Lisa Kuhnhausen has designed a wonderful postcard for us!  click on image to download PDF

She took some sketches I made when I was explaining my concept for the project long ago and turned them into this bubble like graphic.  She really wanted to use typography like in this version below but I felt the bubble direction was more appropriate for my vision of the project. I want this project to create some positive vibes in these dreary economic times by connecting people and pulling together our collective energies.

I suggested we repeat the names/mediums of the participants and grey it out as a background texture to get some type in there.  We put photos in to warm it up and really emphasize that its about the people.

I edited her original design while my brother did hours of work on the backend to make it actually happen.  Thank goodness for Lisa and my brother Yuji- I literally couldn’t do it without them.  I have ideas and I talk and drink tea.  That’s all I can do…  =P

Thanks for the excellent design work Lisa and for being such a good team player in the dictatorship known as Project Chaboo.  Also, mad props to Yuji for executing all the technical stuff!

Sometimes design thoughts come too quickly and my mind becomes overwhelmed and doesn’t know when to stop. Over the past month I have thought, experimented, sketched, written, researched, talked, and lost direction. Slowly the concepts are starting to come back together, which is a imperative at this stage since production needs to start soon.

The following is a continuation of my process- very sporadic, conceptual, disconnected and hard to understand (even for myself)… but not my end…

previous [final] thought /// integrating shredded string and chaboo… but there was no conceptual basis for this- it wasn’t grounded in reasoning.

next thought /// dressing and undressing… a completely different way to look at the integration of fashion and furniture.

experimentation /// dressing the chaboo and dressing myself with the same piece of fabric.

sketch /// back to shredding… to the point of unraveling. this was taken from the draping of the fabric on the floor and it molding to cover the chaboo or my body.

The online fashion. design. culture. magazine ULTRA has written up about Lisa Kuhnhausen and her chaboo!

Lisa Radon, the editor of Portland Spaces and UltraPDX found Lisa K through THIS VERY BLOG!  Im so happy that Project Chaboo has started to help people gain more exposure.  This is only the beginning boys and girls….

You may have noticed the last post by Lisa Kuhnhausen.  From meeting with her I thought her process was absolutely fascinating and I wanted to blog about it.  She showed me the plain white Tshirt that she is deconstructing to create this beautiful lace pattern.  She documented her process with images and even video.

Side note:  the way she collages images on her website is very interesting. Different perspectives portraying the same thing…. If I had an Xmen special power it would be to be able to be in multiple places at the same time. Yup I would see the world like in her collages

I was going to blog about her thoughts and process but had a revelation to have her do it herself.  It will be nice for the readers to have a different (ehem…more mature…cough…cough….) voice in the blog.  We can all look forward to her next entry.

This project is about so much more than the finished result.  The process, the collaboration, the ideas, the energy- all more important than what physical object we end up with.

Thanks for blogging Lisa~

If anyone else wants to blog about their process pretty please contact me.

- Ken

I often wonder how designers arrive at their final product. What inspires them? What is their first thought? Did they sketch, build, experiment? What type of media do they use? Where do they work? Who do they talk to? What makes them stop at a certain point? Where would their mind take them if they could carry on the design indefinitely?

Well, for all of those who are as curious as me, here is a little glimpse into my process for the design of the Chaboo…

a little introduction /// My name is Lisa Kuhnhausen. I am a freelance interior designer working in Portland and sometimes beyond; Germany to be exact. Fashion is a continual source of inspiration in my life, not only in my everyday life when i get dressed in the morning (or sometimes the afternoon), but it also has become the starting point for many of my projects.

inspiration /// Patrik Rzepski shirt /// but how does this relate to the chaboo?