Glo baby Glo!  Just finished installing these cabanas and bar at the Glo Apartments in downtown LA for Myhre Group Architects. Interior Designers Kayce Joyce and Heather McGrath came up with the overall concept for spicing up the pool area.  They specified new colorful daybed covers, pillows, tables, chairs, and approached me with their concept for the cabanas and bar area.  I come in to execute their concept by designing how it would be built, figuring out the details, and actually building it and getting it down there.

The beams and columns are hollow 6×6 teak box beams glued up out of 3/4″ material which fit over burly 24″ galvanized steel brackets I had fabricated by Kari Merkl. I built everything in Portland, took it apart, and trucked it down to LA and reassembled it on site.  At $18.50 a board foot (1″ x 12″ x 12″) teak is extremely expensive and scary to work with.  Its stunningly beautiful though and is unparalleled for outdoor durability.  It was a pleasure to work with such premium material!

The red curtains I had a fabricated by a company in Milwaukee called Twelve500 (strange name, good people).  They are hung across 3/16″ stainless steel cable stretched between the columns.  I installed stainless steel carabiners so people could harness the curtains, if they wish.

The fasteners are all 316 grade stainless steel.  I’m pleased with how they work with the design and show how the structure is put together.  It was actually quite complicated figuring out how the different beams and columns would come together and not reveal the metal brackets underneath.

The cabanas really transformed the pool area by defining space and creating an alternating rhythm with the odd number of divisions.  The bold colors worked well to create a fun feel and lighten up the pool area.  It was a pleasure working with Heather and Kayce on this project.  We have a good relationship of trust and flexibility- 2 crucial ingredients for work and life.

The install proved to be quite an adventure with missing boxes and damaged freight.  I had to scramble to re-purchase hardware and even rebuild some teak parts at my friend Fred Shriver’s shop in Santa Barbara. At the end of the day, excuses and obstacles dont really matter.  Bottom line= I got it done.  I enjoyed the challenge of working on such a difficult and risky project. Bring it on!

*photos by Ryan Purkey and Ken Tomita

Manor of Art 2009 organized by Chris Haberman was an epic endeavor.  100 rooms, 100 artists and 20 bands over 10 days with the mayor himself presiding over closing ceremonies.  The opening party was remarkable with a few thousand people in attendance.  There were multiple bands including one of my favorites from the pennyjam videos- World’s Greatest Ghosts.  People were genuinely excited about exploring the expansive compound.  Honestly, it was the most fun art show Ive ever been to. 

Lisa Kuhnhausen designed yet another sweet chaboo installation.  I met with her on the site and explained to her my concepts for chaboo2 that I wanted represented.  We decided to not showcase any of the chaboos from the first show at all and instead highlighted the web of connections from chaboo1.  The red dots have all the artists names on them and Emily Knudsen connected the dots with her steady hand.  Somehow people tended to be connected to someone on the other side of the room, making Emily very agitated with me since I made the list. Ha

Each artists has a red string connecting them with the original chaboo.  Disclaimer: It was entirely Lisa’s decision to use red.  Although Im obsessed with it right now I dont force others to share my own values.  ;)  And no, they are not laser beams Joe…..  Its string.

Chaboo2 is going to be all about people connecting with each other, not just with me.  The project will be stronger IF people step it up and take up the void left by my absense.  I believe!

TomitaDesigns team member Shay Sosa has started developing a bamboo USB case design.  I am considering purchasing a CNC milling machine which would enable us to create and manufacture small products with incredible precision.  I see many possibilities of products which could also be laser engraved by Mr Joe Laser.

Its going to be an exciting rest of the year.  Well… its always exciting here so I guess thats not saying much.

There is a super cool show going on at Milepost 5 starting this Friday 8/14 at Milepost 5.  Ive been given a room and the freedom to do whatever I want so of course I have used it as an opportunity to promote Chaboo2!  Its called Manor of Art featuring 100 rooms and 100 artists and 20 bands over 10 days (8/14-23).  Curated by Chaboo artist Chris Haberman, the show has some bigtime sponsors and promises to be pretty amazing.

Lisa Kuhnhausen has yet again come up with a neato installation.  I mostly like it because it involves red.  Just kidding… kind of.   You will have to come see for your self how she condensed Project Chaboo into 300square ft while getting my new concept for Chaboo2 across.

Each artist gets an entire room to do whatever they want.  Imagine that!  It really is pretty cool.  I took a sneak peak at some rooms.  ;)  See ya there Friday night.

The bamboo sculpture BambooDNA had planned for the Mile High Music Festival was a scaled down version of the big boy at coachella earlier this year.   The budget was low so we planned on hitting it with only 7 guys.  I was surprised when the boys picked me up in a luxury rental car with black leather interior.  Thats usually not our style.

The concert site was in these giant fields next to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, home of Denver’s Major League Soccer team.  Our meals were catered in the stadium.. which was pretty cool.  We got to soak in a game while we were at it. 

We unloaded the prefabricated columns off the truck by hand and rolled them on bamboo poles over to the setup area old school style.   Six of these columns get erected by manpower only and guywired down.  Here we have our expert rigger Brandon Niles pulling up a column with a little help from his pulley friends as JP and Kevin move the steel base plate into position.