HES Fall Quarterly '13: Apron Catalog

Elizabeth Artis

Elizabeth Artis is the owner of Espe Floral+Foliage. She is a floral designer with a strict commitment to the Slow Flower Movement, mirroring the “slow food” movement in its dedication to locally sourced, seasonal and sustainably grown flowers. The list of reasons why origin matters is long, but the heart of it is the increased value placed on quality, cost, supporting small farms, and a creative approach to design. Her work is in the realm of beauty, but she’ll be the first to tell you: it's dirty stuff! Her hands are calloused and cut from the heavy duty business behind the scenes, and she’s proudly rough around the edges. Take a gander at her beautiful creations: espefloral.com

Elizabeth wore the Eyelet Herringbone Apron by Universal.

Sean Hoard

Sean Hoard started his bartending career at NYC’s world-renowned cocktail bar Please Don’t Tell. During his 3 years there, he climbed from barback to head bartender under the tutelage of the industry’s celebrated pioneers. Fresh off a win on Team USA at the 2010 Cocktail World Cup, Sean moved back to Portland, lured by the burgeoning hospitality industry in his hometown. He found a place for himself behind the bar at two of Portland’s most beloved watering holes: Teardrop and Clyde Common. After managing Teardrop for two years, Sean was ready to branch out from behind the bar, and started The Commissary with his business partner, Teardrop owner Daniel Shoemaker.

This fall The Commissary will offer fresh juice and classic cocktail ingredients to Portland-area bars and restaurants. “As a bartender the point was getting to make people feel special. You have the opportunity to create a memorable moment for a guest, maybe even affect the trajectory of their night. At The Commissary we are still a piece of that process, but, equally importantly, I get to make the lives of bartenders, bar managers, and bar owners easier. My company and I do the dirty work so they get to do what they love.”

Sean modeled the Hand-Eye Supply Portland-Made Waist Apron.

Laura Fritz

Laura Fritz designs and builds her own uncanny environments: installations often involving furniture, arcane scientific scenarios, light and sometimes video. Though a Chicago native, she has lived in Portland since the late 90's, and had her first solo show at PNCA in 2000. Since then she has shown her work nationally and throughout the Pacific NW at venues such as New American Art Union’s Couture series, Reed College, and SOIL Gallery in Seattle. Laura's own backyard is full of spiders, interesting plants and vegetables. For more information, check out her interview with MK Guth, and laurafritz.net.

Laura wore the Natural Drill 4 Pocket Apron by Pointer Brand.

James Harrison

James Harrison is a Portland sculptor who specializes in undermining the orthodoxy of architecture. This spring he launched Arborela, a line of functional and beautiful garden structures. He likes to say that he uses sculpture to explore architectural ideas, and studies craft to incorrectly apply skills between genres. “The idea is paramount. A good idea will take you on a journey. I feed a project initially, then it feeds me. After a certain point a project tells you what to do. You can end up with some mighty strange skill sets by following your ideas! For instance, I'm obsessed with knot tying because several projects have told me to study that skill. When I see a project through to completion, I feel like I've taken a journey that you can't have any other way. It's humbling over and over again.”

You may already know James by his Portland landmarks: the Lovejoy Columns, the Ghost Ship on the Eastbank Esplanade, and the light beacon for Firestation 28 on NE Sandy. Find his garden arbors at Portland Nursery and Cornell Farm. For more information, visit www.jamesmharrison.com and www.arborela.com.

James wore the Hand-Eye Supply Leather Apron

Amanda Wall-Graf

As Michael Pollan has said, the experience of interacting with our built environment is a "tangle of mental and physical, cultural and biological" factors and responses. That rich and diverse complication has fueled Amanda Wall-Graf's passion for furniture design through a decade of professional making.
Over the years she has developed a making philosophy that includes commitment to quality, sustainable sourcing and a pairing of simple forms and warm materials, united through good design and considered detailing.

Amanda runs a custom furniture studio in southeast Portland and is pleased to announce the launch of her new online retail store HENO, specializing in fine goods that provide simple and beautiful organizational solutions. Visit www.henoshop.com to see more of Amanda’s work.

Amanda modeled the Tool Roll Apron by Red Clouds Collective.

