Exciting Sunday at the shop today.  My friends produce a video podcast called the Penny Jam of local bands in unconventional locations and they asked if they could film in the shop.  Several chaboos make a cameo appearance in the background (behind the drummer).  Here is Celilo live at TomitaDesigns~! (I will never say this again)

Penny Jam at the shop from Ken Tomita on Vimeo.

The Penny Jam is an almost-weekly video podcast filmed in Portland Oregon. In each episode we film a different band playing in an unconventional performance space, helping music escape from the often-drab environs of dark, neon, concert venues. We are interested in documenting as wide a variety of musical styles as possible, including indie rock, bluegrass, electronic, hip-hop, jazz etc, etc

Check out their website www.thepennyjam.com I will post again when the music video is edited and up on their site.

Penny Jam at the shop from Ken Tomita on Vimeo.
Pretty weird seeing a band play in my shop.  Context is everything… stretch the mind…

I bought this painting from Jennifer Mercede (chaboo artist) for my mom.  She has seen it more than a year ago and wanted it but the painting was already sold.  Something happened and I found out that Jennifer still had the painting.  I thought I would surprise my mom for christmas this year with the walrus she had always wanted.

She lives up in the west hills though and the roads are impassible without chains.  So, I trekked it.  I carried the painting and walked up to her house from SE Portland.  If you saw someone walking through downtown with two walruses under their arm odds are good that it was me.

It looks great in her house.  I put it next to these sumi inked bamboo shelving units I made for her years ago.  She likes to put little trinkets up there and make sculptures.  The quiet monotone quality of my work and the exuberance and bright color of Jennifers work play off each other surprisingly well.  The home feels so much warmer now.

I remember now when I was writing essays to get into grad programs for architecture I wrote about how I wanted to learn how the design of spaces could affect people emotionally.  I wondered why some spaces felt warm and cozy while others felt cold.  Id like to get back to thinking about feeling more in my own work as a designer.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Snowday!  Well…not really.  I think snowdays are generally defined as days where the snow causes work/school to be canceled.  Its saturday AND snowing but I still worked.  Project Chaboo is exploding and there is no time to stay idle.

BUT there is time to have a good old fashioned roman candle fight at the shop.  Ya- not too mature or safe but you gotta have some fun sometimes!

*dont tell my mom*

My friend Dave L called me last wednesday night and asked me if I wanted to go see Buckminster Fuller….. in an hour.  His wife was sick and he had an extra ticket.  Not knowing what he was talking about but never afraid of something new  (or free) I showed up at Portland Center Stage.

The show was amazing.  Its basically one actor portraying Bucky just talking for two hours furiously switching from one subject to another all with spit flying everywhere.  After a while you forget about the acting and start to feel as if Bucky himself is up there, playing with triangles.

There was so much information that I dont remember anything specific at all really.  It was inspiring though- to learn about a man who has so many ideas and excitement that it was a miracle he never spontaneously combusted.

Ive been feeling that excitement lately myself with Project Chaboo.  Its really hard to fall asleep at night there is so much going on in my head.  It was great to talk to Dave too about the NEXT project.  Ya- im already thinking about the next one.  Im sure we will learn alot from Project Chaboo and that will help us for future community projects.  Fun!

Dave was talking about some CRAZY project he is doing where a special metal alloy is involved which explodes if you machine it or cut into it.  wow.  That sounds almost as much fun as playing with mercury!

Thanks for taking me Dave.

Ive been helping my friend Ben Wood out at his shop on skyline that past week.  He is a furniture/cabinet maker turned general contractor in the Portland area.  Hes been staying busy during the economic downturn.  We must be onto something!  We are building some cabinets for a basement addition he is doing.

The shop is waaay out in the country surrounded by pastures with horses and cows.  It sure is beautiful out here.  Its nice to get out of the city for a couple days.  The sunsets arent too shabby either.

Ben was formally trained in furniture back in the day and he showed me some hand planes that he made.  There are some that are custom designs with really slight radiuses.  Pretty cool!