mendhi

taken from aditi's facebook

Aditi Amalean, a girl we know from I.arc just posted pictures from a wedding she was involved in - isn't this picture gorgeous???

Shiny Red Shoes

image from an open [sketch]book

I'm so in love with this design, I can barely put it into words. Suzanne (amazing) posted on her blog a design that she did for (the former) Megan Tremblay (now re-married) for a company she's started - a concierge service called Shiny Red Shoes. Having been in studio with Megan for 4(?) years straight, I know that she sported identical red shoes all the time - and pulled them off like no one else. The idea of the company is really cute - I especially like the assistance with gift-buying - so fun!

I'm so in love with the red + robin's egg blue combination these days, plus the white background of the site, the clean font used = a totally modern, simple, 'jcrew meets real simple' feel that works beautifully.

Love it!

i.arc summer 08 thesis critiques

I'm sorry I've not posted anything in about two weeks- my head just wasn't in the game.
HOWEVER : last night I went up to Greensboro to the old alma mater to see the thesis presentation for this year's fifth year summer studio, mainly in support of Whitney :)

The projects looked really, really, really great- I come in to these with a pretty harsh, judgmental attitude- the "in my day we walked up hill both ways..." kind of attitude. But I was actually pretty blown away- especially considering these people only had ten weeks to get the work done. Here are a few pictures of just a few of the 25 projects, and a group photo of everyone involved- students, faculty, etc... Suzanne, of an open sketchbook, was actually one of the faculty this year, and from what people were saying last night, she did an amazing job, so congrats to her, as well :) (suzanne- let me know if you want any of the SIX group photos I have and I'll email them to you!)

proof that things haven't changed : somewhere to sleep within the studio:

rowland and I with our little graduate :)

maps... (and no im not talking about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs)

I leant out one of my most prized possesions to Ben last night for his trip this weekend. My NYC pop up map (think joey from friends in London without the 3D landmarks). It is small discreet and even includes a subway map!!

After threatneing him if he lost it, I got to thinking about how I really might have a healthy (or unhealthy) obsession with maps, My 5th year Iarc thesis even included maps as part of the concept! Then I remembered this book I ran accross a while ago via Black eiffel. I think it would be a great addition to my library.

Meanwhile, I am on the lookout for MY upcoming trip to London, Copenhagen and Aarhus! Please let me know if you have any ideas.

101 Things I Learned in Architecture School

I know we went to school for a degree in INTERIOR architecture, but with at least half of our faculty having degrees in ARCHITECTURE, I feel like we got a lot of these tips / lessons along the way, as well.

One of my bosses sent through a few pages he'd scanned from "101 Things I Learned in Architecture School" by Matthew Frederick. These two were my favorites, and we can definitely relate.

Bottle-Cap Re-Use Project

I check-in on some of the first-year's blogs from time to time to see what their working on in Iarc and because I like to see how their projects vary from person to person. They did a project recently where they had to use bottle-caps to re-make an everyday item. I checked a few that were pretty weak- won't name names...- but this one was AWESOME. It's a lamp-shade and whether it's just a great photo or if it really produces this look, I think it's sweet. Nicely done.

a visual sampler

new site design

previous site design

I check-in on the i.arc first year blog.folio from time to time, and have a few people's individual pages bookmarked, as well.

A while ago I posted about a few students' blogs that I displayed their abilities pretty well, or that showed a decent amount of attention to the design of the BLOG and not just the work covered there.

There's one person's site, 'a visual sampler,' that I liked before, and I THINK i like it just as well, now. At traphic signs we're still working on ideas and designs for the header of our page- something we keep putting-off, but liz brown is getting the hang of this kind of thing (not that we have, we've just seen people who have done really well with designing their sites- keeping up with mk, design*sponge, drewB, and of course, suzanne buchanan!).

A Visual Sampler not only seems to have a good way of keeping her page really simple and neutral, but has some pretty decent work (especially for first year) displayed, as well. I'm particularly fond of the scale figures- why waste time with detail? They're just there for SCALE!

