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While some companies quietly scale back their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs under the weight of shifting political tides or economic pressure, others are moving in the opposite directioninvesting more, not less. In todays volatile climate, doubling down on DEI isnt just a values-driven decision; its a strategic one. In this article, leaders weigh in on why meaningful DEI efforts remain essentialnot optionalfor building resilient, future-ready workplaces. Diversity Drives Innovation and Competitive Edge Something is brewing in corporate America, and it’s more complex than most leaders realize. Take Target; it’s a perfect case study of what happens when anti-DEI strategies go awry. Their recent struggles aren’t just about merchandise; they’re about fundamental misunderstandings of workplace dynamics. But here’s the twist: diversity isn’t a cost. It’s an investment. Companies like Delta and Costco understand this. They’re not just checking boxes; they’re building ecosystems where different perspectives create competitive edges. Shareholders are noticing, too. Look at Apple, Levi’s, and Disney, where investors are actively voting against anti-DEI proposals. That’s not activism. That’s smart business strategy. The numbers tell a compelling story. Gallup research shows engagement isn’t about perks or salaries. It’s about belonging. When employees feel truly seen, they don’t just work; they innovate. They transform. In today’s talent landscape, diversity isn’t optional. It’s survival. The talent shortage isn’t coming; it’s here. What will happen to companies that can’t attract diverse talent? They’ll become footnotes in business history. This situation isn’t theoretical. This is happening right now. Shareholders understand what many executives still don’t: Inclusion drives performance. It creates resilience. It generates value that goes far beyond quarterly reports. The future doesn’t belong to the most traditional companies. It belongs to those brave enough to reimagine what talent, teamwork, and success really look like. Vivian Acquah CDE, Certified Diversity Executive, Amplify DEI Showcase MultiLingual Staff for Inclusive Service As the CEO of an award-winning, woman-owned legal practice, I stand proud in advocating for the prioritization of diversity, equity, and inclusion in every facet of business operations. These principles are not mere buzzwords; they are the bedrock upon which successful and sustainable organizations are built. A beneficial and diverse initiative that we wholeheartedly encourage other business owners to adopt is the strategic showcasing of Spanish-speaking staff to effectively and efficiently serve the Spanish-speaking community. By doing so, businesses signal a profound commitment to being inclusive and proactively addressing the burgeoning demand for tailored services within this increasingly significant demographic. The demographic landscape of the United States is undergoing a profound transformation. With the U.S. Hispanic population approaching 19% and projections indicating continued growth, the imperative for bilingual professionals has transcended mere desirability and become an absolute strategic necessity. Ensuring that Spanish-speaking clients can engage with legal experts in their native language fosters an environment of trust and comfort, particularly crucial during the inherently stressful circumstances often associated with legal matters. By resolutely enforcing, implementing, and actively employing Spanish-speaking staff, businesses can dismantle this formidable barrier, effectively guaranteeing equal access, diversity, and genuine inclusion for all clients seeking quality legal representation. This initiative is not simply a reactive measure; it represents a steadfast reaffirmation of a long-standing commitment to the foundational principles of diversity and inclusion. This intentional expansion of linguistic capabilities allows for the delivery of specialized and culturally sensitive services to the Hispanic community across a wide array of critical legal domains, including immigration law, family law, personal injury cases, and corporate matters. A nuanced understanding of the rich cultural context that informs the experiences of Spanish-speaking clients profoundly enhances an organization’s ability to craft and execute tailored legal strategies that are both effective and empathetic. This, we believe, should be a fundamental, nonnegotiable aspect of business standards for any company genuinely committed to serving its community. Gohar Abelian, Attorney/CEO, Abelian Law Firm Diverse Leadership Improves Decision-Making and Resilience We are witnessing an imperceptible unraveling in the upper ranks of corporate America. The once forceful push for boardroom and executive diversity is no longer gaining ground. According to recent reporting from Axios, the number of women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and professionals of color being considered for top leadership roles is declining, even as companies continue to issue the same polished statements about their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Public promises remain unchanged, yet private priorities