Architecture Inspiration

It's a rare occurrence to walk into someone's home and actually be inspired by the details. We've all been in big homes with fancy appliances and electronics but I rarely walk into a home and say, "Wow, you really put thought into that and it looks awesome!" Save for the charcoal gray floors in Ian's house (still think those are super dope)While attending a late summer BBQ on Watkins Lake in Waterford, MI, we (Tim O, David Nickless, myself) were leaving for the night when David noticed the crazy detail of the staircase in my buddy Ian P's neighbors house. Each column that supported the handrail looked like a square extrusion of steel tubing 4"x4" that was melting at the bottom. The steel had a rusty patina. It was amazing! And to cap off the columns, the homeowner commissioned a local glass shop to put 2x4x4" caps on each column. The caps were made of clear glass with a frosted bottom that had a small LED below and illuminated the caps. It turns out that Mat Cat from CCS poured the glass castings! Small world. Of course, being the stunning photographer I am, my camera was 20 miles away sitting on my apt floor. Here is a sketch! I'll try to get photos next time I go out there.

"Continue to get better by helping one another"

HBTV: Depth of Speed - A Pinch of Salt from HBTV on Vimeo.

Another Impossible-to-Ride Bike from Jo.

I seem to insist on drawing bikes that are impossible to ride .. call 'er the "Black Lotus", courtesy of Pat luring me out of my cave to sketch night @ the Black Lotus. Inspiration courtesy of Vault. Drawn on the dirtiest page in my sketchbook.

John Jay of Wieden Kennedy

John Jay of Wieden + Kennedy was recently named one of the most creative business people in 2011 by Fast Company. His position as W+K’s executive creative director takes him between all of the W+K offices in an effort to breed those cultures into the main headquarters in Portland.

The greatest thing we can offer is to be great listeners.

Meetings at work can get boring

So I've been throwing around an idea for a motorcycle tank bag.  It has kind of a mini duffel look going on and it's going to have magnets on the bottom to affix to a metal tank while riding.  I have some other sketches but I'm really trying to get into this new Pilot 5.0 pen and this is all I have so far.

Re: MAKR CARRY GOODS

I bought the only thing I could afford from them - a $35 key chain.

I've got the moto key on the permanent side, so I can detach it from my other keys when it's in the headstock.

Pretty awesome presentation and craftsmanship in this stuff. I really want a wallet and backpack from them also. ...but that's like $300+

Sketches On A Plane

Between the sun, beach, and rule-enforcing-girlfriend, I didn't get much (any) blogging done while on vacation.
I did however use my free time to crack the bind on a new sketchbook.

Here are some rough sketches I scribbled out, between turbulence, on the plane ride to and from MA. Turns out laying down good elipses during a thunderstorm is next to impossible, so I just aimed for composition and proportional studies.

Happy Friday

I'm sure most people have heard of them but Rauh Welt Begriff might be the coolest auto tuning company on planet.  They're definitely in the top three.  I went through a bunch of Speedhunters posts to grab these gems.  Enjoy.

What do you listen to while you work?

So we were talking about this at work yesterday and I thought I'd share.  I used to pretend that I could get work done during a movie, but I always get distracted and end up watching the movie.  I don't usually listen to music because I get bored.  This is what i listen to.

All the shows are an hour long, they're free, and they're 

some of the most interesting stories I've ever heard.

Good stories are hard to come by.

This is what I'm listening to right now, its about cars.

Inspiration Overload

I still don't know what to make of Tumblr and the visual explosion of stolen photos on sites like it. Sometimes you find cool images and other times you wonder where the last hour of your life went. Nothing quite like convincing yourself that you've truly accomplished something all day by clicking on your mouse endlessly. Either way, I found this MuseumEsque page and it's got all the usual suspects when it comes to imagery, boobs, cars most people with decent personalities can never afford, wild animals, childhood sports heroes, and fashion that doesn't quite make sense to a guy like myself who buys half of his clothes at Meijer. Either way, I found a few diamonds in the rough I thought I'd share.

