Our Story
Tree Weaves was founded in 2017 by River Echeverria. River got into making tree nets when he lived in Colorado from 2012-2015. During that time, River was an extreme slackliner who actively participated in the slacklining community at the highest level. Tree nets and space nets are a really fun part of the slacklining community, and that’s how River got introduced to the concept of making nets out of rope and paracord. The first net he ever saw was the epic “Thug Mansion” space net created by Andy Lewis, which is rigged annually at Thanksgiving for the GGBY Highline Festival in the Fruit Bowl Highline area in Canyonlands, Moab, Utah. That was in 2013, and River immediately became a huge fan of the art of net-making. Being suspended 500’ high in a gigantic neon colored pentagonal spacenet with slackliners highlining all around and base jumpers hucking themselves off the net all around was such a mind-blowing experience; River had to have more of it. The following few years River travelled to Moab each thanksgiving and helped rig the epic spacenet (an impressive task that requires a team of at least 20 people and usually takes 1-2 days depending on conditions and focus level. Andy Lewis also has in incredible, intricate, 5+ level tree net in his backyard in Moab. River had been in other tree nets in the past, from the iconic ones in dead trees at the old school slackliner Terry Acomb’s slack ranch in Fruita, Colorado, to the renegade tree nets all over the Boulder, Colorado, highlining areas that slackliners have made using retired climbing rope. Every single tree net River came across was fascinating and incredible, but it was in Andy Lewis’ epic backyard tree net that River realized the true scale and scope of possibilities that this artform can embody; and it was in that net that River became so inspired by the artform that he realized he had to find a way to make this type of art himself. Thus began the dream of Tree Weaves.
Now, this was in 2014, and River wasn’t a homeowner. He didn’t really have anywhere to practice weaving or to create anything grand. In the meantime, however, his slacklining buddy Nicholas Honnold invited him to participate in a giant spacenet weaving party at a park in Boulder. River and a bunch of Colorado slackliners spent two days weaving a large neon green and pink square spacenet. It was really true OG slackline weaving––with virtually no rules––just getting the cord into the net in any way we could. Which is an experience that still influences the philosophy Tree Weaves preaches: that weaving is for everyone, and that ultimately there is no right or wrong way to weave. Sure we have our own techniques, rules, and standards of quality, but those are not absolute and don’t apply to all nets. If you know any knots, start there and get weaving.
After Nick’s space net was completed, in September of 2015, the slacklining crew took it up to the Upper Dream Canyon outside of Boulder and set it up. It was amazing, epic, and fun. In retrospect the timing felt destined, because right after that net’s maiden rig, River took off to the East Coast, where he knew he needed to be to experience life in a humid, grassy, forested environment, and where he thought there would be enough clientele to support his vision for Tree Weaves. In the meantime he worked as a Rolfer and a private slacklining instructor, and he started telling everyone he knew about his idea to start Tree Weaves. Eventually, one of his slacklining students, Tim, said he was interested in getting a net on his property, and thus Tree Weaves was formed in July of 2017.
After the initial installation was completed, River spent a lot of the proceeds on media so that we could properly market the concept to a broader online Audience. Over the course of the next year River and his partner Alex acquired a property in Asheville where they built the 2nd net (the Picnic Basket), and then offered to donate a net to a precious little forest school in Asheville called the Growing Wild Forest School. There were a few slow months with no commissions, and then finally a commission came off of Instagram (the Happy Hollow Tree Weave). After that more commissions started rolling in pretty fast, and once they had a waiting list that went for a few months (which was in summer of 2018), Alex left his job as a commercial interior design purchaser, and began working with Tree Weaves fulltime. Since autumn of 2018 Tree Weaves has received abundant commissions for tree nets, indoor net lofts, and portable space nets all across the US. It’s the fulltime job for both River and Alex, and provides part time work to a team of about 20 regular weavers and riggers who are scattered across the USA and pick up the work we have on a geographical basis.
River started Tree Weaves because he was so inspired to create nets as an artform, and the only real way to get these projects of scale created is by commission. It wouldn’t be feasible to fund the material and labor required to create these incredible works of art without the generous patronage of all the clients we’ve met over the past 5 years. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us over the years and we are so excited to meet more fans of our work!