Jul 30, 2007

Trash still treasured at Woodstock Chimes; Founder shares story of company’s original products, built from landfill materials

Woodstock Chimes Founder and CEO Garry Kvistad does not take lightly the familiar saying “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” In the early 1970s, Garry began what would become Woodstock Chimes in – of all places – an Illinois landfill. A recent college graduate at the time, Garry was teaching at Northern Illinois University. As a benefit of the job, he could take several courses each year, so Garry enrolled in one that taught techniques for making instruments. Like many young people, Garry lacked the financial resources to pursue his hobby, so he visited his local landfill, hoping to find scrap metal that he could use to build instruments.

“At the time, scouring landfills for usable materials was not an uncommon practice,” says Garry. “I was looking for any type of metal with a quality sound to it. I spotted a pile of discarded lawn chairs. Instead of trash, I saw a free source of materials for my new hobby.” Using the tubes from the discarded lawn chairs, Garry crafted a metallophone, a xylophone-like instrument made with metal instead of wood. “That was my first experiment,” jokes Garry.

Not long after, Garry created his second experiment, this time inspired by the Scale of Olympos, a 7th century BC Greek pentatonic scale that Garry found fascinating. “You can’t play the scale’s ancient notes on a modern piano, but I really wanted to hear the Scale of Olympos,” he says. “I came up with the idea of cutting and tuning the lawn chair tubes to the exact frequency of the scale, and created a windchime from the tubes. It was the perfect instrument that the wind could play randomly. Plus, you don’t need formal musical training to appreciate the beautiful sound.”

Soon after, Diane exhibited her handmade soft sculptures at the Cincinnati Craft Fair and agreed to let Garry hang his new windchime, the Chimes of Olympos alongside her crafts. It immediately sparked an interest among attendees, and by 1983 Garry was devoting all of his energy to making windchimes.

Today, nearly three decades later, the very first Woodstock Chimes, Chimes of Olympos is still selling strong among the 50 other styles of windchimes that the company offers. In addition to windchimes, Woodstock Chimes also distributes the award-winning Woodstock Music Collection(tm), a fabulous assortment of instruments that can be easily played with little practice. One of the first instruments in the collection, the Chimalong, was inspired by Garry’s original metallophone and remains a best seller today.

About Woodstock Chimes
Founded by music pioneers Garry and Diane Kvistad, Woodstock Chimes markets more than 100 different products in its Signature(tm) and Encore Collections. In addition to its Environments line of garden accessories featuring the popular Dcuks designs, Woodstock’s other home and garden offerings include hand-tuned chimes, bells, gongs, and musical fountains. The company’s Music Collection is a unique assortment of instruments from around the world that can be played and enjoyed without extensive training or practice. For more information on Woodstock Chimes, visit www.chimes.com or call 1.800.422.4463 or 845.657.6000.