David Bertman is the second tallest designer in the room.  Thats what his facebook should read.  His work is known for being “tight”- like his jeans.

I met Dave at Show PDX 2006.  His stool for that show I felt was a great design.  Ive been bugging him ever since to trade it to me. The problem is, his mom wants it.  And my best design that I would trade him is in MY mom’s house…. sounds like world war III if we try to trade…

David aka Boom is a designer/builder with mad skills in wood and metal and an admitted obsession with rectangles.  What would happen if David and Buckminster Fuller (obsession with triangles) were in the same room?  Well never know… UNLESS we ask the actor from the show about Bucky at Portland Center Stage to come to the Project Chaboo show.  That would be quite the showdown.

photograph by Joe Mansfield

Notice the slots he cut at the corners of his chaboo.  They mirror the insert I have in my original bamboo chaboo.  Those blocks serve as a spline to hold the piece together- but since his frame is steel he doesnt need it.  Reversing course and removing material instead to pay homage to that little design feature of mine- brilliant!  I also like how the center serves as a handle, reversing direction from the original and having a rail to grab instead of a slot.  His piece is what I was looking for in this project- a good balance between his signature aesthetic and mine.

Hoffman loft, Yakuza interior

Click on the image to go to his portfolio online.  All I can say about his stuff is “SWEET!” and “Fing awesome”.  Sorry I dropped out of grad school before I learned the fancy pants vocab.  Check out his stuff yourself- youll see that my critique is spot on.

photo by Anna Campbell

David has started a new company with his business partner Matt- Bertman/Overkill Design and does mostly project management now.  Check out what hes been up to lately!

Sneakerheads beware.  One-off shoe and shoebox for Ladainian Tomlinson.

Winnebago conference room.  They literally sliced up a winnebago and blinged it out!

In closing I HAVE to squeeze this in and represent.  We both went to Catlin Gabel.  Go eagles!  And kudos to our woodshop teacher, Tom Tucker.

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

The project has gained tremendous momentum the last couple weeks.  Ive convinced a handful of designers who were in ShowPDX2008 to join in on the fun. Unlike the painters/illustrators who are “decorating” a completed chaboo, many of these designers will design/fabricate their own Chaboos from scratch.  Ive encouraged the designers to freely interpret the design as they wish. Id like the project to be an opportunity for artists unique voices to be heard with a minimum of structure.  Their pieces only need to follow the design enough that a series is created.  I am working closely with some of the designers and others will work completely independently.

These designers are highly skilled in specific mediums such as metal, glass, concrete, wood, and felt.  Im excited to see how these different materials can be integrated into Chaboo!

Im looking for more designers for this project.  Send people my way if they would be interested!

In alphabetical order with preliminary chaboo ideas:

Scott Bord- Manual Design Works

formed concrete

David Bertman- David Bertman Designs

edging with metal and some kind of webbing

Eric Day

Matt Deschler- Formed Objects

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