MATR1291

I just got back from Canada where I was working on a spurse project ( matr.spurse.org ). For our part of CAFK+A, we developed a new sense organ. This was in the form of a smartphone app (iPhone and Android) that reads data from your phone (light levels, sound input, compass heading, GPS location) and mixes it with data that we are traking having to do with cell phone production and destruction (trash and recycling). The data we are tracking include such things stock prices of metals that are mined that go into the phone and stock prices of the companies that make phones as well as GPS location of these companies and, when we could find it, where the mines are located. All of this information is then translated into a sound scape. We hope that people use this as they walk around and think about what they are hearing and how it effects them and their movements. The app went live on iTunes a day before the opening and was downloaded and used all around the world.

The part that I was more involved in was our physical presence at the site of the event. We have been toying with the idea of these mobile labs or sites for research for awhile. In the past we had purchased a shipping container and outfitted it as a research station; the idea being that you could ship this anywhere, set it down and begin to work out of it immediately. But this proved problematic in that it's expensive to ship a container and difficult to navigate borders with it.

So for this project, I designed a smaller crate that fits in the back of a station wagon. The crate holds the tent (10' x 20' outfitters tent) and breaks apart to become the furniture inside of the tent (2 tables, 4 benches, a chalkboard, a projection screen, and a work/projector table).

I build the crate down here in Brooklyn and drove it up to Canada. (side note: my parents were kind enough to let me use their car/s. Seems the crate still needs to be a bit smaller)

Here is the final packing of the crate:

We had to transfer the crate from one car into another:

The crate was delivered to Kitchener, ON City Hall Plaza

The tent set up only took a couple of hours...:

...including putting the furniture together:
The app is available on iTunes (search spurse or MATR) and on the Android Marketplace.

A Machine has Fallen

I remember being asked once if I would sell the drawing machines themselves. My first thought was no...but then, well, come one why not. But luckily (?) I never had to make a real decision on it.

Well, recently the basement at the shop flooded. Sadly, this was the end of the larger machine that I had that fit in the back of my car and made some of my favorite drawings. Perhaps I could have shined it up a little but I'm afraid that Irene has spelled certain disaster for it. I should know soon as the basement is almost empty off all of the water from over a week ago.

Dogfort

The most recent thing I've built in the shop is another piece for Andrew over at Standard41. It's an end table with a semi-enclosed bottom for the clients small dog to sleep in. Really what I've made it is a dogfort. A nice, walnut dogfort:

It was fun to build and to figure out in what order all of the glue-ups had to happen.

I haven't mentioned it to Shackleton and Stella...they'll never forgive me for not making them one.

Graduation

This past weekend I went to Maine to see Molly graduate. It was a good weekend filled with friends and family and catching up. Molly's animation was great and the installation was full throughout opening night.Now it's on to the next great thing:

Congratulations Molly! I'm very proud of you and your hard work.

Kids of Kathmandu

Perhaps you remember a few months ago when I posted about making a kids desk for a charity event? Well, the auction is up and running for all of the desks. Visit the site and look around.

http://kidsofkathmandu.org/projects/the-desk-project/

All the desks are really beautiful and the money goes to a great cause.

New Bike Machine Drawings

With the weather changing for the better here in Brooklyn, it's been a pleasure to once again ride my bike everywhere. Along with that comes an ever growing set of new drawing machine drawings. Perhaps you remember this machine from late last year:

With new cranks put on the bike, I'm back to making drawings with this little machine. Here are a few recent ones:

Kids of Kathmandu Desk

www.kidsofkathmandu.org is a non-profit that was started by a friend and his wife. Recently, I became involved in a fund raiser of theirs that involves designers/builders making kids desks to be auctioned off to raise money for...kids in Kathmandu. The idea is that each desk would sell for the amount of money it takes to fund one child's education for a year.Through work that we ( www.workshopdesignbuildllc.com ) did last year, I fell in love with this homasote material. I believe it is used for sound proofing, but when you slice it up and stack it it has this wonderful, velvety feel to it. I've tried to think of a way to use it in furniture for my apartment but always come back to the thought that my (best ever) cats will just sharpen their claws on it and rip it to shreds. This project seemed just the place for it...and to see how it plays against other materials. In this case that other material is cherry.