Emily Townsend

Emily Townsend is a personal chef and a climate activist drawing the line on the root causes of climate change. A fourth generation Oregonian, raised on rivers and wild salmon, Emily works to communicate the seriousness of climate change by fighting fossil fuel infrastructure expansion in the Pacific Northwest, and curtailing energy demand through developing a personal carbon budget program. She’s producing an animated short film explaining how climate change disrupts the hydrology and ecosystems of the Cascadia bioregion.
Check out some of her important work: portlandrisingtide.org/2013/07/climate-action-on-the-columbia/

Emily modeled the Wide Stripe Work Apron by Fog Linen.

Jeff Jahn

Jeff Jahn is a polymath curator, critic, artist, composer, photographer, director and cultural historian. Originally from Milwaukee, he has spent over 14 years pushing Portland’s expectations for art and design. He is one of the city's staunchest champions of high caliber contemporary art. As a curator he has presented international artists, and he also plays the role of eagle-eyed talent scout locally. In 2010 he served as a review panelist for the Andy Warhol Foundation Art Writing Grants program. In 2012 his installation art was included in the Northwest Biennial.

Jeff is currently working on two traveling exhibitions and editing his first feature length movie, an “adaptstraction” of Shakespeare's lost play Cardenio (picture artists, baristas and Shakespearean actors with Spanish dueling swords and a lot of references to The Trial by Orson Welles). “My own art comes from a pure place and I don't have a careerist attitude for it at all, in that I’m never looking for my next show. It comes from my curiosity.”Jeff is co-founder and chief critic for the contemporary art blog www.portlandart.net.

He modeled the Teamster’s Apron by Ben Davis.

Ginger McCabe

Ginger McCabe makes custom motorcycle seats out of her manufacturing / retail shop in SE Portland. Her process starts with a base - a stock motorcycle seat, an aftermarket one, or sometimes nothing but a piece of metal the builder chose to use as the base. She builds up the foam to the customer’s specs, patterns and fabricates a cover out of leather or vinyl, and attaches it to the pan. Ginger gathers ideas from vintage designs, from jackets to furniture and (obviously) motorcycles. She draws inspiration from the motorcycle builders she works with, relishing ideas that they come up with that trust her skills and aesthetic.

“To start with a flat piece of metal and create a luxurious three dimensional piece of work is rewarding. It’s usually the last piece someone puts on their bike, and where they sit to ride! After three years, I still enjoy it - which is more than I can say for any job I've ever had.” Her dream tool would be another set of hands as good as hers. Visit the shop at 4422 SE Woodstock Blvd., Portland OR, or online: www.newchurchmoto.com

Ginger modeled the Denim Machinist's Apron by Ben Davis.

J. Brown

J. Brown is an artist, curator, and creator of things. He has worked as an installation artist and fabricator for the last 12 years, developing an array of skills using welding, mold making, plastics, fabric, woodworking, electronics, and structural engineering. He and his business partner Jim Stillwell are opening a maker space called Back Porch Projects. They’ll help you learn the skills, give you a hand, and lend the tools to make your own projects. "We started Back Porch Projects as a way to share our collective knowledge. We give artists and makers a place to finish the vision they've been wanting to create but don't have the space, skills, or tools to make happen. We just like surrounding ourselves with cool people and fun projects."

They will offer classes but are most excited to instruct students with their own designs. They’re currently working on dust-proof disposable headphones; stackable wood storage boxes; an Adirondack chair design; leather smoking pipe pouches; stainless steel notebook covers; and new sculptural work. Come check out the space, and make an appointment to learn skills or play with tools by calling 412-445-4125.

J. Brown wore the Hand-Eye Supply Standard Denim Apron.

Michael Lazarus

Michael Lazarus's paintings carefully combine paint, found wood, signage, mirrors and more into something inextricably whole. Michael moved to Portland from NYC in 2010, his work was shown in a solo exhibition at Elizabeth Leach Gallery this past September, and he currently holds a position at Lewis & Clark College as Visiting Assistant Professor of Art. “Essentially I make what I need to. Sometimes what I want to make falls in alignment with this, sometimes not. There is a point in the process of making these works, when what the work truly needs to be becomes apparent. Exactly what that will look like I do not know, but by listening to the work's needs I can continue its development through to its conclusion.”

His work has been exhibited in solo shows in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Montreal, and in group shows across the US and Europe. His work can be seen at http://michaellazarus.com/ and Elizabeth Leach Gallery.

