Beverly Hills Cops

I'm so behind. That should be the title of my book. This show came and went already, and I never mentioned it. Anyhow, I had my room divider in this cool show in Beverly Hills, sponsored by EcoFirstArt, Elle Decor Magazine, and Country Floors. There was some great stuff.

Here's the flyer (above).

By now I'm sure you're all familiar with my room divider, but just in case, here's some more photos from the show:

Incidently, a funny thing happened on the way to pick up my room divider.

I'm driving through Beverly Hills, minding my own business, when all of the sudden this cop (in a truck bigger than mine) tries to squeeze between me and the curb to make a right turn. Apparently he's usually on a bike because he didn't make it.
BAM!!... Mirror tag.
I look over to see a genuinely shocked cop, giving me the "Are You Okay?" gesture. I couldn't help but laugh, and I waved him on, with the "I'm Okay" gesture.
He gestured back "I'm pulling over".
I couldn't believe it. I'd been waiting for this moment since I passed my first driving test. We pulled around the corner and to the curb. I sat in my truck as the officer approached my door.

"License and Registration please", I said. He laughed, thankfully.

"Are you Okay?", he said, as his partner looked over my broken mirror.
"I'm fine", (still laughing a little) "and my mirror was already broken."
"Are you sure? Do you want somebody to take a look at this?" he asked.
"No. Don't worry about it. I'm gonna let you off with a warning this time." He laughed again.
Then I said, "Here's what you can do... Remember me. Remember my truck. If something ever goes down in Beverly Hills, and I need help, I'm calling you."
He laughed again, and said "You got it."

Cops are so much better in my adult life, now that I wear grown-up clothes and I no longer look like I'm up to something (which I'm not).

Finally, check out this video from EcoFirstArt:

This week on HOW ITS MADE: Airstream Kitchens

Our Airstream client wanted a minimal place to prepare food. We gave him a small convection oven (microwaves just don't make good food) a fridge with separate freezer, and one of those water boiling electric teapots.
In the following photos, the bulk of the cabinetry is complete, so it's mostly just pictures of us applying the Formica tops.

I doubled up layers of ply, to get a nice 1-1/2" countertop thickness. I created the curves using different types of moulding. The white part is a pretty standard door casing. Clever.

Josh Ganshorn and Tom Brown. A winning team. In this photo, Josh is trying to burn Toms hand.

I don't know if this looks easy or not, but It's really a pain bending this stuff and making it stick correctly.

The final touch, the standard plastic trailer molding from Vintage Trailer Supply.

The finished bench, ready to install. What some people don't realize is that beyond the obvious benefits of a bench, it's really just a way to hide the wheel wells. Hence, the shallow depth in the lower portion. I tried to make the most out of every square inch, so I created the small but deep cubbies for books and sketch pads. The owner is an artist, after all.

The morning after drill. Tom and Josh load in the pieces. I think Andrew Benson is around here somewhere.

....And Voila. Ready for appliances. Notice the small opening where the fridge goes (on the right). It's the service access for the hot water heater.

The semi-symmetrical layout turned out pretty good. All these curves are sexy (and a pain-in-the-ass to create).

My First Post

I design or build something just about every day. I am a member of Heartwood, a Cooperative Woodshop in Berkeley, California, that has been around for more than thirty years.

This blog will be a place to share the process of my work, from preliminary sketches to the finished product.

Lucky for me, my wife is a photographer, who loves to document every step of the way. We have a catalog of images and thoughts to share with you, so please drop by again soon...