are quietly shifting. Scaling back on making employees and clients feel included and like they belong is a reputational risk that people-centered leaders should not gamble to take. Diversity brings different perspectives that improve decision-making, uncover risks, and identify opportunities others may miss. In today’s chaotic environment, companies need leaders who understand a range of communities, experiences, and markets. A diversified inclusion strategy from the top down changes how decisions get made. It introduces resistance to groupthink and insists on better questions; questions that challenge assumptions, dissect risks, and pressure-test solutions. Homogeneous leadership and boards tend to reward alignment and cohesion, but they often miss what they aren’t trained to see. Diverse teams bring lived experiences and mental models that don’t sit neatly within the norm. This makes organizations more capable of handling ambiguity and leading through uncertainty while continuing to maintain engagement and loyalty from their customers and clients. Dr. Erkeda DeRouen, CEO, Digital Risk Compliance Solutions LLC DEI Strengthens Risk Resilience and Brand Trust One compelling reason to double down on DEI today is risk resilience. In a climate where reputational, legal, and social expectations are shifting rapidly, organizations that treat DEI as peripheralnot foundationalare exposing themselves to unnecessary risk. I’ve observed this firsthand: when DEI is deprioritized, it doesn’t just impact morale. It affects how your brand is perceived, how talent evaluates your leadership, and how vulnerable you become to legal scrutiny. Regulatory bodies, courts, and advocacy groups are not stepping back. In fact, they’re increasingly scrutinizing performative or regressive corporte behavior, especially when tied to equity, governance, or social responsibility. The most forward-looking companies I’ve worked with don’t see DEI as just a hiring metric. They treat it as part of their core governance model, risk framework, and leadership accountability system. That mindset doesn’t just protect brand trustit builds it. In today’s climate, doubling down on DEI isn’t just relevant. It’s risk-smart, strategy-smart, and essential to building resilient organizations people actually believe in. Michael Ferrara, Information Technology Specialist, Conceptual Technology Attract Overlooked Talent by Doubling Down We’ve always talked about Balance and Belonging instead of DEI, but it’s the same work with different words. Doubling down on these efforts, especially in this climate, is business-critical. I used to work at companies that looked diverse on paper but were completely homogeneous in thinking. They had the same backgrounds, approaches, and blind spots. We’d sit in meetings congratulating ourselves on our “great culture” while making decisions that only worked for people exactly like us. I cringe thinking back. The compelling reason to double down is that your competition for talent just got easier. While other companies are scaling back or getting spooked by political rhetoric, there’s a massive opportunity to attract incredible people who’ve been overlooked or undervalued elsewhere. Historically, we’ve hired some of our best team members from companies that retreated from these commitments or had toxic cultures. We also know that statistically, diverse teams make better decisions. When you have people who approach problems differently, who’ve had different life experiences, who process information in different ways, you catch mistakes before they become expensive. You spot opportunities others miss. You build products that work for more people. I think about all the AI tools clearly not designed by diverse teams that don’t work, like those automatic soap dispensers that only recognize light skin. That’s what happens when you don’t have diversity in your engineering team. The companies that are doubling down aren’t doing it because it’s trendy. They’re doing it because they’ve seen the results. Different perspectives lead to better outcomes, period. Call it DEI, call it Balance and Belonging, call it whatever makes you comfortable. Just make sure your team actually reflects the world around you. If you don’t, your competitors will. (Although, really, you should do it because it’s the right thing to do.) Amy Spurling, CEO/Founder, Compt Diverse Teams Fuel Innovation I view diversity, equity, and inclusion not as a moral add-on, but as an operational imperativeespecially in today’s climate. The most compelling reason to double down on DEI is that it directly fuels innovation and resilience, both of which are critical in our industry’s race toward digital transformation and personalized care. In healthcare IT, we develop systems meant to serve highly diverse populations. If the people building those tools don’t reflect the lived experiences of those they’re meant for, we risk reinforcing biases, excluding voices, or worsecausing harm. I’ve seen firsthand how teams with diverse perspectives produce smarter algorithms, more culturally competent patient engagement strategies, and stronger problem-solving under pressure. Embedding DEI in hiring and team structuring led to better accessibility design in one of our