Designer/artists extroardinare Amy Ruppel is doing a deer chaboo in a collaboration between myself, her, and Joe Mansfield.  She approached me with some drawings of using a cutout deer silhouette as the center spline of the chaboo and some hand cut felt placed on the chaboo.

Joe had told me about an idea last year of  inlaying lasercut felt perfectly into a laser cut recess so that the felt lays flush with the surface but we had never actually done it.  Realizing this technique would be perfect for Amy we headed to Joes laser shop to discuss.  Hes the best at doing weird and fun things with the laser!  Here are Amys drawings for her chaboo.

Project Chaboo is such a great excuse to do cool experimental things that we never get around too cause we’re too busy trying to make money.
radiusing the deer from Ken Tomita on Vimeo.

I had Amy make a template for me out of 1/4″ MDF.  I then used a straight bit with a bearing to copy that form onto 3/4″ baltic birch plywood.  Here I am radiusing Amy Ruppel’s deer with a 1/16″ roundover bit on the router table.

Amy taking off with her deer.  Bring it back please!

Amy steals the deer from Ken Tomita on Vimeo.

Deer adventure to be continued…

I had the privilege of seeing the work of Thomas Huang and meeting him for the first time tonight at Oregon College of Arts and Craft.  His work is in a group show displaying there through February 22.

Notice the connections between the three materials he uses: bamboo strips, laser cut steel, and rough sawn wood.  Unnoticed to most is the skill, care, and time required to prep the bamboo into these delicate strips.

Tom learned how to work bamboo from my friend Jiro Yonezawa here in Portland a few years back.  According to local lore- he moved out here on a whim and lived in Jiros basement, learning from the master all while eating only bananas and soft serve ice cream. Ok… only part of that is true.

Tom is faculty now in the Industrial Design department at the University of Kansas.  I actually emailed him 5 years ago asking for advice as I faced a crossroads in my education.  He doesnt remember giving me advice, and I dont remember what he said.

Nonetheless I remember he tried his very best to be helpful and I appreciate that.  Thanks Tom- whatever you said worked!  Im continuing the chain by being as helpful as possible to young people- ok that makes me sound O L D.

GLOBAL “CROSS CULTURALIZATION” places us all in a state of negotiation and resolution.  My work reflects this condition through the reconciliation of dissimilar materials within the language of furniture.  It is a language that celebrates physical sensuality, emotional sentiment, and visual harmony; a common global language.  I am drawn to the potential of funriture objects to enable intimacy and to the care and detail of their making.

So of course I told him about Project Chaboo. He shyly asked me if he could participate.  Are you kidding me?  It would be an honor.  Stoked!

In no particular order here are the artists participating so far:

Alisha Wessler - illustration

Lauren Wessler - wood, paper mache

Jennifer Mercede - painting

Chris Haberman - painting

Sohaila Adela - illustration

Kelly Neidig - painting

Nell Warren - painting

Robin Kaplan - illustration

Dave Laubenthal -wood, metal

David Bertman -wood, metal

Kari Merkl - metal

Joel Wakeman - wood

Juno Lachman - glass

Eric Day - wood, metal, fiberglass

Todd Griffith - painting

Joe Mansfield - laser

George Ramos - wood

Mike Halvorson - wood

Paul Sykes - wood

Lindsay Holmes - recycled skateboards

Jess Hirsch - watercolor

APAK - illustration, painting

Erin Albin (appetite) - screenprinting/fabric

Brendan Budge - industrial design

Lisa Kuhnhausen - interior design/fashion

Jason Hernandez - wood

Sarah Bennet - wood, epoxy resin

Karl Ramentol - industrial design

Ken Tomita - wood, bamboo

Amy Ruppel- designer

Maren Jensen- illustration

Sara Huston - furniture design

Orange design.build - salvaged materials

Marshall Ryan - architecture

Ryan Thomson - architecture

Megan Scheminske - painting

Don Jensen - wood

David Butts - kinetic sculpture

Marc Riera - architecture

Ryah Radomski - furniture

John Paananen - interior architecture

Emily Steen - graphic design, environment design

Oluwaseyi (Shay) Sosanya - mechanical engineering

Tom Huang - furniture design

Ben Wood - furniture

Emily Knudsen - interior design

Corbin Keech - architecture

Jim Haas - furniture