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May 2009

The Archives

• 05.31.09
  Shop class as Soulcraft craft, ideas, technology | (0)

  Shop Class as Soulcraft brings alive an experience that was once quite common, but now seems to be receding from society — the experience of making and fixing things with our hands. Those of us who sit in an office often feel a lack of connection to the material world, a sense of loss, and find it difficult to say exactly what we do all day. For anyone who felt hustled off to college, then to the cubicle, against their own inclinations and natural bents, Shop Class as Soulcraft seeks to restore the honor of the manual trades as a ...
• 05.28.09
  Designer Arno Mathies craft, design, european influence | (0)

  Gruff is a collection of cardboard furmiture by Arno Mathies. The furniture is made of laminated, corrugated cardboard, assembled using housing joints. A series of mountable and dismountable cardboard furniture, entirely recycable. The series is composed of a bench, shelving and 3m table. Mathies designed the table while studying at ECAL (University of art and design Lausanne) in Switzerland.
• 05.18.09
  Mount St. Helens 29 years later nature | (0)

  May 18, 1980 Washington state’s Mount St. Helens volcano explodes in a cataclysm that pulverizes its top 1,300 feet, deforests nearby valleys, sends ash 12 miles into the air and kills 57 people. The picture-perfect snow-capped peak becomes the center of a bleak, gray mudscape. The volcano, about 55 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon, had lain dormant since 1857. In 1980 the catastrophic eruption changed the shape of the mountain quickly. A magnitude 5.1 earthquake preceded the largest landslide in recorded history when the entire northern side of the mountain slid away. This collapse depressurized a giant, building bubble of ...
• 05.18.09
  Biomimicry design, ideas, nature, technology | (0)

  We humans are at a turning point in our evolution. Though we began as a small population in a very large world, we have expanded in number and territory until we are now bursting at the seams. There are too many of us, and our habits are unsustainable. Having reached the limits of nature’s tolerance, we are finally shopping for answers to the question: “How can we live on this home planet without destroying it?” Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) is a new discipline that studies nature's best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes ...
• 05.10.09
  NY Times on Portland european influence | (0)

  Broder, a Scandinavian brunch spot on a quintessentially Portland section of Southeast Clinton Street. (Bike lane? Check. Brewery? Check. Discount art-house cinema? Vintage stores? Punk rock record shops? Check, check, check!) Broder was packed, but the free coffee in the next-door waiting room kept us going until we could squeeze into a table and order some smoked-trout hash. When the $41 check came, Alison surprised me by whipping out a $25 coupon she’d bought for $2 on Restaurant.com. The waiter accepted it without a peep (he got a big tip), and I marveled again at how well Portlanders live on ...
• 05.07.09
  ST-125 Serving Tray craft, for sale | (0)

  Handcrafted maple serving tray. Size is 17 3/4" x 15" x 1 1/4". Walnut keyed decorative joints accent the creamy maple color. Perfect for serving cold drinks or as a tray for breakfast in bed. This piece will be available in mid 2009 in a limited production run. Please contact me for more information