Alexandra Climent

Today on the show, we had the incredible privilege of getting to talk with Alexandra Climent, a woodpreneur who specializes in working with some of the densest wood in the world. Alexandra is a self-taught woodworking artist who fell in love with jungle wood's beauty while sourcing it for construction uses. This changed her entire future and career path significantly. 

What Drew You To The Urban Wood Industry?

Between trips to the jungle to collect and source felled wood for her creative projects and her time back home in New York, Alexandra started creating a unique and beautiful story about her life and brand through Instagram. 

The Arrival of the Wood and the Future it Held

It took a lot of work and patience for Alexandra to finally have enough wood that it could be shipped to the United States, and she had to deal with a lot of hurdles and red tape to get it there, but finally, the wood arrived.

For many woodpreneurs, the wood's story in itself is part of the entire package, and that holds especially true in this case. 

Alexandra describes how she was in the jungle, seeing where all this wood came from and the animals and organisms that were living amongst the trees for so many years. Her desire to share that story, to share that feeling with someone who couldn't physically be in the jungle, serves as a continuing motivation for these products.

Sustainability is also of enormous concern to this exotic woodworker. She focuses on exporting wood for design purposes that most people have never seen before. This focus on less popular species means that she puts less pressure on trees and their associated biomes that are in high demand, which ultimately protects the trees and nature as a whole. 

The advice Alexandra has to offer other woodworkers focused on sustainability in this industry is to use species that are not in high demand.

Learning to Work with this Rare Wood

Surprisingly getting the wood from far away jungles wasn't even the most challenging step in this journey. As an entirely self-taught artist and woodworker, Alexandra also had to find shop space and learn how to work with this incredibly difficult material that is exceedingly rare in the industry on her own. 

Once the wood arrived, Alexandra would spend any spare time off from her full-time job working with her materials and honing her craft. Eventually, she got a few clients and decided to leap into her business full-time.

Steve sums it up perfectly:

"You had this job, and the dream was making its way on a container someplace over to you, and then when it got there, you bet on yourself."

What Have Some Of the Challenges Been?

It has been a journey even after going full time to frame her business in a way that makes sense with the product she works with. Many woodpreneurs have multiple projects on the go or produce content in a steady stream, which can be intimidating. Still, while it is all woodworking, it's a very different industry when you consider the medium.

The wood Alexandra works with is extraordinarily dense and requires specialized tools, care, and crafting to produce stunning results. 

A Look at the Past and Future

If Alexandra were to start her business over again from scratch, she thinks she might have benefited from a business plan of sorts. Even now, her biggest focus is on how not to waste time and money with broad marketing efforts.

For 2021 the goal is expanding the business and ideally getting to do more speaking engagements about her story and passion for this industry while taking into account the restrictions that have been imposed by the global pandemic. 

Instagram: @alexandracliment

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amoonfox

Website: https://www.alexandracliment.com/?fbclid=IwAR2kSii5Nra-Z5Oi1HeHOpUt-UpV2_n3-irUqrrrlxLTb9WQ7LlHPkfAgRE