Apr 14, 2013
My pop sent me this last week figuring it was up my alley and whether you like John Mayer or not (I’m neither here nor there) the process of creating this cover (and other associated goodies) is absolutely incredible.
I could have sworn I’ve posted the work of David A. Smith before but I can’t, for the life of me, find it so here’s the piece I thought I’d posted.
Jan 7, 2013
Jan 2, 2013
Nov 7, 2012
One of the great things about working in an industry, and more specifically on a brand, that you are passionate about is getting to immerse yourself in the history and cultural importance of said brand and hopefully play an active roll in the future of the company – it truly is exciting and I’m honored to be a part of this team.
This week I was sent to Milwaukee for a couple of days to present new work, visit the museum and see what’s in store for us in the coming year.
As I expected, staying at the Iron Horse Hotel was a real treat. The place is fucking fantastic – I can only imagine what this place is like in the summer when the roar of motors would fill the air.
I didn’t want to take too many pictures at H-D HQ so I couldn’t really capture how awesome the place really is but it is, after all, people’s workplace so I didn’t want to be tooooooo touristy and make people who are just trying to work too uncomfortable. One thing that becomes apparent immediately is how important history is to the brand as the place is littered with artifacts and reminders of where the company came from.
Nowhere is this history and attention to detail more apparent than right across the bridge from the Iron Horse, at the Harley-Davidson Museum which was truly the highlight of the trip.
The Jeff Decker bronze statues are incredible – I only wish that I could afford one! Even the 10″ statues for sale in the museum gift shop come in around $4000. A real treat to see in person, regardless.
I had a chance to meet Bill Jackson, the museum’s curator, and you can tell how much he cares about sharing this history and presenting it in a way that is highly accessible to everyone, even if you don’t care at all about Harley-Davidson or motorcycles in general, for that matter…
Here is just a small sampling of the things that I saw – I’m sure that I missed so much but I think you’d need multiple trips to really see everything. I mean, you can see all the big stuff in an hour or two but if you want to see all the smaller artifacts, do some reading and watch all the rich media content, you’d need some serious time. There is just so much to see!
One of the newest exhibits is the famous “Tsunami Bike” that found it’s way from Japan to Vancouver in the wake of the Tsunami in 2011. The story is incredible and seeing it in person was pretty chilling.
Harley-Davidson’s commitment to it’s brand is apparent in everything they touch, the Motor Bar & Restaurant is no exception. Some of the guys and I had the opportunity to grab a quick bite before the flight home and we were not disappointed!
Thanks a lot to Michael, Elliott, Suzanne, Tara and all the fine folks I met from H-D for an amazing and action packed day and a half in Milwaukee. Looking forward to coming back soon!
Nov 4, 2012
I’ve wanted to go to The Iron Horse for a long time! I think even before I had a bike, the place just looks so rad.
While I’m in Milwaukee I’m going to spend as much time here as I can…
I love my job.
Jul 24, 2012
Over the last many years we’ve seen a real trend towards locally produced (or at least nationally produced), hand-made goods over mass-produced items produced all-too-often in conditions that can most accurately be described as modern-day “slavery“. But that’s not what this is really about, so I digress…
Trend… What a nasty little word. We use this word most often to describe things that “everybody is doing to be cool” with the implication that whatever is “trending” has little or no value and will soon be deemed unpopular along with whatever made it trendy in the first place. In fact, the mere description of something being a part of a trend is usually enough to kill any forward momentum said trend has already gained – by the time something has reached mass appeal, it’s already basically OVER.
But that’s not what this is really about, so I digress…
Along with the revitalization of “heritage brands” and the romanticism of all things old-timey & hand-made, some of the skills that had seemingly long-since been lost are making a huge return and I, for one, am really glad to see it. In this case, the particular skill that I’m thinking/talking about is hand-lettering & sign painting.
Moving in the exact opposite direction that Draplin talks about in his America Is Fucked rant, a huge number of young businesses (in Toronto, anyway) have opted to have their signage hand-painted and in most of those cases, it has been produced by none other than Andrew Kidder (RCade)…
But, obviously, it’s not just Toronto. In Montreal my old friend Dave Arnold (Mr. Sign) is beautifying the city one bar, restaurant, storefront, or taco truck at a time…
In southwestern France we’ve got Steven Burke (Lucky Lefthand)…
And in East London there is Nicolai Sclater (Ornamental Conifer)…
In virtually every city I’d bet that there are a number of young men and women picking up on these old crafts and making something new and exciting out of them. Everything old is new.