Tucker had been found abandoned and neglected by a rescuer. When the shelter introduced him to Michael, he was too thin and filthy dirty with patchy fur - not the radiant beauty you see in this portrait. The two have become lifelong friends and a shining example of the benefits of rescue shelters.

Michael wore the Black Waxed Canvas Tool Roll Apron by Red Clouds Collective.

Spencer Staley

Spencer Staley was born in French Lick, Indiana (home of Larry Bird), where he taught himself to make skateboards in high school shop class. He moved to Portland in 1998 and put his deck knowledge to use buying, selling and refurbishing mid-century modern furniture. He honed his tastes, teaching himself about design and designers out of books from Powells, and the ideas for custom projects and re-envisioned classics started to pile up. In 2005 he founded The Good Mod, which now occupies a 36,000sq. foot warehouse overlooking busy NW Portland. They feature antique mid-century modern furniture, traditional refurbishing expertise, contemporary styling, curated work by new designers, industrial odds and ends, and cutting edge fabrication.

Spencer’s plans for the future see The Good Mod designing and making special sculptural objects for clients, while collaborating with other makers from different disciplines. As it grows, the joint focus remains on traditionally skilled production and contemporary design. He is developing a powerful marketplace and community for design, through the daily work of restoring and re-imagining beautiful furniture, through projects like the upcoming Portland Design Auction, proceeds from which go directly to participating artists! Take a gander, make a bid: www.thegoodmod.com www.portlanddesignauction.com

Spencer modeled the Waxed Canvas and Leather Apron by TRVR.

Oved Valadez & David Thorpe

Oved Valadez and David Thorpe are founding partners of INDUSTRY, a multidisciplinary innovation consultancy here in Portland. Their clients include Nike, Intel, Gerber Gear, InCase, Autodesk, TDK, Chrome, and several startups. They are adaptive, thus, their work varies from advertising campaigns, digital experience, and retail to beautiful product design.

There is no standard, direct process for that work: “That era of design has died, innovation does not have a blueprint. We focus on delivering design that has a story a core reason for existing. We typically start with the DNA and build from the inside out. The key is being Adaptive.” You can encounter some of their work at http://www.industrypdx.com/

Oved is pictured with the Klein Tools 18 inch Tool Bag.

David modeled the Rigid Indigo Denim Shop Apron by Pointer Brand.

Arnon Kartmazov

Arnon Kartmazov’s training in blacksmithing started in the 1980s when he apprenticed to the last surviving blacksmith in Jerusalem. His study next led him to spend twelve years in Japan, training under a sword-maker and two separate knife-makers. He moved to Portland in 2000, and set up shop as Bridgetown Forge. He spent the next ten years forging large architectural projects like gates, railings and balconies, as well as furniture, hardware, knives, woodworking tools, and sculptural pieces. Three years ago he stepped back from architectural work to concentrate on Japanese-style chef’s knives and hand tools. He teaches smithing and knife-making classes in the Bridgetown Forge workshop and indulges in sculptural work when he can.

“For me, my work is an open-ended process - this is such a vast field that I know I will never exhaust it. I will always be learning new things, from myself and my fellow smiths and my students, making daily discoveries big and small, finding better things to make, and better ways to make them.” Check out his beautiful work and exciting classes at www.bridgetownforge.com.

Arnon wore the Hand-Eye Supply Leather Apron.

Evan Holt

Evan Holt is the owner of Holt Woodworks in Tigard, Oregon. He’s run the custom furniture company for eight years, with a two-year break to earn an MFA from Pacific Northwest College of Art. In addition to specializing in furniture and cabinet and bookcase projects, he is a licensed carpenter and enjoys working outside building decks in the balmy northwest summers.

“Making furniture is like raising a child in a compressed timeframe. I get together with a client and start an idea. We both put thought into what we want and then I go back to my workshop to develop the project. There are usually lots of sleepless nights, lot of crying, and stressful moments. I usually get most things right and sometimes a few things wrong and have to change how I make something. Then one day I hand off my creation to someone else and it goes to live with them. I’m very proud of what I’ve made because it contains a story of my life and journey and then starts making stories and memories for someone else.” Learn more about his work at www.holtwoodworks.com.

Evan modeled the Natural Drill Shop Apron by Pointer Brand.

