Squid Sighting + Awesome Connection + AWESOME WORK

I tend to overuse the word "awesome", but in this situation I mean it in the full ALL CAPS FOLLOWED BY 17 EXCLAMATION POINTS DEFINITION OF THE WORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, since I've front loaded this post with high expectations - I'll just start with the AWESOMENESS!(x17)

Synn Labs is a group of folks in LA who are becoming increasingly well known for making Rube Goldberg sequences for music videos and commercials. Their other projects include installations and sculpture that blend  art, engineering, tech, and cool kid aesthetics. I apologize for the white wash of terms I just listed - but since I can barely understand the tech involved in most of their pieces - I'm just going to leave it at that, post some videos, and trust you to follow the link to their site if you want greater depth.

The video that (I think) started it all:


Synn Lab's most recent video for Google:


What's not to love?

Here come the awesome connections:

1. Deservingly, Synn Labs has been getting a  lot of work, a lot of "buzz", and was recently featured in Fast Company Magazine.

2. I went to school with Hector and Doug from Synn Labs. I know that doesn't give me cool points, but we're friends on Facebook.

3. We're friends on Facebook - so when Hector posted their article in Fast Company - I read it, admired their work, felt very happy for them, and spent a little time watching awesome videos.

4. I got an email last night from a lovely customer who purchased one of our Squid Jackets for her boyfriend last July. She just wanted me to know that her BF was wearing our Squid Jacket in a recent article in FAST COMPANY Magazine!

5. Her BF is Hector, and he's wearing our Squid Jacket!

Small world!

The Dog Days of the Birdhouse

What's this?

Another satisfied customer!

Jared asked me to make a custom bed for Riley, the office mascot, and Travis' roommate. I was planning on dragging my feet a little, but Jared took up a collection at the office, did all the fabric shopping, pattern layout, printing, transferring, and cutting. All I had to do was the stitching - easiest custom project ever!

One last pic, because she's just so sweet.

Thanks to the General Assembly fellas for the fun project and the dough!

p.s. That's the General Assembly logo on the bed.

Current Fave - Green Pornos!

If you haven't seen these (very) short films by Isabella Rossellini - they are really worth watching, especially if you like the idea of animal kingdom sex-ed videos with low tech props and costumes AND Isabella Rossellini's uniquely alluring line delivery.

Comment dit on... Always Sunday?

Ahhhhh.... le sigh.... Je veux aller a l'existence.... That's how I feel when looking at the photos of pastries and places on the French Canadian blog, Toujours Dimanche. 

Oh la la.... pretty pictures of pretty things, but also a journal about opening a bakery in Quebec. A tour de force of our favorites at Chikabird: food, design, and renovation! The BEST part of Toujours Dimanche (pour moi) is that it's written bilingually in French and English. I can brush up on my rusty high school French while reading about opening a bakery. A sugar coated pill of multitasking... if you categorize blog surfing as a task... or a pill...

(p.s. When I write things like "pour moi", in my head I say it like Miss Piggy)

Bowling Collage

I'm trying to improve my blogging and picture taking habits. Do and share more of both. Here's an attempt I made last Thursday, when I not only brought a camera on an outing, but also took it out of the case and used it!

I'm a terrible photographer - I have no patience for settings, and a lousy eye for composition. I have a history of filling rolls and rolls of 35mm with unmemorable, unshare-able garbage - so I also can't shake the feeling that I'm wasting even digital space with lousy pictures.

Borrowing a little from Hockney and Muybridge I tried to turn 19 bad pictures into 1 interesting one. It's funny how repetition or excessive quantity can increase appeal. It's sort of an art school trick - if you make 200 of something - you've got yourself an installation! It's a pretty good trick.

Stalking the Interwebs: The Village Mews

The rabbit hole of the blogosphere can lead you all over the world, and sometimes it leads you to... yourself! And your friends, and your friends of friends, and your favorite things, and your own neighborhood!

That's where I found myself after an interview on the Design Sponge guest blog led me to google Chelsea Green's blog - The Village Mews. The Village Mews focuses on art and design in the Pacific NW - what's going on, who's doing what - with occasional mentions to other noteworthy happenings happening elsewhere.

I tend to use my blogroll as a way of mentally acquiring design and imagery from far away or long ago. One of my pitfalls is allowing the vastness of great works out there make me feel more wistful than inspired - "The Australia design scene is so cool.... So-and-so's already doing that thing I was thinking of doing.... I wish I lived in Brazil/Tokyo/Copenhagen/Cape Town.... How is that guy selling so much of THAT thing?.... I wish it was the 60's...." All very milk-toast thinking and certainly not productive.

So it was both exciting and encouraging to scroll down the Village Mews and see a lot of people and projects to which we are directly or indirectly connected, some work I'd seen online but didn't know was local, plenty of work that was news to me, and ourselves! In addition to reminding me of all the strong work in Seattle and nearby, it reminded me to not get discouraged by the vastness - but to focus on what I do in the pond I'm in.

Chelsea started The Village Mews in hopes of luring her NYC friends out for a visit. Once Summer starts, I'm sure she'll be hosting non-stop.

Under the Magnifying Glass: Ladies&Gentlemen, Iacoli&McAllister, Join: Design Seattle, Nicholas Kamuda, Justine Ashbee, Cairo

Good stuff in the air...

Not just the cherry blossoms starting up in Seattle, or the trips ahead of us in the next month, or our recent return from Hawaii (aloha, and don't hate me, mahalo).

I'm talking about great efforts made by some local folks trying to help out fellow indie biz owners in Seattle!

Jean and I attended a great workshop last night all about how to use blogging in an effective way to help and promote your business - and it got me fired up! See? An entry!

Kristen from Schmancy and Megan from Not Martha gave a talk about the dos and don'ts and good habits of good bloggers as part of an ongoing meet up/networking/workshop series in Seattle. I think it's so great that they have the desire and energy to help create this platform in our city. It's called the Grassroots Business Association, and I'm hooked! A big thank you to Kristen and Megan, and the Association for their efforts!