[i] news

Every so often our old department sends out an email- the [i] news -giving an update on the news and happenings throughout the students + faculty + alumni.  I think that each of us (and most students in similar fields) will admit that the semesters leading up to their graduation, they practically lived in their studios, the faculty was their family, and leaving it all behind after the screeching halt that is commencement was bitter-sweet.  I think I brought more stress on myself during that last semester than any other time, between my thesis, my job, my internship, my relationship, and trying to maintain a solid connection with friends that had already left... Its really nice to still be included in those emails and to maintain that small connection to all of it.

photo from Jevin's site

In this 'issue,' Jevin Dornic's new site is debuted, showcasing some work completed throughout the different studios / levels, giving a pretty good look at what everyone's working on.  The email mentions that there have been several accolades and praises to a design / build project done by one of the studios within the department.  The project was a home in the Greensboro area- designing it around a specific family, and then constructing it themselves.  The home will be featured, I think, in the March issue of Dwell, so keep your eyes open, and great job to anyone who participated in that- really, really impressive.

childhood?

So growing up with three brothers and an architect for a dad, legos were bound to be involved. They were everywhere. I remember stepping on them in the playroom and having the tiny pieces cover the floor to be found days later even after playtime was over. The are pretty cool I must admit. Good for model building (remember the duplos you went out and got that time for studio?)

It was no surprise to me when Brandon mentioned one of the things he wanted to do when we go visit Addison in Denmark was go to LegoLand... pretty cool pictures could come from that one. So sign me up.

My dad sent me this picture of a "large church" (About 7 feet by 5 1/2 feet by 30 inches ) that holds 1,372 lego people. Pretty impressive. If only we had a year and a half to build such an elaborate scale model. Legos definitely arn't only for children!

The Snow Show- three years later.

I was looking around online for some agrarian architectural influences, and somehow came up with this image. I, of course, recognized it- there aren't too many buildings made completely out of ice.

This is the exhibit from The Snow Show on the Rovaniemi site by Zaha Hadid. They didn't have any knod to Kemi- the other site that we were fortunate enough to work on building, but at least there was mention to the project at all!

[i] news : congrats!

I recently received the newsletter from our alma-mater department - kind of like a family newsletter each winter going over who's doing what and wishing everyone a happy holiday from mom and the kids, only this time it's from the faculty of our interior architecture department. I miss knowing what's going on, both within our department and around campus, so I welcome those emails each time they come!

In this last one a few awards were mentioned, but the one that really caught my eye was Julie Barghout receiving the form.Z Joint Study Program Award of Distinction for Interior Design for one of her projects- an image from that (by way of the newsletter) seen here. We've all been trained to obey the Gods of form.Z for each project- knowing that with the right amount of patience and submission to it's quirks and mood-swings you can produce an amazing rendering of every project. Congrats to Julie (fifth year) - it's nice to see that her skills were recognized!

i.Arc- a little too late!

Just our luck, erin, that the year after we leave the department hosts a new exhibit- Close to Home- Edward Loewenstein + Modernism in Greensboro, focusing on Loewenstein & his influence on Greensboro. This would have been right up our alley, and I know this means nothing compared to you (in Dallas), but if I weren't 2 hours away I'd make the trip for some part of this.

As if this doesn't sting enough, I saw this morning on suzanne's site that Knoll and Herman Miller have been so kind as to lend furniture for the exhibit, as well! It's like hearing that just after you left a party a celebrity came to hang out there with all of your friends... When I saw suzanne's sketch of the Eames Lounge, I wish(ed) so badly I had one to draw in front of me, as well.

While we were in NYC for ICFF last year, we were lucky enough to see an exhibit on the Eames Lounge - erin, what museum were we at?? - and how it was constructed. It was like a live-version of an exploded axon of the chair, all the pieces exploded from the core of it, strung in place with wires- it was a really awesome exhibit, and even though photography wasn't allowed, I wish I'd done a better job at sketching it out.

