merry christmas to me, from pedro

Holy gingerbread cookies, I love Pedro Almodovar!
He has just put out an amazingly stunning [looking... I plan to see it tomorrow] film "Broken Embraces" AND he has inspired enproyecto arquitectura to create a beautiful monument to him.

I am pretending all these visually stunning things are for me for Christmas... best gift ever.

the novice equestrian

Deborah Butterfield Sculpture. 1990.


I have been looking into equestrian center and horse images recently, and thought I should share some... they make me want to ride off into the sunset.





Luis Barragan designed the amazing Fuente de los Amantes, in Los Clubes. 1966.

New, new studio

Yesterday Free Time Industries [FTI] and ARM ARCH Inc moved into a new studio - we will be shacking up with MUSA design to form a design co-op! We still have some setting up to do, but we have the salon put together and Katie and I got to work. In the future, we have plans to turn the upstairs into a high-end/ local-made focused design store [Think moss or 10 Corso Como]. We will sell our products, products we make with MUSA design, and art and products from other Seattle designers/artists. It is all very exciting: 2617 5th Ave, Seattle, WA, 98141.

Today we are working on the Spring 2010 line for FTI. All of the pieces will be made of water-jet cut metals, with Physical Vapor Deposition coatings (think of 1990's mirrored+colored glasses). We are thinking of calling the line something like "Take me to Zardoz" or "Super Futurism"... let us know if you have any other ideas! Take a look at our "inspiration board" and the rad picture of Sean Connery taken from the 1974 film "Zardoz" to get the general feeling we aspire for. We have decided we will make about three necklaces, a bolo tie, two earrings, one ring, and one bracelet. We are bringing down the scope of pieces based on what was learned from the "Laser Nature"; line it's fun to design, but a pain to assemble so many different things when you are doing the assembling!

Inspiration Board:


Zardoz:

FREE TIME INDUSTRIES + I LOVE KATE AND ARIANA

After a long weekend of working and collaborating, I am happy to announce that I will be joining forces with Kate Bailey and Ariana Budner to make Free Time Industries (FTI) a raging success! We have about 6 product lines we are working on, a new studio to move into, and some amazing earrings for sale at Fancy!

We have called the earrings "Cocoa Beach Party" - I picked up the shells during my Thanksgiving trip home to Cocoa Beach and brought them back to play around with... it just so happened that Fancy asked FTI to make some new products for their "earring show" which started Saturday ... so we spent Friday evening hand lacquering shells, then Saturday morning putting them together! Kyle Johnson took some amazing photos


... or buy from FTI line "Laser Nature" at Supermarket.

bring back the pwr

although pwr crft has been on hiatus [because our lovely founder is now attending a time intensive graphic design program], we are bringing it back. we will keep our meetings on Wednesday evenings at 6pm – now with a new location: kate and my studio. we have a big table, lot’s of supplies, and want to get the “diy” group together again.

we will start on December 2^nd and keep is going unless otherwise noted. that will give us 4 craft nights to make holiday prezzies!

there is no oven, so we will have to pot luck it from here on out.

geo jewels

"geo jewels" reference geology and geometry - looking to both for inspiration. it is an experiment in pushing the qualities of powder coated metal to form objects of desire and use. this project is underway and what is shown are process images. in collaboration with free time industries. free time and arm arch share a studio space and lead a weekly craft group called "pwr crft".

office hours

while i love consulting and working with others in their respective space, i need to keep my own space and hours too! so here they are. i will start keeping them next week.

office hours:
wednesday: 6 p.m. - until i am completely worn out
thursday + friday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
saturday: 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.

location:
on first ave. between spring and madison [on top of my friends at far4]. enter via the back alley, go through door with mobius cycle sign, walk up three flights, and there i will be.

carving: earth and blocks

I have been sketching, writing, and researching and decided that block printing will be the medium I work with for our library project. What haunts me most about the photos from Seattle's regrade are the huge holes and people peering into them - as if they are staring into an unknown future. I like the thought that they could not imagine the massive hills gone, and now it is hard for us modern Seattelites to imagine them there in the first place.

Therefore, I am exaggerating the excavation in my images to have the holes seem endless. Here are a few sketches that I created from looking at original images from the Denny regrade taken in 1908.



The next step will be to carve the images in a manner that conveys depth. To help me with this I started researching wood and linoleum block printing techniques and found these gems.


High Tide Detritus : Reduction color linocut 2008 Sherrie York (American)


Ocean Surface Woodcut 1992 Vija Celmins (American, born Latvia, 1938)


Essence Mulberry Helen Frankenthaler (American, born 1928)

library finding + art focus: denny regrade

After speaking with Jody - manager of special collections at the Seattle Public Library - she suggested that I look at the historic photos of Seattle's Denny regrade project. Basically, all the hills in Seattle were getting in the way of expansion, so they tore those suckers down! The massive destruction and molding of earth is what strikes me most.

Therefore, for my library/ art project I will focus on the concept of massive cutting for the hope of some imagined civilized future. I am thinking of making a series of wood block prints, or possibly layered paper cut-outs - something using the process of cutting in any case.

This leveling -- called the Denny Regrade -- proceeded in two stages: 1902-1910 and 1929-1930.

Photographs of Denny Hill from 1928, 1936, and 1964. New features from ‘64 include a Space Needle and enhanced photo stitching technology sans seams. Photograph courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives.

Nas hands modeling the special gloves we get to wear whilst perusing special collections.

studio space + library project

I got a new studio space with Katie, Nick, Tomika, and Lindsey.


... now we are collaborating on a library project we stole from the new york public library.



The studio folk [+ Nas and Aya] met last night at the special collections with librarian Talia Kaye to see what they have... stay tuned for what we make!

ARM ARCH Inc.; past, present, and future

past:

I decided to be an architect when I was 15.

I had read “The Fountainhead” and seen a spread in Vanity Fair by Josef Astor of architect portraits. Both the photo series and the book make reference to the Beaux-Arts Ball of 1931 were a bunch of architects dressed up as their own buildings; being exposed to these two separate references, I realized that architecture had a certain cultural relevance and wanted to be a part of it.

From that time on, I have looking into connections between culture, myself, and architecture. I acquired degrees in architecture and architecture history, completed my professional internship, and now [as of two months ago] started my own company. The term “company” is deceiving however - I see it more as a vehicle to continue with my personal interests of the built environment.

present:

The past two months have been very busy - I collaborated with MUSA design on a few projects including a house in Korea and a European interior in Capitol Hill, traveled to London, and have been acting as an owner’s representative on a series or projects.

In the next few months I will to continue to focus the basics of running a business and take my licensing exams, learn the nuances of LLC’s for the creation of a development venture, and gear-up for a renovation project. While this time is not entirely design-focused, it is a necessary component for becoming an independent designer and I am honored to take the same leap so many designers have made before me.

future:

In the long term, I want to write, teach, and make buildings - I intend for ARM ARCH Inc. to serve as the official entity which supports this goal. As for the specifics, I will keep you updated via newsletter/ blog posting.