carbon based design technologies

3/4″ scrap mdo! What more can i say!

- Font: Brannbol Fet
- 15% shear
- 15% arc
- outline font / expand effects
- medium blue to dark blue gradient
- cntrl + b (copy behind), cyan blue outline
- cntrl + b, gray outline
- mimaki fine cut > create shadow
- cyan outline > outer glow, white
- shadow > inner glow, black

I just cleaned the badboy, so he doesnt look very… elegant all upended like that. Upholstery is sort of a dark purple / eggplanty color. Cant wait to figure out what kind of base to use!

The wood still needs some trimming and a sealant (thinking clear urethane), and the frame needs a’finishin’ too but hey! Its getting there!

If you ever go to overlea fullerton you probly see this thing on the side of the road. And yes, this is a crappy camera phone photo of a crappy print out of a crappy photo of the actual object. ive actually only ever seen it ONCE and passed it doing maybe 45, and didnt even think to photograb it till like 4 blocks later. i need to be better at searching out these things. In fact, on my way to work i pass another monument sign i designed, lets see… oh yeah, EVERY day.

for one thing, isnt that framed ferrari poster from 1984 amazing? best damn 5 dollars i done did spent! secondly, yes, there are literally like 7 different patterns / prints / wallpaperings in my bathroom. but i can explain! ive been testing out ideas to see what works and what doesnt. what you see is probly half – or less! – of the prints ive done trial runs with. currently, the theory is that ill decide on one, and then do everything from the shower around. but for now its a jungle, and, sometimes, it makes me wonder ‘how do i keep… all this crap all over the place!?!?!”

soon, soon.

pig roast! pig roast! tickets to a pig roast! so these were actually really fun to make; its sort of hard to make out (i suffer from crappy-camera-phone-itus) but each section (two per side) features a watermarked pig in the background, my favorite of which has all the butcher’s cuts demarcated on him (so rad!).

ps. yes. i see the “suasage” typo. client content! client approved! what can i say!?!?!

So, for those of you who aren’t my girlfriend (which is like, what, 6 billion?) this is likely the first youve heard of this space. Basically, a number of months ago i had this idea of this perfect sleeping space, devoid of any clutter (visual or otherwise), storage, large furniture items (ie, dresser) or the like.* However, i didnt own a bed (beyond my futon), and thus my two bedrooms sat essentially empty, unadorned, unattended to, and generally depressed. The INSTANT i was able to acquire Heid’s old mattress, i knew we were in bidness.

So but anyways, this is about as pristine as i can make it now. I WISH i coulda gotten some of those roll-y drape things that anna at doorsixteen.com is always on about, but ikea redesigned them to be all spring loaded now, thus ixnaying custom fitments. So i live still with the analog block-outs – on or off. Thats it. The two giants prints ive had for years; i picked up the gursky print at moma during a random “lets work in new york for one week” visit, while the big ass san francisco map i happily took off a friends hands for free (who got it at a cartographers convention) and which has since become the object of desire of almost all of my san francisco apartments. Been toying with the idea of adding black curtains. See, ive got all sorts of lace from the prior owner… and all it would need is a rit-dye-bath… and it would achieve that in-between that the analog curtains dont feature (ie, light permeation with privacy)… we’ll see how it works out…

So yeah. This is where i sleep most nights (when not at heid’s). Its not recently finished (been there for some time), but then, nor can any space ever be “finished” when lived in by a designer. Mostly, it just occurred to me to post the state of the room.

Its nice. i cherish every morning i awaken to a room with no computers, no stereos, no dirty-socks-but-i-think-that-ones-clean, no piles of i’ll-totally-get-to-that-next laundry, no more omni-room.

*And actually, ive been toying with the idea of a “perfect” sleeping space since i was probly 8? 10? Then, the idea was to custom build a mostly cold-gray cement castle (no exaggeration) buried deep into the sun-soaked hills of california, where the chamber in question would have been as close to the natural center of the house as possible, with no natural light and sonically deadened HVAC. Why i was designing a hangover palace at the age of 10 is beyond me – unless of course the fates do exist, and that was foreshadowing. Now the idea has… mellowed… especially after taking classes in the building that kubrick used as his mental asylum in ‘a clockwork orange’ (yes, it still looks like that).

i forgot i even made these! a few summers back, we had a bounty of peppers n thangs we’s done did grew, so i figured it would be a pretty bad-ass christ mass gift if i made home made hot sauce – complete with label! – for all the friends and fam! reports came back quick that everyone loved the roasted flavors, while the habenero’s really brought some flame to the forefront!

i need to make some that again! that was pretty good stuff…

finally got this thing figured out! should be here in a coupla weeks. i like the owl! hes fun. and if you stand back far, it looks like it says “PLANT DUNDALK” which i like too. subtle? who, me?

so there is a reader submit section in my favorite magazine – this old house – and apparently my idea was good enough to post on the site! course, the page is buried way the hell deep into “total nerd level” of readership (ie, not front page by any means) but still, its nice to think that the magazine you like to read because you respect its tips and tricks, in-turn respects yours enough to post ‘em!

voyage onward here!

another nice ‘hand made’ video, although this one predates the one from like two posts ago and also in unrelated (production company wise). i really like this one, and on multiple levels; not only is it tastefully shot / edited / produced, but the subject matter (and the guy’s backstory) really add a nice personal texture to the whole thing. as a foodie, a builder and a person with friends in brooklyn, i can totally see how perfectly appropriate this guys (self-acknowledged) presence is at the cross-roads of the DIY / hand-made scene and resurgence of local-food culture.

Made by Hand / No 2 The Knife Maker from Made by Hand on Vimeo.

as you may or may not know, i do like me a good knife – and these are nothing short of gorgeous – but i also really appreciate the drive to do something that comes from within, something almost feral; so root to ones self, the drive to execute the need is almost as base as eating. for me, this is creating with my hands. and thats why i enjoy these videos so much.

Always a good day when i can see flames from the kitchen.

In baltimore, the Ides of March involve 1) shorts, 2) slip on shoes,  and 3) straight grillin! Beer, of course, goes without saying.

Complete and installed! Blam! BODONI BABY, BODONI. and in Poster Bold! Caint beat that, right there!

Some before shots – she looks kinda beat, but there be gold in them thar hills!

Wood in process! Started out as one 13′ 2×10, then i rough cut them down to 15″ lengths (much easier to deal with), and now im in the process of slimming them down to 14×1.5×1.5″ peices!

Heidi’s side table is taking form! Just need to get it off to the powdercoaters and finish up the wood (right now its just in a pile)!