Big changes afoot here at ultra, not unlike travel through a wormhole. Expect an announcement in the next couple of days. Too bad I couldn’t rig this as a countdown clock. Nonetheless, it is an excellent clock by Ten, a Japanese graphic designer, for our friends at SHIFT. Check out all of the designs for their Mobile Art Watch project like this one by Wabisabi (yes, it’s a clock!):
Opening Friday May 1st at Nemo, Beneath the Surface: Flora, Fantasy, and Fable in Surface Design is an exhibition of work by an international roster of surface designers curated by designers Claudia Brown and Jessie Whipple Vickery of the Portland-based Pattern People. If you think pattern begins and ends at your recently rediscovered love of wallpaper and your boyfriend’s all-over print t-shirt, prepare to get your mind blown.
This is a rare chance for an overview of what’s happening in the happening world of surface design with designers from the U.S, Japan, Finland, Germany, Sweden, and the U.K. including Anna Giertz, Chelsea Heffner, Dan Funderburgh, Deanne Cheuk, Eno Henze, George Moskal, Joanna Bean, Jo Hamilton, Katrin Wiens, Kinpro, Kustaa Saksi, Laundry Studio, Linn Olofsdotter, Marc Curtis, Michael Leon, Mike Perry, Nama Rococo, Osmose, Pattern People and Timorous Beasties
Expect work, “Focusing on escapist and fantastical themes, the exhibit features utopian landscapes, folkloric fables, and interpretations of magical inner journeys.”
The opening reception is tonight Friday, May 1st, from 6-10 PM, with music provided by Spencer Product.
Big sale at Olio United (1028 SE Water) if you get in before May 15. The girls are moving (online for now) and before they do, they’ve put everything on sale including their incredible fixtures by sculptor/woodworker Ben Hull and artist Ryan Hayes.
Last time I was in, they had such great stuff from Pigeon Toe Ceramics plus lots of Emily Katz. Go see.
Falling somewhere between too pedestrian to contain my fabulous thoughts and too precious to bear them are these beautiful handmade books by Portland-based artist Addoley Dzegede. Made with acid-free paper to last as long as you care to archive your scribbles and sketches, they come in a number of modern designs and various sizes. And with prices between $12-24, they’re irresistable as gifts for friend and self.
Dzegede, who has a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art, studied bookmaking in Cortona, Italy and then spent two years in New Zealand before moving to Portland (welcome!). Find her work at zibboon.etsy.com.
We get that the short-format Pecha Kucha-esque presentation thing has replaced the long-format lecture-as-art thing in Portland. Art and entertainment aside, here’s a brand new monthly quickie series that makes a lot of sense. 10 minute introductions to project or trend by three local design professionals (or students) followed by a roundtable discussion and afterward, socializin’. Put on by the Portland chapter of the IDSA, 3BY10 launches Wednesday, March 25 at Souk (322 NW 6th, Suite 200) beginning at 5:30 PM. Admission is always free. This month, Art Institute of Portland instructor Matthew Perkins presents his innovative, automotive-inspired seating project. FUSE design principal Toren Orzeck. Tanner Goods co-founder Sam Huff describes the founding of a new accessories brand. At end of eve’, meet for drinks and more talk at Someday Lounge(125 NW 5th).
That’s a Tanner skinny belt above (♥). More Tanner goodness here: delicious wallet and brand new copper hardware. When that copper hardware meets the skinny belt and patinas a little, mmm.
