private industry artificial christmas trees home decor founder thomas harman headquarters redwood city california usa key people thomas harman founder and ceo products christmas trees christmas wreaths & garland topiary christmas decorations home decor website http www.balsamhill.com balsam hill makes artificial christmas trees christmas decorations and home decor for consumer and commercial use . the privately held company is located in northern california and serves customers worldwide . balsam hill specializes in artificial christmas trees modeled after naturally occurring varieties of commonly used christmas trees . 1 2 contents 1 history 2 technology 3 the balsam hill showroom 4 corporate philanthropy 5 awards & accolades 5.1 2015 5.2 2014 5.3 2013 5.4 2012 6 references 7 external links history edit balsam hill was founded by thomas harman 3 after discovering his brother in law was allergic to the mold spores found in natural christmas trees . 4 harman could not find an artificial christmas tree that looked real enough so he set out to develop a line of artificial trees that were highly realistic and luxurious . 5 in october 2006 balsam hill opened for business online offering three collections the balsam hill collection vermont signature collection and napa christmas signature collection . 4 a year later the good housekeeping research institute named balsam hill s 7.5 foot balsam fir the best overall 6 artificial christmas tree . in 2012 balsam brands which owns balsam hill earned revenues of 34.7 million 7 turning the company into one of silicon valley s fastest growing online retailers . 8 balsam hill ventured offline by opening a showroom 9 in burlingame california in august 2013 . balsam hill has expanded its offerings to include fall halloween and other home d cor items for sale . 10 technology edit harman a graduate of the stanford business school 5 spent five years developing the technology for creating realistic artificial christmas trees . 4 he began by making patterns cast from real norway spruce branches molding the tree from multiple plastics and painting each branch by hand . balsam hill s designers continue to use real tree cast molds and multiple color shading in order to match the texture and coloration of actual branches . 3 in 2007 the bh balsam fir which uses balsam hill s exclusive true needle technology earned high marks from the good housekeeping research institute for its true green color and natural downswept branches . the institute also noted the tree s technological features which include an electrical connection for tree toppers and a foot pedal on off switch for the lights . 6 the balsam hill showroom edit in august 2013 balsam hill opened a brick and mortar store in burlingame california . a portion of the warehouse serves as a discount outlet . 11 the store is within reach from the san francisco international airport . 12 corporate philanthropy edit in november 2012 balsam hill collaborated with scentsicles which sells fragrant ornaments for the first global christmas tree decorating event to use digital technology . participants used a robotic arm to decorate a virtual rotating christmas tree streamed live on the communitree website . 13 each ornament affixed digitally on the tree sent a 5 donation to the philadelphia branch of toys for tots foundation . in 2014 balsam hill partnered with operation smile for the celebritiesforsmiles campaign . balsam hill donated ornaments from their new home d cor collection which were in turn autographed by participating celebrities including harrison ford gavin rossdale blake shelton gwen stefani mark wahlberg pharrell williams and many more . the ornaments were then auctioned off to benefit operation smile . 14 awards & accolades edit 2015 edit ranked 1703rd in inc 5000 fastest growing private companies 15 2014 edit ranked 16th in the silicon valley business journal fastest growing private companies 16 ranked 1315th in the inc 5000 fastest growing private companies 17 ranked 61st in the san francisco business times fastest growing private companies 18 2013 edit ranked 360 in the top 500 web retailers by internet retailer magazine 19 ranked 70 in the top companies in the san francisco metro area 20 by inc. magazine ranked 73 in the top retail companies 7 by inc. magazine ranked 1305 in the inc 5000 companies by inc. magazine named 12th fastest growing private company in silicon valley 8 up from 24th place in 2012 . 2012 edit ranked no. 54 of 100 on the top 100 retail companies by internet retailer 21 named fastest growing e retailer by internet retailer magazine ranked no. 1145 of 5000 on america s fastest growing private companies by inc. magazine ranked no. 39 of 100 on the 100 fastest growing private companies in the bay area 22 by the san francisco business times references edit go fake the boston globe . december 6 2007 . artificial trees natural looking or borderline tacky san diego union tribune . november 25 2007 . a b fresh vs. fake choosing the right christmas tree sunset magazine . december 2012 issue a b c hot stuff sf gate . december 6 2006 . a b o tannenbaum artificial tree maker thomas harman mba 05 . stanford alumni magazine november december 2012 issue a b 3 artificial christmas trees that will look great every year good housekeeping 2007 a b company profile at inc. magazine 2013 a b the fastest growing private companies in silicon valley san francisco business times san jose . october 18 2013 adding to e commerce success albuquerque journal business september 22 2013 balsam brands ceo looks to branch out san francisco business times . san francisco business times . retrieved 2015 10 22 . when clicks aren t enough online retailers become old fashioned brick and mortar stores san jose mercury news business august 29 2013 authentic looking fake christmas trees a real option . sfgate . retrieved 2015 10 22 . robot arm lets you digitally decorate christmas tree for charity mashable . november 21 2012 stars autograph ornaments for celebritiesforsmiles . the huffington post . retrieved 2015 10 22 . balsam brands number 1703 on the 2015 inc. 5000 . inc.com . retrieved 2015 10 22 . meet all 50 of 2014 s fastest growing companies silicon valley business journal . silicon valley business journal . retrieved 2015 10 22 . inc. 5000 list spots 99 silicon valley companies with huge revenue growth . slideshow bay area s fastest growing private companies 2014 san francisco business times . san francisco business times . retrieved 2015 10 22 . sales growth bonds the top 500 specialty merchants internet retailer magazine . may 30 2013 top companies in the san francisco metro area on the 2013 inc. 5000 inc. magazine balsam brands 2012 honors . inc.com fast 100 fastest growing bay area companies listed october 26 2012 external links edit balsam hill christmas tree company v t e christmas trees cultivation christmas tree cultivation christmas tree cultivation history christmas tree pests and weeds production canadian production danish production global production mexican production u.s. production artificial artificial christmas tree aluminum christmas tree feather christmas tree pre lit tree decorations candy cane christmas ornament christmas lights garland pickle pleated christmas hearts shiny brite ornaments szaloncukor tinsel tree topper individual trees anthem boston california capitol chicago grand place brussels grove l.a. lisbon portugal macy s atlanta milwaukee mount ingino italy u.s. capitol u.s. national tree rockefeller center toledo ohio zoo trafalgar square london tree paris vatican white house trade groups american christmas tree association british christmas tree growers association canadian christmas tree growers association christmas tree promotion board danish christmas tree growers association national christmas tree association other topics chichilaki christmas tree stand festive ecology hanukkah bush holiday tree rouse simmons singing christmas tree tree baler retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title balsam hill & oldid 715144285 categories artificial christmas treescompanies based in redwood city california navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 14 april 2016 at 00 10 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia 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