telehealth platforms, helping reach non-English-speaking and rural patients with higher engagement and lower attrition. Pulling back DEI now, especially when technology is evolving so rapidly, would be a step backward. The organizations that will thrive are those that make DEI intrinsic, not optional, to how they operate, build, and serve. In a world where trust, reach, and relevance are everything, inclusion is the only sustainable strategy. Riken Shah, Founder & CEO, OSP Labs DEI Builds Inclusive Cultures for Long-Term Success Organizations cannot afford to ignore the realities of a rapidly diversifying workforce and consumer base. The demographic makeup of the United States is shifting, and with that comes a growing expectation for workplaces to reflect the values, identities, and lived experiences of the people they employ and serve. DEI is not a side initiativeit is a business imperative. What many companies fail to realize is that the rollback of DEI does not exist in a vacuum. It sends a clear message about whose voices are valued, whose identities are protected, and whose growth is prioritized. And in a labor market where talent is more discerning than ever, that message matters. Younger generations (Gen Z in particular) are actively seeking out companies that align with their social values. They are paying attention not just to what companies say, but to what they do. DEI done well is not performative. It is not about corporate virtue-signaling. It is about building systems that mitigate bias, foster belonging, and ensure everyone has a fair shot at success. That is good for morale, innovation, retention, and reputation. It is also just the right thing to do. Choosing to double down on DEI is a choice to lead with integrity, to invest in long-term sustainability, and to recognize that inclusive cultures do not emerge by accidentthey are built with intention. Daniel Oppong, Founder & Lead Consultant, The Courage Collective Neurodiversity Shapes the Future Workforce Landscape Diversity is a fact, whether organizations (or the government) choose to acknowledge, embrace, and leverage its advantages or not. I’ll use as an example the aspect I focus on in my workneurodiversity, or variations in the way our brains and nervous systems are wired and function. 53% of Gen Z identify as neurodivergent. 62% of millennials identify as neurodivergent. Experts predict this could reach 70% or higher with Gen Alpha. By 2030five years from nowthese three generations are projected to make up 7580% of the workforce. They tend to be much less hesitant to ask for what they want and need than many of their older colleagues. Companies that don’t make an effort to cultivate a neuroinclusive environment will soon find themselves unable to attract some of the best and brightest talent, who will actively search out more welcoming and flexible workplaces. Successful organizations understand that policies, approaches, and systems that benefit neurodivergent employees actually benefit everyone. Given all the research and data on diverse teams generally outperfrming homogeneous teams in innovation, productivity, and effective problem-solving and decision-making, doubling down on DEI clearly benefits everyone as well. Rachel Radway, Executive & leadership coach, facilitator, speaker, author, RER Coaching
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For decades, Blenderthe open-source 3D software toolhad a quirk that distinguished it from other animation software on the market. Instead of clicking to select with the mouse or trackpads left button, it required users to right-click selections. It was a small but strange defiance of usability norms, and it was illustrative of Blenders unconventional approach to design software. For years after launching in 1994, Blender was considered an under-the-radar tool. Its challenging UX and open-source nature meant it was used primarily by designers and animators who had no money to spend on five-figure professional 3D software licenses. Then in 2019, things changed. Blender rolled out a wholesale redesign, including switching right-select to left-select. It updated its interface to be easier to use and introduced new features that could compete with bigger-budget software packages like Cinema 4D and Autodesk’s Maya. Data from Blender shows that download numbers jumped from tens of thousands of downloads per month to nearly 1 million after the relaunch, and since then user numbers have continued to grow. Today, Blender has become a go-to tool for creatives, and one of the most requested tools across current design jobs listings. According to data from Fast Companys 2025 Design Jobs report, requests for expertise in Blender jumped 88% in the past year, and its the most mentioned piece of software in graphic design job listings. The updates made six years ago have had ripple effects on Blenders business and relevance in the creative world. 