If you’ve been hanging around the SolidSmack block for awhile, chances are your hands are sticky from drinking too much root beer and your stomach hurts from eating too many cheese balls. You’ve also likely come across one of our favorite YouTube channels Frank Makes. Created by retired architect and master woodworker Frank Howarth, the…
When it comes to creating innovative products for musicians, leave it up to the industrial designers who are musicians themselves to solve some of the more infuriating problems of traveling with musical equipment. Such is the case with Portland, Oregon-based industrial designer Patrick Triato, vocalist/guitarist for the band Bears. Along with fellow Portland industrial designer…
Having directed both live-action and animated films for over ten years, Nando Costa is no stranger to film production, yet waiting for over 800 pieces of maple to be laser-engraved and used as individual frames for a short film is somewhat new territory. In his latest Kickstarter-backed short film “The New America”, Costa puts those…
Having been open for a month, Keen Footwear’s Keen Garage in Portland, OR has seen nothing but glowing reviews from business leaders, architects, designers, environmentalists, and customers. Featuring everything from reclaimed barn doors to repurposed oil barrels upcycled into [comfy!] chairs, the retail environment is the penultimate museum of inspiration for repurposing…with purpose.