Oh well, some day I'll have an Eames Lounge Chair of my own, even if I have to trade it for a wedding or house or something :)

Spawned love...

As our professor, Ericka Hedgecock used to inspire us all and open us up to very new things. She was always so stylish yet with an organic twist, so it didn't surprise me to learn of her love for Angela Adams. I remember in 2nd year Ericka had the grooviest little planner and sketch books. She got them at Angela Adams. Little did I know that this would spawn a love of my own. Since then I have been in adoration of Angela Adams myself.

She [Angela] does a one-off mural type hand woven wool rug once a year (from what I understand via in an interview I had with a sales rep at ICFF in 2004).

photo is from angelaadams.com

So this year she has an absolutely GORGEOUS rug. But even better the photography and interior of this room is one where I can only dream to emulate. The interior has a rusticness and the rug and the couch add a very colorful and fun element. One of her rugs will definitely be an investment piece that I get down the road.

modulor

I was looking around at Better Living Through Design and found, in a round-about kind of way, this website- modulor- and within that, an entire category of model-making supplies and details that would have been so nice to have access to while in school.

If only we'd had time to look for this stuff back then!

first year's "blog-folio"

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but i.arc has started requiring their first-year students to do a blog where they post photographs of their work. Tommy (Lambeth- department chair) told me that it was to help them early-on with portfolio-prep. I think it is a WONDERFUL idea. I saw the link before on Suzanne's site and started looking through some of the recent work this morning. The projects are so familiar- I didn't see any bamboo, but I guess not every semester can focus ever project completely on one plant like ours did...

Anna Will's "Self-Understanding":
Challenge was to create a free-standing sculpture with eight self-portraits to allow others a better understanding of themselves.



Brittany Dasso's Self Portrait:
You remember these- picking up the highlights instead of the shadows with the light-colored medium. I always loved these- it's the drama without having to be perfect.



Kurt Huizenga's Memory Box Morph:
Challenge was to create a box, I think, morphing your box with a classmate's- this student seems to already have a knack for good craft. I looked down at his other work and saw this pencil box, as well. Someone to keep an eye out for.

packaging & print design

I think if I could go back to it, I probably wouldn't have majored in Interior Architecture. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do right now, and I loved getting here, but...maybe it's just a phase.

I would LOVE to get myself involved in print and packaging design. I'd of course have to work on my level of craft- even with models in i.arc, I was always struggling to put DOWN the hot-glue gun and try my patience with the real stuff... always dripping it everywhere... I was looking around and came across Tip Top Creative- specifically some of their packaging design. They have some really cool work in logos and print, but check out those boxes! So cool... reminds me of the same kind of designs that probably went into the Rice to Riches stuff... which makes me really want some of that rice pudding- especially the banana. Because we both know it was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life to order that flavor.

Graphica, the firm I interned with while I was in school, did some work with packaging and print. Unfortunately, they didn't get a chance to do too much with this stuff while I was with them (a short semester), but looking at their website I was just as impressed with those pieces of their portfolio as I was with anything else. There was a designer there that was EXTREMELY talented while I was there- so great to bounce ideas off of, however, I heard he took a position in VA and left Graphica. I'm sure they're still doing great, though- tons of talent there.

None the less, while I loved the i.arc department, and more so the people I met there, I'm not satisfied. I love the environmental graphics side of it (for now), but I want more- I want more graphics, more web design, more packaging and print, more identity work, etc... Only problem with that: it's going to cost to go back to school, and it's going to take patience to learn it all and work my way into it professionally. Maybe in my next life?

PS: I just saw this and had to add it in: have you looked at Suzanne Buchanan's web-blog an open [sketch]book? She puts up sketches and drawings (almost daily) of whatever she sees- I've got to get better about carrying a sketchbook with me or at least improving those skills more. She drew this image of a box of soap she got from her mother-in-law (I think). These are the kinds of drawings she does in five minutes... I'm so jealous.