Tactile Goods

New Website for pinkcomma

Kennan — Sat, 11 May 2013 23:40:17 +0000

Prior to Keith and my vacation last week (pictures to come) I spent the week updating over,under‘s website and customizing a new site for pinkcomma. If you’re unaware, pinkcomma is the architecture gallery located within our office. We launched a new site two weeks ago to coincide with the recent opening of Keith Krumweide’s Freedomland. The new site documents pinkcomma’s previous exhibitions, including the curation work at the BSA Space.

WordPress was chosen as a content management system. To save time we utilized the Grid Theme Responsive template developed by Marios Lublinski of Dessign.net. From this starting point there was a lot of customization to fit the needs of the gallery. This includes a lot of graphic changes, a news section, a main image featuring the current exhibition, a custom Google Map, differing menus for phone / computer use, and a lot of small tweaks.

The nerd in me was most excited about the custom Google Map. It was my first time working with the Google Maps API. It took me a while to figure it out at first, especially since I’m no scripter, but it was relatively easy for me to set up a custom styled map to match the aesthetic of the website. I guess I’m becoming more familiar with javascript than I thought. I’m now realizing how many possibilities this opens for me in terms of research and documentation in urban design knowing that I have the ability to customize an interactive map.

See pinkcomma website

View Larger Map

Design Biennial Boston

Kennan — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:06:10 +0000

I’m a little late in posting this! Especially since the exhibit is coming down on May 15. If you haven’t already, I recommend stopping by the BSA Space before the 15th to check out Boston’s third Design Biennial Boston. The exhibit was curated by pinkcomma/over,under and sponsored by the BSA. This year differed from past years because the winners had the opportunity to create a site-specific installation at the BSA Space. An archive of past winners and their current projects was also included along with collective interviews and data from all of the firms. For more information visit the any of these sources.

Design Biennial Boston

BSA Space

pinkcomma

Bartolini Maternity Photos

Kennan — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 22:00:35 +0000

My best friend and her husband are expecting a baby girl next month. We headed out to Minuteman Park in Concord, MA for some photos and followed up with some photos at their home. They’re naming her Charlotte so you’ll see a copy of Charlotte’s Web in some of the photos that another friend gave them. I’m excited we incorporated it into the photo, especially since I recently gave them a painting of a Charlotte’s Web scene that Kit Lagreze painted (see below). Enjoy!

Kit’s Painting of Charlotte’s Web

Weekly Photo / W04.2013

Kennan — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:56:07 +0000

We took a trip up to Vermont last weekend to see Keith’s sister Kit. She just finished a month-long artist residency at the Vermont Studio Center and it was amazing seeing her studio, how she works, and all of her paint experiments. She mixes her own paints by grinding up local materials she finds for her paintings, which are what’s on the table below. See her work here.

New Year’s Resolution #1 Update

Kennan — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 01:46:12 +0000

So I didn’t meet my February deadline for this one. BUT I did almost meet it. I didn’t have enough fabric to finish the collar the way I wanted so I’m at a stopping point. I’m thinking of either getting some rib knit red fabric to make a regular old sweatshirt collar or finding something else to make a high collar. It’s too bad I bought the fabric so long ago because I doubt I’ll finding a matching red. Let me know if you have any suggestions for how to finish the collar.

An update on the other resolutions:

2. Paint the Curtains: FAIL! I did design a few options in Illustrator though.

3. New iPad Mini Case: Complete

4. Paint the Wall: FAIL!

6. More Photography: I keep forgetting my camera at work so this one needs improvement.

7. Order Waterjet-Cut Steel Versions of my Old Earring Designs: The earrings are rescaled and ready to be cut. I’ve been talking to Aaron, Wentworth’s former shop technician and a grad student at University of Michigan, about getting them cut on some scrap material. I need to stop being lazy and send him the file!

8. More Yoga: Success!

9. Eat More Ice Cream: More success, in fact I just ate some ice cream cake.

Cut Circle Website Development

Kennan — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 04:02:32 +0000

Last year I worked with designers / friends Lingzi Huang and Lucas Correa-Sevilla to complete a website for the vocal ensemble Cut Circle. Lucas and Lingzi were responsible for the graphic design and I was in charge of coding their design. It was the first time I solely focused on website development rather than design and development. I found working with other designer really pushed me to learn more HTML 5 and CSS integration with plugins such as Soundcloud’s jquery music player. Check out the website here – Cut Circle and make sure to listen to some of their amazing audio clips.

Screenshot of Listen Page

Resolution #3 iPad Mini Case

Kennan — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 02:27:12 +0000

So far I’ve been slacking on Resolutions #8 (more yoga) and #9 (more ice cream). With only one yoga class and one ice cream consumed in 2013 I’m gonna have to get on track. I blame it on a cold but that’s never a good excuse for missing out on ice cream.