Garrick Imatani

Garrick Imatani is an artist and educator who lives a few doors down from where Kent Ford, co-founder of Portland’s Black Panther Party, was raided by the FBI. Garrick creates drawings, photographs, sculptures, texts and events that look at the past to reframe the present. “I’m extremely satisfied with the work I’m making now! I never thought I would get to this point. Collaborating with others and defining success outside the discipline has helped. What I do now encapsulates my interests, from research and conversations with people to making objects through experiment and interaction.”

Garrick’s current public work, The Watcher Files Project, with poet Kaia Sand, focuses on the surveillance of activist groups by the Portland Police over a 30-year span. It can be viewed online at looseleafservices.us.

Garrick wore the 3 Pocket Shop Apron Hickory Stripe by Pointer Brand.

Carrie Anne Hathaway

Carrie Anne Hathaway grew up right here in the City of Roses and is proud to call this place home. Always an active, hands-on person, Carrie started out as a massage therapist and has since moved on to even more technical skills - from jigsawing to EMT-B! Through the Oregon Tradeswomen's Trades and Careers Pre-apprenticeship program, she learned carpentry skills and building techniques, and discovered she was a natural with a worm drive Skil Saw! She is the proud mother of two: a beautiful 6 year old girl, Ailee, and her other baby Blue, a 60 pound blue nose pit bull.

Catch her while you can, because she might be off to fire academy. “I had a childhood dream that I would marry a firefighter, but as I got older and stronger I realized that I wanted to be a firefighter.” Wherever she goes, Carrie Anne’s work will be in skilled hands.

Carrie modeled the Hand-Eye Supply x Man vs. Ink Canvas Nail Apron.

Crispin Argento

Crispin Argento is the mind behind PINO Portland, a line of handmade accessories that lives up to his motto, 'life is too short to wear boring clothes.'. Starting with a love for bow ties and a taste for entirely un-boring fabrics, Crispin has grown PINO into a beloved source for unusual wardrobe additions.

“At PINO, we believe the surest way for someone to follow their dreams, find love, and discover happiness is to become a true gentleman or gentlewoman—which starts with dressing well. As designer Tom Ford says, ‘You should put on the best version of yourself when you go out in the world because that is a show of respect to the other people around you.’ This philosophy is core to our brand and our story. Through our products, we give people the confidence that comes with looking good and in turn we believe that looking good makes people feel good. When people feel good they are generally better citizens, live fuller and happier lives, and live with purpose.” Check the colorful options out at www.pinoportland.com

Crispin modeled the Hickory Stripe 4 Pocket Apron by Pointer Brand.

Nathanael Malone & John Sardari

Nathanael Malone dreams of replacing cheap plastic beer and wine tap handles with custom urban salvaged handles, made with love. He enjoys helping people laser etch their custom logos and designs on a piece of wood that otherwise would have been thrown away, knowing that those pieces will replace plastic in breweries and home bars all over the nation. “Working with my hands is all I've ever done, that's all I know. Whether I'm picking up a piece of charcoal to draw up a concept for design, or personally shaping and cutting a piece of reclaimed wood, my hands are the tool that I most heavily rely on. Because I work with such small pieces for such specific clients the real challenge is in picking the perfect piece of wood, so my most important skill is the ability to get to know each client and all of their quirks.... also I have a laser at my house and that is pretty damn awesome.” Nathanael’s work is available online at Bearded Boy Design and he can be reached at nate@tapportland.com.

Nathanael modeled the Apron Neckband in Herringbone, by Universal.

John Sardari grew up near Lake Tahoe, where he learned to love the mountains and established a sense of place in the Western Sierras. Studying architecture in San Diego, he cultivated a sensibility for modern, clean and open design. Since leaving the sandy shores of San Diego and the predictably white office of the architecture firm, John has been busying himself in a wood shop, wearing ear plugs and getting dirty. There he has formed a relationship with the material, learning the reactions that different woods and different processes produce. John is influenced by 'Critical Regionalism' as set out by Kenneth Frampton and illustrated by Alvar Aalto and Peter Zumthor. He believes these ideas are scalable all the way from our city planning down to the forks we eat with. The objects we create need to reflect the time and place they were made in, and carry the narrative forward for the next designer who has found their sense of place, who will then carry the narrative forward, and so on. John makes furniture and housewares for Creative Woodworking NW. His geometric planters are sold at Beam & Anchor and Worn Path.