Inside the Lamborghini factory

A really cool look into a factory space NASA would probably assassinate someone for.

here

Must bookmark: nonclickableitem

There are few tumblrs as badass as nonclickableitem, you would do well to live your life in a way that could be photographed and put on this blog. Prepare to fill your inspirational folders, this tumblr has something for everyone.





http://nonclickable.tumblr.com/

More Awesome Things in Leather

Building off of Ians post below, that interior shot of the helmet is a Ruby helmet.

They're absolutely gorgeous.

Photography Blog: STREET TRACKER

This blog is probably the best moto related photography blog I've seen. For some reason it seems like there isn't a strong professional photo following of motorcycle related events, at least not to the degree there is for auto stuff. I'm fairly certain Raffaele Paolucci is in Europe shooting this stuff because the diversity on his blog is awesome; flat track racing, vintage track days, motocross, and the racers and fans he shoots have a lot of interesting things going on too. All around this is an awesome blog that gets updated with amazing content often. Do follow.

I WISH I THOUGHT OF THAT: Magnetic Light Switch

For our first installment of I Wish I Thought Of That / Fucking Genius:

MAGNETIC LIGHT SWITCH.

Fucking Genius.

Order yours now!

10,000 Year Clock

You will be dead by the time this clock's millennial dial moves for the first time.

Some of the most inspiring things for me are not necessarily of aesthetic appeal, but of pensive appeal and in this case: Massive Scope.

The founder of Amazon.com is allowing The Long Now along with other foundations to construct a clock that will keep time for 10,000 years without maintenance on his property in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.

This thing is massive in both scale and scope, its main chamber is over 200 feet tall inside the mountain and the mechanisms are made of ceramics, stone, titanium and stainless steel; it doesn't display the time without some fool making the 6hr hike to its innards to wind up the display face.

The Technium has a more thorough write-up on it than the Official Website; its well worth the read (or at least skim). Its encouraging to know someone is making a more distant future for man kind.

Here's a video of the spiral-stair cutting machine for the main chamber around the clock.

Robotic Stone Saw testing and simulation from The Long Now Foundation on Vimeo.

And Here is part of the mechanism being tested.

Iris cam Geneva mechanism for Clock of the Long Now from The Long Now Foundation on Vimeo.

Iron and Resin

Copied from my other blog, but thought this fit well here also. Follow the jump for a sweet little flick.

Iron and Resin is a collaborative of friends, based in southern California, specializing in one-off, hand crafted, merchandise. They run the gamut of land and sea, with their surf and motorcycle focused goods.

Scott G. Toepfer ( It's Better in the Wind ) was recently commissioned to shoot a brand book for them.

The book can be viewed on the Iron and Resin website.

MAKR CARRY GOODS

This is a company I stumbled across a couple weeks back. They do a lot of simple but high quality objects that a small group of people can produce in a small studio space. It feels like something a group of us could do once we have more experience. They have a really good web presence and a nice selection of objects they made themselves.

What started in 2005 as a grouping of various side projects quickly turned into a more serious endeavor with the next two years spent developing the brand and seeking-out larger scale production methods. The addition of skilled craftspeople and local production facilities has allowed us to grow without sacrificing quality. MAKR will always be an extension of our lifestyle and a project with multi-platform output and interest in all aspects of design.

Entertainment Design: KARAKTER CONCEPTS

The Vault lives! I'd like to start with some entertainment design because it's always been one of my biggest sources of inspiration. There's just so much creativity in every piece. The process of creating an entire world that's believable for your product/vehicle/weapon/environment to exist within is the epitome of creativity for me and I hope to one day play a part of an entertainment project.

Owl

I was looking for other companies/brands/designs that used the term Vault and I came across www.vault49.com . They do some pretty awesome work but when I saw this I was really blown away. I wish I could see this type of image in my head and be able to create it!

Here's some inspiration: "Deus Bali: Bob's Books"

Bob is one of the graphic designers behind Deus Ex Machina's brand: 

One day, whilst inside 'The Smokin Skull's art den, I spotted a pile of books, almost bursting at the seems with colorful pages. I inquired as to what they were, he said they were his scrap books...A place to jot down ideas and doodles as they came to him throughout his days.

Using various methods and madness he's filled out quite a few of the things since moving to Bali and subsequently into the Temple of Enthusiasm. Here are a few quick glances from inside said scribble books. Enjoy!

Vault is Born.

...and then there was Vault.