Catou Couture in Trying Times

I have recently started taking resumes for an additional designer. While I am looking for someone with a few years of experience in the field of interior design, my mailbox continues to be bombarded with new graduates in search of a lucky break. I know that when I graduated in 2001, job openings felt limited. Now with gratuitous layoffs in the field of architecture and design, competition for jobs is even steeper. I told my good friend Polina Osherov that I wanted our next shoot to be based on the idea of an opportunity drought in our "The sky is the limit" world. As our plucky young model was transformed into distraught lonely model I thought to myself, I should probably be thinking of brighter, happier imagery but a girl can only shut out so much...

To see more of these images, visit my website. Thank you to our very cold model, Amy Hopper; our makeup artist, Beth Jerrels; clothing designer Bernie Martin of Catou Couture and of course Vladamir Osherov.

Out of the alley and into the office

As I am working on ExactTarget’s current expansion, I am reminded of the laborious process that was “The Wall.” The wall was a project I spearheaded during their last renovation in the Spring of 2008 on the 4th floor of the Gibson Building at the corner of Michigan and Capitol. While presenting the look for the interior of the space to Axis I proposed commissioning some local artists to design and install a mural along a 115’ long corridor that separated the open office from the public spaces. I had just seen a great opening at Alias in Fountain Square the month before and found myself freshly hopped up on stencil art. I pulled out a couple of my Bansky and Fairey books and started explaining what I wanted to do. The thought was to make the corridor a stark transition between the highly illuminated, airy office that over looked the city skyline and the electric colored public spaces. In hopes of pushing this social transition in a visual way, I minimally lit the corridor, built a 10’ high wall that closed it off from any natural light and introduced a solid black carpet.

With the closing of Alias gallery (a real loss Indy!) I knew Holly and Dave Combs would be available to help me get this project off the ground. I have always been a fan of Dave’s stencil work, some of it hangs in my house, and I knew from some of their past shows and contacts that they were going to be able to deliver a pretty amazing product. The only thing I told the artists was that the wall had to be the coolest thing they have ever made. I wanted a layering of smaller projects, with some more polished looking than others. We were throwing around all these crazy ideas until I was thrown a wet blanket…

Soon after I was given the green light to get the project going I was informed that there was a hang-up with using spray-paint in the building. Uhhh, graffiti artists, no spray paint. This was going to be interesting. My un-composed, wall of mini murals quickly became a more refined statement piece when we knew it had to be installed with a bucket of paint and a brush. This also meant we needed someone talented with a brush and comfortable working on a huge canvas. The Combs invited Justin Cooper. I have followed his work for the past 7 years and I was very impressed that he was going to come save the day. And save he did!
The following are some progress images. While the mural is miles from what was intended, it is still an impressive install and provides ExactTarget a little street cred.

Early progression of concept sketches.

Michelle Pemberton and I come by to check on the progress and snap these photos. Holly is afraid I am going to change something... again.

The team: Justin, Dave & Holly

Dave Combs getting down and dirty.

Justin joked about having a crush on this particular subject.

Dave and Justin paint...

...while Holly models with the moon man.

Finished product photography by Polina Osherov.

To see more pictures from this project visit my website, they are listed under the INTERIOR DESIGN tab.

The Secret Museum and cute girls

Before the weekend gets underway, I wanted to alert everyone of a new collection of photos that I just added to the website under the Art Direction tab. A few weeks ago Polina and I did a photo shoot for Handbag Heaven, an online handbag store located in Greenwood. When I found out Kipp Normand was putting together a “Secret Museum” of salvaged goodies I knew it would be the perfect locations to shoot. Kudos to all involved. This may be my favorite shoot to date! And a special thanks to everyone at SEND for allowing us to turn their lobby into a full service salon for an entire afternoon!

Kipp prepares for the opening

Polina scouting

A little more Snow

In the post below, I mention working with Polina to shoot some publicity photos for Sara Snow. They turned out really great. Check out her blog for more!

Gold is the new green

Today Polina and I photographed Sara Snow. For those of you not familiar with the local celebrity, Sara is an aficionado in the ways of green living. She has hosted Get Fresh with Sara Snow on Discovery Health and Living Green with Sara Snow on CNN.com LIVE. She has most recently authored Sara Snow's Fresh Living; The Essential Room-by-Room Guide to a Greener, Healthier Family and Home. Today we were updating her portfolio of headshots. She came armed to the teeth with brightly colored separates and a stunning collection of jewelry. Each piece looked like it had a story. There was one particular piece I had to ask about:

The coloring wasn’t quite gold, brighter than bronze but duller than brass. It was really cool and vintage looking but the composition felt totally modern. Turns out it was made by this cool jewelry company, Alkemie. Their pieces are forged from reclaimed metals. They can be purchased from econsciousmarket . These are a couple of my favorites… hint, hint Christian.
When you are done buying a new necklace, check out Areaware.
What a great place to go for birthday gifts! This melted army man bowl is almost as hot as the retainer necklace which is almost as cute as the moustache mirror.

The best lookin' show on TV: Mad Men

OK, I am going to post one last late night tribute entry before turning in: I have been jonzin to see the second season of my new favorite television show, Madmen. I received season 1 on DVD for Christmas and had watched all 13 episodes by New Year. The stories and characters are great but the series' styling steals the show. I need to watch the episodes twice; once to watch the characters and again to take in the setting, costumes, hair and lighting:

What a fine looking period the 60's were. And for the record, I believe this was the best era of men's fashion ever. If you are slim, there is no excuse to not own a great two button, fitted suit. If Madmen doesn't convince you, pop in your copy of North By Northwest and Cary will school you on how great a well dressed man can look!
If you could replace your wardrobe with that of a television or movie character, who would you choose?