May 24, 2012
May 18, 2012
May 17, 2012
Apr 25, 2012
One of the best parts The best part about working where I work is that I’m surrounded daily by some immensely talented designers, developers, animators and illustrators… What’s even better is that everybody outside of here has other talents; from chefs to photographers to motorcycle mechanics to digital “speed-painters” to musicians…
My bud Ruhee who is a (talented beyond her years) html 5 developer that also makes music with Entire Cities & Del Bel.
A little while ago Del Bel’s new record, Oneiric, came out (the limited first run came with the old glass slide shown above) and I meant to post about it but the draft got lost in the shuffle but with the release of this new track featuring Bry Webb of The Constantines I figured I’d post up and share the track with all 3 of you.
Del Bel & Bry Webb: No Cure For Loneliness
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Mar 16, 2012
Last week I ran into my good friend Martha, last I mentioned her she was working at Canadian Salvaged Timber. She’s since moved on to do consulting work and one of her clients is one of her former CST co-workers who has gone on to start StackLab; a downtown design and production studio in Toronto – inspired by the exploration of material and of process. She told me about their work and now I’m telling you about it because it’s pretty rad! True story.
Mar 9, 2012
Ian sends me stuff like this…
Taylor sends me stuff like this…
Yvonne sends me stuff like this…
Do people want to see what Sean sends me? Not likely…
Mar 1, 2012
Feb 24, 2012
I still love the vintage saddlebags I bought last year but I’ve never been happy with the placement on my bike and what that did to the side profile of the bike – I just slung them under the saddle because it was the easiest way to get them on there but I really think that they should sit somewhere over the rear wheel like this or this.
So, I started to think about how I could relocate them without having to alter the bags in a way that was reasonably secure and still allowed me to easily add a rear rack or passenger pillion.
Because I never throw anything out, I grabbed one of many old belts I had kicking around and turned it into something useful. I figured I could lay the belt across the center and secure it to the fender using the same thumbscrews I use to mount the pillion and rack at different times.
So I chopped & crudely shaped ‘em…
Drilled ‘em…
Oiled ‘em…
Bunged ‘em…
Screwed ‘em…
Et Voila!
The only problem is that, unless I relocate the signals (which I’d wouldn’t mind doing at some point), they don’t fit properly between those two mounts so I’ll have to push them forward just a bit. I figure I can do this by making a larger strap and using the 1st & 3rd mounts as opposed to the 2nd and 3rd I’m currently using… Fortunately, I have lots of spare belts.
I’ve also got an idea to make a removable spare fuel holder out of old belts, not unlike the one offered by Zero Engineering. They certainly won’t look as nice but will be free to produce and will fit the look of these old bags… We’ll see how ambitious I get…
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Update: I really think they looked better with the shorter strap buuuuuut they didn’t really work…
Unfortunately I made this strip 3/4″ too short sooooo…
Unfortunately I think I made this one about 1/4″ too long so it’s not as tight as I’d like…
It’s ok, I can fix that easily later…
Feb 12, 2012
Feb 6, 2012
If you’ve been reading a while, or at least since I started getting into motorbikes you’ll know that my buddy Yan has been helping me a great deal. It started with basic carburator workshops on the chalk-boards at work and ended with me having a great bike to learn on and put in a great deal of time on. As much as I really do love having a modern bike, I’ll always miss my vintage Honda and I’m really glad for the experience it gave me which was more valuable than I could ever explain…
Anyway, through helping me with my CB, Yan decided that he wanted to restore and old bike again (he’s had countless bikes but had been riding new Harleys for the last decade or so) so he picked up a sweet ’73 Suzuki and did a really extensive restoration on it which was chronicled on his blog.
Last summer, someone from Cycle Canada left a business card on Suzie Blue while she was parked in front of the office (I think that’s how it started, anyway) and they decided they wanted to do a feature on the bike. I know exactly how much time, energy and passion Yan put into that thing so it’s super rad to see him get a little recognition for it… I can’t wait to see the printed version!
Read the feature here, if you’re so inclined.