2019 was the moment when the Blender Big Bang started, says Francesco Siddi, who serves as COO at the Blender Foundation and producer at Blender Studio. It was really a lot of different factors, but you sometimes reach a threshold of usability and accessibility combined with a bunch of other factors, and thats when things start to roll. The Swiss Army knife of software In recent years, Blender has transformed from niche software into a Swiss Army knife of digital creation that is invading designers desktops everywhere. There are motion graphics designers who put After Effects on the side and work in 3D space using Blender’s real-time rendering, which allows for instant visualization of scenes. Concept and traditional artists sketch directly in 2D/3D space using Blenders Grease Pencil, a powerful 2D paintbrush that allows users to draw, sculpt, and edit 2D elements directly in a 3D environment. Industrial designers prototype with geometry nodes. Alberto Petronioa lead designer who worked on yachts and planes before getting into the entertainment marketsays he hopes Blender will completely emancipate him from Photoshop, because that software has gone downhill. Petronio even edits video in Blender rather than using dedicated software. I know that there is DaVinci Resolve, but I don’t know how to use it. So if I have to cut or revert a video, it’s very easy for me to be in Blender. The revolution extends far beyond traditional creative fields. Every year at the Blender Conference, people come from all industries and parts of the world with extraordinary uses for the software, a testament of the flexibility and approachability that has made it so popular. Siddi told me how surprised he was when he discovered doctors simulating proteins with geometry nodes, forensic analysts reconstructing crime scenes from phone footage, and architects designing fire safety elements in buildings. One presenter at the 2022 edition digitally re-created the Beirut explosion of 2020 in extraordinary 3D detail using multiple video sources. Breaking down the wall The expansive use cases for Blender were not something the company could have foreseen. For decades, 3D software was considered niche and out of reach for most creatives. Since 1986, when John Lasseter and Ed Catmull launched Pixar as 3D modeling software, 3D software has spawned a constellation of multibillion-dollar industries producing everything from Hollywood hits to console games. But that creative explosion also created barriers that locked out entire communities of creators who didnt have the money or the resources needed to learn increasingly complex and technical software suites. Back in the 90s, it was a professional industry dominated by packages that cost thousands of dollars from companies like Alias and Wavefront running on prohibitively expensive computers by Silicon Graphics. Later, the software got cheaper as production moved to high-end (but barely affordable for most) PCs running packages like Maya or 3ds Max. Today 3D software demands monthly subscriptions ranging from $200 to $500, pricing out freelancers, students, and artists who might want to experiment with 3D. Luís Cherubini, cofounder of a Tokyo-based 3D outsourcing company, tells me that he started with Blender 17 years ago in Brazil because most people in Latin America back in the days couldnt afford the licenses. But price was just one part of the adoption equation: Historically 3D software has been really hard to use. The software interfaces remained very, very complex and disorganized, Cherubini says. The learning curve to get started was really big. All those packages evolved as specialized tools for large and small animation studios. Each software addressed specific production pipeline stagesmodeling, rigging, animation, renderingrequiring teams of specialists. The complexity worked for studios with dedicated departments, like Fords serial production factories, but alienated individual designers, 2D artists, conceptual artists, product designers, motion graphics creators, and even tattoo artists who needed broader tool sets without steep learning curves. Blender wasnt the exception. For decades, Blender was even more alienating than its competitor tools. It suffered from usability problems until the Blender Foundationthe nonprofit organization that controls its developmentcommitted to radical change at the risk of alienating its tiny but extremely dedicated user base. Blenders breakthrough moment In 2017, Google’s Summer of Code initiative provided funding to Blender for a complete overhaul of its user interface. They hired two to three programmers in-house in Amsterdam to revamp the software user interface, Cherubini tells me. The user interface became more accessible, everything became more user friendly. It was not only about the user interface, it was about the entire user experience. The July 2019 release of Blender 2.8 represented a complete reimagining of Blender’s UX. The foundation modernized the viewport system, which Siddi describes as the space where you spend the majority of your time. The previous system relied on technology that was 10 to 15 years old. The new viewportwhich took over the entire screen rather than being constrained to a small window surrounded by a labyrinth of icons and menuswas redesigned to let users focus on your artwork rather than distracting UI elements. It also enabled real-time visualization and faster iteration, which is crucial for production in general but especially for 2D design, motion graphics work, and concept development. It did so through a visualizationsystem called