Recap: 07/25/17

Hosted by LWD members Lindsey Brockhouse and Whitney Jordan at ZGF

Topic: 

In place of our annual summer bbq we met on the sunny rooftop of ZGF for an informal meeting and sharing of current design projects members are working on or projects that they have recently finished.

Leah Amick presented her furniture design work: Bend Table Series

Leah is a furniture and product designer working on designing and building her own line. She shared her current collection called the ‘Bend Table Series’. The idea is that the secondary structure bends in some way that provides structure. Her first piece of furniture is a coffee table, followed by a bench and then a dining table. Leah walked us through her process with conceptual sketches, all the way to the materials she envisions using. The primary support is a metal top with wooden legs, while the secondary support in her prototype currently is 1/8” steel with hopes to experiment with different materials in the future. Her seamless design focuses on the concealed fasteners holding the folded steel and wooden legs together.

Jody Dunphy presented her sculpture and jewelry work: Second Nature Project

Jody is a full-time graphic designer, but her side-hustle, ‘Second Nature Project’, is making jewelry and participating in exhibits and fine art galleries. The idea behind her jewelry, is that it’s made from recycled or biodegradable paper and seeds. These materials are complimented with fibers, which provide the structure. Jody sees her jewelry as pieces that function as more than just jewelry – they can be then turned into a plant and the cycle continues. Her art is very similar, whereas she allows for interaction with her pieces. One example being her ‘Branch’ piece, where she allowed users to adopt a baby redwood tree.

Lindsey Brockhouse presented her current weaving collection: Woven Paint

Lindsey works as an architectural designer by day and fiber artist by night and weekends. She presented her latest collection ‘Woven Paint’, where she discussed the influence other artists have had on her and how she uses each weaving to challenge her craft and style. After collecting snapshots of artists’ work for over two years, she decided to start a collection where she was able to take that influence and inspiration and weave it. She presented five pieces so far and each piece had challenged what were rather easy methods or comforts before – size, materials, color, technique. This collection represents the in-between exploration that happens when you allow yourself the time to explore beyond commissioned work. This has allowed her more creative tangents, maker relationships and she’s been able to bring that creative energy into her architectural work.

Whitney Jordan presented her soon-to-be website launch of her personal brand and paintings: Indigo Pine

Whitney discussed her creative brand and paintings in anticipation of launching her website shortly after this meeting. We were able to get a sneak-peek, as she walked us through her gallery of past pieces on her website and talked about how her history of place and upbringing fed heavily into her work. In her latest work, she’s been doing a post-processing exercise that evolved into a new series of digitally reconstructed pieces. She discussed how she’s excited to be moving forward with her website and excited for the opportunities and future commissions to come.

Marcela Pena presented some of her design work from her practice: In Somno

Somno is a multidisciplinary studio with a focus on creative direction, graphic design, illustration and photography.  Marcela shared her recent work on a billboard in SE Portland. She was excited to be able to see it from her window at her studio, as a reminder of the accomplishments and milestones she’s made with her practice. With a background in architecture, she’s interested in continuing relationships with architects and designers and pursing that sector of work.

Resources Mentioned:

–PTC Creo Software for product or furniture modeling

–Lumion Software rendering tool

–IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) – 1305 SE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Portland