When a couple of icons get together

So, Polina and I got together for a quick cocktail last week to discuss concepts for a shoot we are doing on Wednesday when she flashed a photo from Louis Vuitton's current ad campaign featuring Madonna. After a little goggling I found this pretty little film.

Happy Black & Blue Year!

On a completely non-design related topic, last night was the season opener for our local roller derby league, The Naptown Roller Girls.

The 2009 season will be the league’s third and will introduce a new junior varsity team, The Warning Belles. Last night our varsity team, The Tornado Sirens, bouted the Pittsburgh’s Steel City Derby Demons. Although the ticket count has not been made official, I am guessing there were somewhere around 3,000 spectators. Our league’s fan base never ceases to amaze me. The average attendance for our neighboring Midwest leagues is more like 300-500 spectators.
Last night was a tough loss for our Sirens. While they managed to dominate during the first half of the first period, Pittsburg eventually figured out the Siren’s strategy, adjusted their game play and swiftly put up a painful point spread. With a solid lead at the end of the first period, the Steel City girls just kept racking up points in a big way. It was obvious that Naptown was not going to win this one. However, when I looked around there was not a empty patch in the crowd. If I were at a Colts or Pacers game people would be filing out early to get a head start on the traffic.
I don’t know what spell our girls have cast on the city, but 3 years later they are just as enchanted. And rightfully so, roller derby is one exciting sport! Maybe it is the fact that these girls do everything for free; they run the business of the league, organize practices, schedule and compete in the bouts and even clean up the pavilion for no pay. In fact, roller girls pay to play! I have always been told that a person is likely to succeed if they are doing something they are truly passionate about. There is something intoxicating about a person with passion and these girls have it. With 5 minutes left in last night’s bout, you could see so much heart on that track. Maybe that is why the fans stay. As long as the girls are fighting, the crowd will have their back.
These images were taken at the bout by our amazing photographers Marc Lebryk and Tom Klubens:

As a retired roller girl I stay involved with the league as a member of the creative committee and a referee. I hope to share some of the behind the scenes work that goes into making this league so amazing but for now I just wanted to introduce you to your Naptown Roller Girls.

*This is for Polina:

Pep Talk

I may or may not have been told at one point or another that I tend to be a little hard on myself. I am surrounded by a throng of talented people who seem to be basking in glowing success as I am silently making note of everything I wish I had done differently with my last endeavor. These post project reflections always result in me doubting my abilities, getting frustrated that I doubt myself then wondering, “If I really don’t think that what I am doing is exceptional, why do I keep doing it?” I have been short an answer for some time until Ira Glass laid it all out for me. Thanks for the clip Polina. I watch it regularly to remind myself that I too am a work in progress.

Inspiration Unfolds

One cold wintery morning in January of 2007, I was sipping some coffee and flipping through the Times when smack on the cover of the Fashion & Style section was this image:

I know, I know, this collection is pretty stale and I should be blogging about how Shepard Fairey is quickly becoming a design force to be commercially reckoned with. However, this Galliano collection is constantly in my thoughts as I look at innovations in design that explore folds and creases to create structure, volume and texture. There is something inherently crafty about these pieces that speak to me as a designer and an artist that is always challenging my resourcefulness when asked to essentially make something out of nothing.

In a way, these pieces almost look like mathematical equations realized. They are beuatifully formulaic. I love their meticulous rhythms and clever exploitations of light and shadow. The reason why I always turn to the Galliano collection is that he did not stop his vision with the creation of a beautiful form. There is an additional layer that defines an identity.

It is such an inspiring collection for me. In architecture, I constantly struggle with how to treat interesting forms and spaces. I find architects love to make everything white to allow the form to be the interest. As a designer, I struggle with when to embellish and when to let the form read true and pure. Galliano took beautiful forms and successfully kept on going. While each piece would still look lovely in all white, I fear they would lose distinction and become ‘mathematical and formulaic.’ What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJDKUtJWgAU

Ataraxia - II

When I was in high school there was nothing I looked forward to more than the weekend. Every Saturday night basements, warehouses, empty storefronts and even the Knights of Columbus would come alive with loud, sweaty music. The music was just as varied as the venues; punk, emo, rockabilly, metal, hardcore, you name it. Regardless of where you were or what band was playing, there was always some literate, social degenerate peddling their written thoughts in the form of a bi-folded collection of 8-½” x 11” pages, stapled down the middle. They were called zines and they were everywhere.

Way before blogging, these inexpensive publications were a way to share ideas and interesting findings with friends and strangers. The topics written about ranged wildly. Some reviewed newly released albums, others discussed social politics and my favorite was a journal-like collection of autobiographical essays written by a guy with bi-polar disorder. After a couple years of envying the authors and their ability to pen their thoughts, my best friend and I buckled down and wrote our own: Ataraxia. Gross typos aside, it had no focus, no message and I always thought we were mimicking the elements we loved in other zines. I didn’t feel we had anything to contribute that wasn’t already being said in another person’s writings. I recently found those two lonely issues. My memories of weak content were confirmed accurate however, I underestimated their nostalgic value. They are a snapshot of my passions and interests circa 1995 artfully collaged in a pine green Xeroxed booklet. This brings me to blogging. While the blanketing purpose is to share ideas and present things I find particularly inspiring, I am really looking to record my interests and experiences. Welcome to Level : Zine. The best zine around because it is free and I don’t have to drive to Kinkos to make it!