Eevee, a real-time rendering engine that eliminated lengthy render times and provided instant feedback to your actions in full color, rather than having to work with wireframes. A tabbed workspace system streamlined navigation. Modern icons and dark themes made the interface more intuitive. The new UI also allowed users to tailor the UX to their specific needs, Petronio tells me. You can completely restructure your layouts, he says. You can completely restructure your shortcuts. It’s very flexible, so it allows a lot of different types of professionals to use it for work. The customization capability transforms Blender from generic software into personalized creative environments. This modularity spawned an entire add-on economy, too. Add-ons range from $20 tools to specialized software like Quad Remesher, which costs $160 and optimizes complex 3D models. Some developers release code freely on GitHub while accepting donations. Others create proprietary tools for specific industries. But there was also a tiny, seemingly inconsequential UI change that was crucial for the Blender revolution: Left-click selection replaced right-click selection. For decades, Blender defied industry standards by using the mouse/trackpads right button for selection, creating an immediate barrier for newcomers. As Cherubini points out, this unconventional approach felt very strange, even for people who had never used a 3D software because most digital tools reserve left-click for primary actions like selection. The old method caused practical workflow issues too, as Petronio notes. While you’re selecting things, you don’t move them accidentally with left-click. This precision matters when manipulating complex 3D scenes. Like UX expert Jakob Nielsen says: Dont change an industry-wide UX convention unless your alternative is fundamentally better. The selection button change allowed users from Photoshop, Illustrator, and other standard tools to transition without reprogramming their muscle memory. This seemingly small update symbolized Blender’s shift from niche tool to accessible platform. The change was a cornerstone of a broader new philosophy: making Blender work with user intuition rather than against it, Siddi says. The accessibility breakthrough happened because Blender’s developers approached tool design differently than commercial software companies. When they implement something, they’re not trying to nudge you one way or the other, Petronio points out. They just put it in. They’re like, all right, it’s yours now. This philosophical difference enables users to adapt Blender to their workflows rather than forcing workflow changes. Daniel Vesterbaek, a freelance 3D generalist, tells me via email that this is one of Blender’s core advantages. The software never followed the ‘industry standard’ and wasn’t controlled by studios and shareholders. It was built by a bunch of skilled developers who submitted code because they were passionate about the project, not because they wanted their paycheck. The Grease Pencil factor Another important tool that has changed the perception of Blender for 2D artists and designers is Grease Pencil, one of the most attractive tools for newcomers because it basically feels like painting with a Photoshop brush. The tool fundamentally reimagines how artists approach 2D creation by placing it directly within 3D space. It began as a simple annotation tool for making temporary notes in 3D scenes but evolved into a 2D drawing, painting, and animation system that exists natively in Blender’s 3D viewport. The core innovation of Grease Pencil lies in its unique approach to digital drawing. Unlike traditional 2D software that works on flat canvases, Grease Pencil creates strokes as collections of points positioned in 3D space. These strokes behave like 3D objectsthey can be moved, rotated, lit, and even rigged like any other element in a Blender scene. Artists can draw a character from one angle, then move the camera around to view it from different perspectives, or integrate 2D drawings directly with 3D models and lighting. Users love Grease Pencil because it breaks down the traditional barriers between 2D and 3D workflows. Artists can create traditional frame-by-frame animation, concept art, paintings, illustrations, cutout puppet animation, motion graphics, and storyboards all within the same 3D environment. At any time, you can transform and animate those 2D designs into sophisticated animated graphics adding tools like lighting and cameras. Photoshop and After Effects have tools to add 3D elements, but they feel like an afterthought slapped into their 2D architecture. Grease Pencil takes the opposite approach, adding 2D flexibility and power to a 3D environment in a way that feels natural. The tool supports pressure-sensitive styluses and offers sophisticated features like onion skinning, vector-based editing, and a comprehensive modifier system that includes noise, build, tint, and other effects. These modifiers allow artists to create complex art without destroying the original artwork, maintaining nondestructive workflows at all times. This versatility has attracted artists from diverse backgrounds who previously worked in separate software ecosystems. Illustrators can paint directly