June 6, 2005 Following an enormous surge of interest resultant from our story a few months back, Free Spirit Spheres has commenced limited production of the 3.2 metre fibreglass sphere tree houses and now has sphere shells (US$6,300+) and kits (US$35,000+) available for the DIY market. Orders are now also being taken for the wooden shells and component kits (US$35,000+), and fully-finished made-to-order wooden Free Spirit Spheres. (US$120,000+). Shells can also be rented for the night (if you’re in Canada), and licensing talks are underway with manufacturers in Sweden, UK, France, Argentina and Costa Rica.
“We’re currently making a shell a week,” Free Spirit Spheres’ Tom Chudleigh told Gizmag, “and we intend to increase that to six shells a month.”
“We’ve also had a lot of international enquiry regarding manufacturing the sphere’s under license and we have promising discussions underway in Sweden, UK, France, Argentina and Costa Rica, Chudleigh said. “All of those companies are interested in manufacturing and selling in their respective markets and I think it makes sense to have manufacturing spread out around the globe.”
One of the barriers that always prevented Free Spirit Spheres from announcing production capacity was the degree of global interest and with talks progressing well in several countries, the feasibility is beginning to increase of globally available spheres.
“Until that happens, our production capacity will be limited and people will get spheres on a first-come, first-served basis,” said Tom.
For those interested in experiencing a stay in a spherical tree house, Free Spirit Spheres are now also available for rent on a nightly basis, provided you’re prepared to travel to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. And if you do happen to decide on a Free Spirit Sphere, Tom has declared, “I would go anywhere to hang them. In fact that is the most fun of the whole operation.”
“Two of my greatest joys in life are travelling and climbing trees.”
If you are interested in a Free Spirit Sphere, try the company web site or send Tom an email and he'll send you a brochure.