stacks of cedar dry in the warm September air I counted five Kestrel perched along barbed wire as I wound down Marshall-Petaluma Road towards Tomales Bay from Evan Shively’s mill. I had been inspecting the deodar cedar (Cedrus deodara) Evan milled for my latest interior design commission, and I was delighted to find the fragrant […]
Tag Archives: aesthetics
In Praise of the Bead Plane
Around the autumn equinox is typically our hottest, driest time of year, with golden brown fields and chalk dry dust under the orchard trees, now barren after harvest. The tips of the redwood branches have turned an orange-y yellow, and happily soak up the sea fog of a rare night. I can feel the rains […]
Collaborative Agitprop
Scoping a site for Watershed Field Research in Fruitvale One of the most rewarding aspects of a collaborative working relationship is that both the relationship and the work it produces tend to improve over time. Whenever Ene and I (aka wowhaus) perform field research for one of our public projects, we pay as close attention […]
Dispatch from the ASR in San Diego
early longboard by John Hughes Not surprisingly, I found simpatico with the deans of the old school of skate and surf at the ASR. Carson and Dale Smith of Skate Designs Skateboards staged an exhibition of classic racing boards as a backdrop to their line of contemporary cruisers. I was especially drawn to a vintage […]
In the Studio with Gabriel Russo
Gabriel Russo wearing a Hipari of his own design at his studio in Richmond, CA My friend Gabriel Russo taught me that style is a state of mind, and in capable hands can literally be constructed. What I see as the ‘everyday-special’ style evoked by his clothing design- relaxed, well-made, familiar but fresh- flows from […]
Polished
polishing the Dining Commons tables at MLK Jr Middle School in Berkeley You might be surprised to find well-polished, handmade wooden furniture in a public middle school dining commons, let alone any lunch to serve upon it. You might be equally surprised that the tables, benches and stools of Martin Luther King Jr Middle School […]
Expedition Cabinet
sketch/proposal for the Expedition Cabinet I have nothing against Fine Furniture, except that I typically favor the opposite. Give me a scavenged roadside pie safe over a Biedermeier sideboard any day. It’s not that I’m into ‘outsider art’ per se, or even collecting antiques, or that I find comfort in reverse snobbery. It’s just that […]