on 3D surfaces, motion graphics designers can create depth-aware animations, and concept artists can sketch ideas that integrate seamlessly with 3D scenes. The tool’s ability to combine traditional 2D drawing freedom with 3D spatial awareness has made it particularly valuable for stylized animation projects, where artists want to maintain hand-drawn aesthetics while benefiting from 3D camera movements and lighting. Taking over education Midge Mantissa Sinnaevea 3D artist and teacher at the Syntra AB training center in Flanders, Belgiumwitnessed the other Blender seismic shift that led to its recent popularity. “It exploded in schools,” says Sinnaeve, whos been teaching for 15 years and noticed Blender’s popularity surge in the last 5. Suddenly, it’s everywhere, he says, noting that students embrace Blender’s Swiss Army knife approach. You can do 2D animation. You can do video editing. You can do compositing. You can do 3D animation. You can do everything really. It also helps that the software is free. Universities worldwide have adopted Blender as primary teaching software, creating talent pools that influence industry implementation. Game studios like Ecosoft, where Petronio worked, “decided to use Blender to save money and to take advantage of the amount of talents that are studying Blender instead of 3ds Max.” Another unexpected factor that helped popularity was COVID-19. The global pandemic and its lockdowns accelerated adoption as creators gained time at home to experiment. “There was really big growth of the software,” Siddi recalls. “People had time to play with it and they found out that it was actually something fun that they wanted to do. Blender retained a lot of users after that time.” Social media also amplified Blender’s visibility as artists shared impressive work online. “You get skilled artists who have never used the software before,” Siddi tells me. “They can find their way around. They can make something awesome, show it to the world. And all ofa sudden, people think Oh, wow, Blender is a great tool!” The transformation reflects deeper changes in digital creation. “The digital natives, kids who start to do content creation nowadays, they know about Blender,” Siddi says. “Everybody knows. So then you at least try it and then you play with it. And Blender is meant to be accessible and playful.” All you need is a computer and an internet connection and youre ready to go, at any company, anywhere in the world, Sinnaeve says. I just download it, install it, and I’m good to go. I don’t have to think about licensing. Just having that safety net of knowing that the software is never going to go anywhere really gives me more time to think about what I want to do with it.” AI control The flexible power of Blender feels even more appealing in the era of generative art. It’s something the Blender Foundation has been thinking about. The topic of AI is obviously very hot, and people want to know what Blender is going to do with it,” Siddi says. The foundation is leaning toward creating AI tools that can speed up people’s creative workflows while allowing them to keep control. He says its developers are talking about upscalers (to lower render times), denoisers (to increase quality), voice isolation (for dubbing), and computer vision-related stuff to help artists work with external images in an easier way. These technologies address practical workflow bottlenecks without generating content that might compete with human artistic vision. The foundation will maintain its core philosophy, Siddi says, noting, Our goal is to make artists be in control. That’s the mantra when you talk about anything, but especially when you talk about AI stuff. There is already AI integration through community initiatives. Users employ Blender for synthetic data generation, training AI models with 3D-rendered environments. Others bridge Blender with ComfyUIan open tool to set up all types of generative AI workflowsfeeding 3D scene information to AI rendering nodes. Siddi highlights Cascadeur as an example of AI assistance that maintains artistic control while improving efficiency. This keyframing tool allows animators to pose characters, then uses motion capture training data to interpolate between poses more naturally than traditional algorithms. This is something that is already entering more the territory of making people cringe, thinking that this is now taking control away from the artist, Siddi admits. But this is a tool that allows animators to pose a character in 3D, then do another pose, and then the AI interpolates. The vision extends to contextual AI interfaces that understand user intent without replacing creative decisions. Siddi describes potential VR workflows in which artists could command Put a tree there and have the system reference their existing asset library rather than generating new content. I don’t want it to generate a random tree. I have a tree in my library. I know the tree that I’m talking about, he explains. And in theory, if you train a system to be aware of what your context is, you can say, Put the tree there. This measured approach also reflects Blender’s nonprofit structure and community-driven ethos. Unlike megacorporations that are rapidly restructuring around AI, the foundation must balance innovation with sustainability. We are in a constant battle for making our project really, truly sustainable, Siddie tells me. So even if they wanted to go crazy on AI, the development fund that supports core features cannot match the AI investments of companies orders of magnitude larger. The result, however, is the same. The foundations strategy acknowledges AI’s potential while preserving what makes Blender unique: its commitment to empowering artists rather than automating them away. It makes sense, as this is the core philosophy that transformed an obscure open-source project into the creative industry’s most versatile tool.
