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My House

The Pace of Portland

When creative director Ben Watson and his partner, painter Claudio Tschopp, relocated from Basel, Switzerland, to Portland, Oregon, three years ago, they had been told about Portland’s Pearl...

written by: Brian Libby

photos by: John Clark

01.01.09
A Note on Our Expert

A Note on Our Expert: Sally Kuchar

Sally Kuchar’s interest in design was piqued at age seven, sitting in her father’s Wassily chair.

01.01.09
A Note on Our Expert

A Note on Our Expert: Richard Wright

Richard Wright (not to be confused with the Richard Wright who authored Native Son or the Richard Wright who plays keyboards for Pink Floyd) is the proprietor of the world’s most renowned auction...

01.01.09
A Note on Our Expert

A Note on Our Expert: D.L. Byron

D.L. Byron is the principal of Textura Design, Inc., a Seattle firm that specializes in business blogging, and the publisher of Bike Hugger, a blog about bike culture.

01.01.09
A Note on Our Expert

A Note on Our Expert: Angelika Taschen

Angelika Taschen got her doctorate in art history from the University of Heidelberg in 1986. She has edited for Taschen since 1987, publishing numerous titles on architecture, photography, design,...

01.01.09
How they make it

Cold Press

The factory floor is a city of tall hydraulic presses. Humming and chinking sounds bellow down aisle after aisle. Workers wearing light-blue gloves spray grease onto sheet-metal pieces, place them...

01.01.09
How they make it

Weld

Tungsten inert gas (TIG) welds and spot-welds join the molded parts. In TIG welding, the inert gas argon is blown out of a nozzle to surround a white-hot tungsten electrode at the tip of the...

01.01.09
How they make it

Polish

Alessi uses two types of 18/10 stainless steel (the number refers to the chromium-to-nickel ratio): 2B, with a carbon content of 0.2 percent, is more malleable and less shiny than BA, which has 0.4...

01.01.09
How they make it

Package

After more than 100 steps, the completed parts are ready for packaging. Workers assemble the upper container, filter funnel, gasket, and boiler in much the same way that the eventual user will put...

01.01.09
How they make it

Shear and Coin

The metal-punching facility is down the road from the Magis headquarters in Motta di Livenza, in northeastern Italy. Steel sheets, 191⁄2 inches high, 45 inches wide, and less than 1⁄16-inch thick,...

01.01.09
How they make it

Cuts, Curves, Cuts

The tool that folds the curve of the back of the chair is the most dramatic, but it is no more essential than the others, which trim the edges, cut the holes, and add a final soft angle to the...

01.01.09
How they make it

Molten Dust

Piombino Dese, a drab industrial town between Venice and Verona, has many small glass companies, including Vetrerie New Glass, founded by Franco Pellizzon in 1991 and one of several Glo-Ball...

01.01.09
How they make it

Blow Mold

When the blob has reached a diameter of about six inches, it has already been handled by two or three blowers, who multitask like chefs.

01.01.09
How they make it

Cool and Cut

Vetrerie New Glass can make 18 Glo-Balls per hour—Pellizzon keeps the operation tight in order to guarantee exceptional quality. The balls sit in a slow-cooling kiln for two hours; otherwise, they...

01.01.09
How they make it

Put Together

West of Piombino Dese, in Bovezzo, the well-tended Glo-Balls meet the other parts of the lamp: laminated tubular steel stands, bases, and electronic components sourced in Milan. At first glance the...

01.01.09
How they make it

Sketching

Little Field of Flowers was first conceived in 2005, when, in the cyclical course of design trends, flowery was at the height of fashionability. Nani Marquina says, “We thought it would be nice to...

01.01.09
How they make it

Prototyping

“We ordered the first prototypes in an embossed pattern,” explains Marquina, who works with several Indian manufacturing facilities. The Nanimarquina team instructed the manufacturers to use a...

01.01.09
How they make it

Die Cutting

As Boontje’s signature style is often associated with cutouts, Marquina’s solution was a good fit. Sheets of felt from Rajasthan go into a die cutter, which is essentially a combination of a waffle...

01.01.09
How they make it

Weaving

Depending on the size of the rug—they come in three sizes—one or two technicians at SPN operate the loom, which involves painstaking manual labor. “Every two or three lines,” Marquina explains, “we...

01.01.09
How they make it

Cut

Organic merino wool arrives from Vermont, woven and mounted on rolls over a yard and a half wide. When asked what makes the wool organic, Notkin explains that the sheep grazed on pesticide-free...

01.01.09
How they make it

Prep

Zippers, buttons, and other add-ons are rendered unnecessary by Looolo’s pillowcase closure system, which uses a tried-and-true technique: overlapping flaps on the back. “Zippers and...

01.01.09
How they make it

Pattern

Notkin, who started her career making costume jewelry, has a knack for romantically contrasting hues and textures. In fact, her favorite part of the creative process comes before anything is made...

01.01.09
How they make it

Stuff

The fronts and backs are sewn to each other inside out and then turned right side out—“we just make sure the corners are nice,” says Notkin. Each pillowcase is hand-stuffed with a...

01.01.09
How they make it

Concept

On every scale, from cottage industry to mass market, production starts with research. Johnstone begins by scouring the globe for team members who have the right skills and design sense to match a...

01.01.09
How they make it

From 2-D to 3-D

“Very aggressive” is how Johnstone describes the design schedule. They move quickly from a few rough sketches to a virtual 3-D model. AMOI and HWL take advantage of the time difference, working on...

01.01.09