Anyway, the good news is that Resolution #3 is complete. Below is the proof – one mini iPad case hanging out with the original case. I tried downsizing the closure at the top a bit to keep the same proportions but I think I went a little too far. Otherwise I’m happy with it. And thanks to the ou crew for the excellent present in need of a case! One project down, five to go.

Weekly Photo / W01.2013

Kennan — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 15:12:31 +0000

View out our apartment window.

Fabric Design for Keith

Kennan — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 22:00:24 +0000

I designed the fabric below to make Keith a shirt for Christmas. Unfortunately it came out much more baby blue than I expected so I’m thinking of new project ideas. I was planning to make a button up shirt using Burdastyle’s Jakob pattern. Hopefully I’ll be able to find some more-suitable fabric for the pattern and a more suitable project for the fabric! Ideas are welcome!

Fabric available for purchase at spoonflower.com/fabric/1645189

Fabric

Jakob Pattern by Burdastyle

New Year’s Resolutions

Kennan — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 23:25:44 +0000

I’ve only ever made one New Year’s Resolution. Surprisingly it was successful. I’ve now been flossing my teeth every day for a year straight. It probably wasn’t that much of a challenge but I don’t really believe in setting ‘life-changing’ resolutions anyway. So this year I’m increasing the difficulty – if only slightly – to motivate myself to finish all the unfinished (or not yet started) projects within either the next month or by summer (depending on whether painting is involved). Forget spreading them over a year. I know that means I’ll put them off.

1. Finish this Ridiculous Pile of Sweatshirt

Due: January 31st

This guy has eluding my for the past month and a half. There’s a lot more finished there than it seems in the pictures. This is how it’s been sitting on the dress form for the last few weeks, aptly displaying how I feel about it. I bought the fabric over a year ago and finally decided to use it to make something similar to Nikita’s Hathor Hoody from 2011. I quickly realized that I didn’t have enough fabric for a hood so i settled on a hoodless version. After sewing in the pockets and basically finishing everything but the sleeves and neckline I realized things weren’t going so hot. The shirt probably won’t be as bad as I imagine in but I just hate the idea of spending time on it and having a less-than-perfect result. So in the next few weeks I’m hoping to find some time to finish it up despite my sweatshirt resentment!

Hathor Hoody by Nikita via Karma Loop

2. Paint the Curtains

Due: January 31st

Big old Windows

Our not-so-new apartment came with some pretty huge windows which I love. Unfortunately they work directly against my hatred of curtains. So to save money and keep things simple we bought a ton of discounted canvas and hacked an Ikea sliding panel system to create our own panels which were long enough to cover the 8′ windows. Since July we’ve been intending to paint or screen print them with custom patterns but we’re too indecisive. Each window has three 2′x8′ panels. I’ve already laid out a design for one panel so I’m hoping to get at least two panels (one per window) done by the 31st. Then we can evaluate whether we should paint all of them. Of course this is totally dependent on whether we can handle the paint fumes since it’s too cold to open the windows though I doubt fabric paint will be a problem.

3. New iPad Mini Case

Due: January 31st

Some Leftover Felt

Original iPad Case Design

I love this first case so much I think I’ll make the mini version!

4. Paint the Wall

Due: January 31st and/or the First Day Warm Enough to Open the Windows

This is a three-part goal. First, I’d like to finally post the time-lapse video of Keith and I creating the linework on our wall (Sol LeWitt style). Second, we would like to fill in a few of the lines with orange paint. We already have the paint but are afraid we should wait until it gets warmer and we can open the windows. Third, we’re planning to create a lighting / entrance area ceiling installation which will attach to the wall. Hopefully we can figure this out by the 31st.

5. Spray Paint Storage Boxes

Due: Spring

This will also probably have to wait until spring. We’re intending to design either icons or some kind of numbering system for all of our storage boxes.

6. More Photography!

Due: Ongoing

I’ve been slacking with photography lately. Not that I’m some great photographer by any means but I do enjoy taking photos. I’d like to get into using my camera more often again.

7. Order Waterjet-Cut Steel Versions of my Old Earring Designs

Due: January 31st

I’ve literally been meaning to do this for two years! If I don’t finish this one I’ll go crazy. I’m planning to redesign these earrings to be cut in steel and slightly enlarged. I’d really like them just for myself but would consider getting more cut for sales as well.

8. More Yoga!

Due: Ongoing

No Resolution list is complete without a fitness goal, although mine is not that ambitious since I have no problem going to yoga. The challenge instead will be finding time (and money haha) to return to taking classes 3-4 times per week rather than 2-3 times per week.

9. Eat More Ice Cream

Due: Ongoing

Some would say this is in complete opposition to number 8 but I love ice cream and intend to continue my ice cream eating adventures which expanded last year with the inclusion of Pinkberry and Berryline Frozen Yogurt. Maybe I’ll even attempt to make some! In the spirit of ridiculous New Year’s Resolutions - check this out too.

10…….

And then of course there’s all the project ideas I’ve been saving up. Hopefully some of these will be finished before 2013 ends.

Happy New Year!