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Dustin Feider never expected to become a full-time treehouse designer. But for the last two decades, hes made a career out of building treehouses as a form of art. In one of his projects, a geometric pod shaped like a pinecone is suspended 50 feet above the ground inside a grove of giant redwood trees. Honey Sphere, Los Angeles [Photo: O2 Treehouse] In another project, tucked behind a house in Northern California, a 30-foot-high spiral staircase leads to a large wooden deck for dinner parties, with tunnels underneath for children to play. Across a rope bridge, a geodesic dome hangs in the air between another cluster of redwoods. In L.A., another spherical treehouse was exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and then installed in the backyard of Doors guitarist Robby Krieger. Cloud Ripple, Mill Valley [Photo: O2 Treehouse] These arent typical treehousesand some can cost as much as an actual house. Feiders company, O2 Treehouse, charges a minimum of $50,000 for a base custom model. But its average treehouse costs an eye-popping $400,000. Cloud Ripple, Mill Valley [Photo: O2 Treehouse] Feider started thinking about treehouses in a class project when he was studying furniture design at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He took inspiration from Buckminster Fuller’s famous geodesic domes. “I was considering a form for a modern treehouse, with this idea that you could create something that was flat-packed and shippable,” he says. Blackbird, Seattle [Photo: O2 Treehouse] After graduating, he took a series of other design jobs, but simultaneously put together a website with his design. His first client wanted a geodesic treehouse mounted 50 feet up a poplar tree in Wisconsin. Initially, Fieder thought the treehouses would be the first in a series of different products that focused on sustainable design. But they quickly became so popular that he never stopped making them. Blackbird, Seattle [Photo: O2 Treehouse] After some early media coverage, he started working with a client in Beverly Hills, and then ended up building treehouses for others on the same block. The projects kept coming, and Fieder realized that he had a viable business. “I thought, wow, this can work,” he says. O2 Treehouse now employs around 40 people, including woodworkers and metalworkers who build prefab parts in a shop in Northern California, designers, and three construction crews. Pinecone, Bonny Doon [Photo: O2 Treehouse] The process takes time. First, the team visits a new site and starts sketching and discussing early ideas with the client. They also carefully study the available treessomething that’s made easier with iPhones, which now have LiDAR scanners that can map out a tree’s exact form. The design and engineering process usually takes three months. Prefabricating the parts takes another three months, and installation typically takes three months as well. Some projects take longer; one treehouse completed in 2024 took a year and a half to finish. Pinecone, Bonny Doon [Photo: O2 Treehouse] The company has custom hardware that helps securely attach the treehouses to trees without restricting the trees’ movement. The weight is enormous: the dangling “pinecone,” for example, weighs 5.5 tons. But large trees can support the structures without harming the tree’s health. “The trees grow outward and basically seal around the hardware,” Fieder says. “It’s a natural process of healing that wound.” Honey Sphere, Los Angeles [Photo: O2 Treehouse] So far, the company has built more than 100 treehouses. Most are for recreation, though Fieder has envisioned more complex designs that could serve as homes. “The idea being that when you buy a new property, you don’t have to clear the trees to build your house,” he says. “We actually plan the programming of your house around the trees are already on site, creating courtyards and an indoor-outdoor type of living space.” Blackbird, Seattle [Photo: O2 Treehouse] The company is now beginning to build treehouses where guests can stay through a franchise it calls Treewalkers, beginning with a glamping site near Atlanta. As people ascend into the tree canopy, looking through a treehouse’s large windows at a new view of the woods, Fieder wants to help inspire them to take better care of the planet. “I’ve been on this mission to reconnect people with nature through these architectural experiences in the woods,” he says. Treewalkers “will allow us to release our works from private backyards and open it to the public.”
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