John modeled Universal Brand’s Herringbone Eyelet Apron.

Emmeline Eao

Emmeline Eao is a studio artist currently attending Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, OR. While her main focus is printmaking, she is always inspired by drawing, writing, and her first creative love, photography. Emmeline enjoys experimenting with textures and hard edged designs, often resulting in industrial feeling works in print. Many of her projects find their roots in her Cambodian background, whether aesthetically playing homage to her history or less visibly by informing their concepts.  Emmeline is currently working in lithography, an involved process requiring a lot of care and preparation to print one image.

She modeled the Black Waxed Canvas Tool Roll Apron by Red Clouds Collective.

Fredrick H. Zal

Fredrick H. Zal's passion is to help people envision their design dreams. He takes joy in crafting beautifully with his hands, and takes pride in contributing to the world both artistically and environmentally. Working with vintage, salvaged, natural, and recycled materials, Fredrick is able to harvest shared cultural memories, and re-craft these narratives with new purpose and charisma. By discussing the qualities of touch, sight, scent, taste, and sound, he creates works of art that resonate beyond the simple functionality of the object, space, or building.

Fredrick lectures on the theory and practical application of empathy, morphology and material narrative in his architecture, furniture, and art at institutions around the United States.  Fredrick’s variety of skills and projects are on display at fhzal.com

He wore the Hand-Eye Supply Standard Black Canvas Apron.

Brian Pietrowski

Over the past 15 years Brian Pietrowski has worked in a variety of art fabrication fields. His experience spans disciplines, including architecture, furniture, interiors, set fabrication and model making. He is adept in both commercial and conceptual art. Brian believes that craftsmanship is the development of the tools and process that gets you to the end, and not so much about fussing over the details of a one-off. A contemporary craftsman has to be efficient and quick on his feet, and understand the process of design just as well as the tools used to fabricate ideas. For more, check out www.brianpietrowski.com and www.vontundra.com.

Brian wore the American Craftsman Apron by Vanport Outfitters x Hand-Eye Supply.

Megan Malone

Megan Malone has been creatively baking wedding cakes and desserts for years. She loves incorporating local artisanal chocolate into her designs because it never fails at making people smile, and she gets to sneak pieces of it.

“Getting dirty is a large reason I enjoy baking so much; my hands are covered in chocolate, I find flour dusted all over my apron, and the counter space has to have a bit of mess to it. I know I will have a delicious product if my hands have gotten dirty, otherwise I was not involved enough and those salted caramel chocolate truffles just won’t have that silkiness they deserve. When my hands are a part of the baking process I have a better understanding of the quality of goods I am making and I also put some of my own sweetness into each delicious morsel. When baking for someone in particular, a lot of love and heart makes it taste so much better.” Megan is a pastry tech at Papa Haydn and can be reached at meganmelon@gmail.com.

Megan Malone is pictured in the Wide Stripe Work Apron by Fog Linen.

Andrew Longyear

Andrew Longyear is a wildland firefighter and heavy equipment fabricator. He began his professional career as an engineer for a heavy truck manufacturer but, looking for a different connection to his world and his work, traded his desk for a shovel and pulaski. Andrew has been a firefighter for the past fifteen years; working the fire line in the summers and designing and building fire engines and supporting heavy equipment in the winters.

“Being a front line worker in the same industry that I build equipment for provides a tremendous perspective and many opportunities for innovation and design experimentation. Also, having hundreds of hours behind the wheel of pieces of fire equipment that I built, you gets pretty direct, and sometimes dramatic, feedback into which systems and designs work and which do not.” Andrew walked away from a corner office for the pleasure of spending his working life in boots and a hard hat, and it was the best decision he’s ever made.

Andy modeled the Black Printer's Apron by Ben Davis.

Dan Nickel

Dan Nickel has a wood shop in SE Portland that he shares with three other talented cabinet makers and furniture builders. He meets with clients to get an idea of their needs and aesthetic, before starting work on a design concept. Concepts are often run by one or two of the shop mates to discuss fabrication details and potential challenges in construction. He typically produces individual pieces of furniture for private homes as well as having a few pieces in various retail and commercial spaces in town.  He works with clients individually as well as with designers and architects.  His portfolio is available on his website www.dannickelbuilds.com

Dan modeled the Denim 4 Pocket Apron by Pointer Brand.