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Created by the folks at Hand-Eye Supply, From the desk of… is a project and publication that exposes the desktops of Portland's most creative people: Think D'wayne Edwards, founder of Pensole Footwear Design Academy, or Carolin Harris, associate creative director at digital advertising agency Swift. The 21 featured desks have obvious distinctions: chaos vs. cleanliness, grids vs. sketches and the ongoing war between pencil and pen. The one thing every desk has in common? Kickass talent seated in Portland.
WW spoke with Hand-Eye Supply's photographic art director, Christine Taylor, about the inspiration behind the project and the process of unearthing Portland's best desks. Make sure to click here to see the desks for yourself, read mini-interviews with their owners and shop for products.
WW: What was the inspiration behind From the desk of…?
Christine Taylor: On a team level, our inspiration comes from everyone at Hand-Eye Supply being committed to the intertwined lifestyle of making and designing. We are always asking ourselves what we would like to read or see, then do our best to make it happen. At Hand-Eye Supply, we enjoy showing some love to our maker community in our projects. That drive to show our community is then combined with an independent personal curiosity about process. Basically, we are inspired by our customers. They are a great bunch of people and we think everyone should know it.
How did you select these people and the objects featured in the photos?
We seek out people we all know are out there, but then we also seek out people who no one knows of but who represent a fuller spectrum of the topics—in this case, desktops. For instance, the tattoo artist, musician, children's illustrator and the fashion designer were nice twists on assumptions about designers. Yet they fit in well and help deepen the story of what it means to be someone creative. We then had to bring it together by matching product to people's personalities—that's time-consuming because you don't just want to give someone like Aaron Draplin a cute little eraser with an adorable brush on the end of it, right? I mean, a guy like Aaron—big name, big work, big following, big personality—he needs to be shown working with a product that reflects him. (By the way, he got the Heavyweight Tape Dispenser). Then take a designer like Tsilli Pines. She's a great graphic designer for sure, but what makes her stand out in a city full of great graphic designers is her involvement in giving back to her creative community as the founder of Creative Mornings Portland and co-founder of Design Week Portland. That stuff's off-the-hook! She is also an artist who works with pencils in her process, so she was paired with a full set of the unique red and black Perfetto pencils created by the well-known designer Louise Fili. It was a good match.
Another standout subject is D'Wayne Edwards, founder of Pensole Footwear Design Academy, who has been hugely influential in the design of sneakers. Not only is he an amazing shoe designer, but he started a well-respected school for advanced designers to hone their skills under his mentorship. Because sketches play a big role in his work, he was matched with the impressive Rotring 600MP Mechanical Pencil—hot stuff if you're into mechanical pencils. And people like us are! Essentially, we look for people who have something to say and people who are just like us or who are people we aspire to emulate.
What is the overall message of this project?
Besides that we love what we do? Well, this is a retail store, so it is to build brand awareness, sell product, while not being cads about it. We aim to give props to our community. The staff at HES are all makers outside of HES. That means we're nerds about process and want to share the irreplaceable joy we get from learning about how things are made. DI: From the desk of…. has grown out of our first catalog launch called Makers in the Modern Era, then we did a similar fall apron catalog last year made at the Good Mod. So we are all about collaboration and sharing the story behind those who keep us inspired. We take other approaches to our projects as you can see on our projects page, but the story of different workers' processes, and their motivation, is the one that we have chosen to elevate the most.
What went into making this project?
Whew. A lot of organization went into making it! Paperwork, meetings, so many emails and questions and editing and web design. Each person at HES has an area they excel in, so for our quarterlies the process goes something like this: I come up with general ideas to take to my creative team, together we decide what to make and if/how we can make it, then everyone does their part to make the result a whole. Doing things this way means people get some creative freedom within their area of expertise, and the final project has the personality of everyone. This particular project went very smoothly for something of this editorial size with a small staff. Sure, there were last-minute copy changes and image switch-outs—but that's all normal.
At HES, we all help keep each other in the loop in different areas of the global maker/creative community. We start each project with a list of potential subjects we know of, those we see locally who embody the Hand-Eye Supply mission, that ends up being mostly people we know or people we want to know because of the work they are doing. Being part of a broader creative culture, we all have a lot in common and that's what we try to portray in all of our shoots—what we have in common and how everyone is potentially someone great. There is no exclusivity, only the celebration of individuals and their work. After the list of our ideal subjects is made, correspondence and research begins. We got lucky on this project. Every single person who we asked agreed to do the photos. What we couldn't anticipate is how open and relaxed most people would be at showing us their work environments. The personalities really come through in the portraits, desktop pics and their own words. That's the best part to me, reading what they say! Their words pair well with the awesome voice behind our product copy, Kat Bauman. If you know HES, you know how fun it is to read the often overlooked product stories.
Everyone featured in our quarterlies has a great story and as you will read on the website, deskinspired.com—they also have some insightful words of wisdom to share. Their wisdom is inspirational, especially to anyone in the creative hustle but also to anyone with a dream. Don't we all have a dream? Don't we all need encouragement to persevere? That's something we can all relate with.
GO: Hand-Eye Supply's new location is at 427 NW Broadway. 11 am-6 pm Mondays-Sundays.
Wildfang offers tomboys top-of-the-line menswear âone bowtie at a time.â Hold onto your beanies and your blazersâWildfang is holding a huge sale through the entire Thanksgiving weekend. Shoppers receive 20 percent off all purchases and $20 off your next purchase. Also: each customer gets a free cup of Coava coffee, hot cider and personal styling tips. 1230 SE Grand Ave. 11 am-7 pm Friday-Sunday, Nov. 28-30.
Tanner Goods offers Portland some of the highest quality leather goods around town. During this weekend, get hefty discounts, as well as free items—a wool knit cap, Tanner Goods Notebook or Sketchbook—with purchases over $100. Deals vary Friday and Saturday. 1308 W Burnside St. 11 am-7 pm Friday-Saturday, Nov. 28-29.
The annual student and alumni holiday sale at Oregon College of Art and Craft is back. Over 70 Pacific Northwest artists and makers will showcase their designs and craft. Admission is $10 and all proceeds go towards OCAC student scholarships. 8245 SW Barnes Rd. 5-9 pm Friday, 10 am-4 pm Saturday and 10 am-3 pm Sunday, Nov. 28-30.
Mercantile is holding a trunk show with a new jewelry line, Anzie. The Canadian-based jewelry brand works with conflict-free precious stones and 14k gold. The store will also hold a spin-the-wheel event on Black Friday, where shoppers can win discounts on apparel and products. 729 SW Alder St. 10 am-5:30 pm Friday, Nov. 28.
WWeek 2015