side of the shell from the back of the case, and slip the tab into one of the notches in the cover.

When you want to read or take a call, you can fold the cover flat under the shell …

These beautiful cases are “conceptualized, fabricated and constructed by Grovemade in Portland, Oregon” with the following in mind:

• All wood construction using the strength of grain direction
• CNC milled
• Precision-crafted corner joints
• Full access to all phone functions
• Hand sanded and hand stained
• Manufacturing process creates minimal waste
• Conceptualized, fabricated and constructed by Grovemade in Portland, Oregon

This iPhone 6 Plus case is a gorgeous example of what happens when an artisan is given the chance to do something special with their chosen medium; the case is a pleasure to look at, to use and to hold; it is also extremely functional.

The Grovemade Wood & Leather iPhone 6 Plus Case retails for $129 and it is also available for the iPhone 6. You can find the walnut and leather version here, and the maple and leather version here.

Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample

What I Like: Visually stunning and lovely to touch; the wood portion of the case is perfectly matched to the iPhone’s buttons and ports; easy to insert or remove the iPhone; magnets keep the cover closed; case can be positioned in multiple ways for desktop viewing

What Needs Improvement: The Grovemade Wood & Leather iPhone 6 Plus case only works with stock Apple charging cables or aftermarket cables with very small collars.

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