My boards measure 44″L x 9.5″W, cupped and cambered, with a slightly lifted pintail.

I recently finished another small batch of my Deep Deck longboards in American Elm. The design has taken about three years of prototyping to perfect, and is proving popular with a wide range of riders, from street cruisers to downhill carvers. I source only sustainably milled, air-dried wood from local horticultural salvage, and stamp the latin name of the species on the underside of each deck, along with the date the deck comes off the bench. Since I’m currently the sole supplier and each deck is essentially made to order, I’ve been keeping track of who owns each one. I plan to follow up with an interactive database that allows people to upload images, share info and connect with other Deep Deck riders and collectors.

Tagged: deep craft, deep deck, green design, horticultural salvage, longboard, scott Constable, surf culture, sustainability

Daniel Libeskind designed the new wing of the Denver Art Museum, completed in 2006.

Thanks to Airbnb, Ene and I were able to rent a very cozy apartment in the Capital Hill neighborhood of downtown Denver during our recent three day sojourn. The majority of our Tsuru-related business took place in Denver’s Civic Center, a mile long stretch comprising the city’s major cultural and governmental institutions, so our days consisted of commuting on foot from our brick-faced, art deco apartment building typical of the neighborhood, to a corridor of Starchitecture just down the hill. The daily walk gave us a collapsed sense of the city’s history through its architecture, and we agreed that one of Denver’s most unique attributes is its easy juxtaposition of building styles and scale. As the highest altitude corner of the Great Plains, on the edge of the Rockies and with about 300 days of sunshine annually, Denver is the ideal setting for exuberance in architecture.

I love the high modern/midieval mashup of Gio Ponti’s wing of the Denver Art Museum, from 1971, his only building in the US; “AS TO BE IN PLAIN SIGHT” by Lawrence Weiner, in the foreground.

The stairwells in Ponti’s building are sublime.

Most of the brick-faced apartment buildings have names in Denver’s Capital Hill neighborhood. ‘Helene’ on Pearl Street is a lovely example of vernacular craftsmanship and design.

Tagged: aesthetics, airbnb, architecture, colorado, deep craft, denver, denver art museum, gio ponti, libeskind, sustainability, urbanism, vernacular architecture, wowhaus

The Ralph L Carr Judicial Center designed by Fentress Architects nears completion.

Our public projects always involve an element of collaboration, and Ene and I have learned that it’s a good idea to get everyone together in one place as a project nears completion and timing and coordination become critical. No matter how sophisticated the communications technology, nothing compares to simply shaking hands and looking each other in the eye. Our efforts were well rewarded when we met with the key stakeholders on site at the nearly complete Ralph L Carr Judicial Center in Denver yesterday to discuss timing and strategy for installing our Tsuru sculpture in the building’s West-facing courtyard. We were reassured by the level of professionalism and congeniality of our esteemed crew, and are honored to be working with Denver’s very best on a project designed by the legendary Fentress Architects.

Ene reviews plans with the key stakeholders in the courtyard where Tsuru is to be sited.

Our Tsuru project features a cast bronze sculpture depicting a crane soaring over a 9′ diameter, domed mound of earth planted with native grasses. We designed four stone benches surrounding the mound at ninety degree intervals, to be fabricated of granite salvaged from the demolished Justice Center that formerly occupied the site. After the meeting adjourned, we drove with Scott Davis of Rock & Company to scope out the stone to be used in making the benches. Rock & Company will be fabricating the benches by laminating the stone slabs and cutting the contours with their giant CNC saw. Scott took some extra time to treat us to a tour of their facilities just outside of Denver, which already has us thinking about future projects.

Ene and Scott Davis survey salvaged slabs of granite.

Ene poses by the giant CNC stone saw at Rock & Company in Brighton, Colorado.

To follow the progress of our Tsuru Project, please click here and scroll down.

Tagged: deep craft, Ene Osteraas-Constable, fentriss architects, public art, ralph l carr judicial center, rock and company, scott Constable, sculpture, wowhaus

Three of the four mosaic murals comprising Spark.

We recently finished installing SPARK, a series of four 9′ x 12′ mosaic murals integrated into the walls of the planetarium at Chabot College in Hayward, CA. Symbolizing the spark of inspiration, of creativity and insight fostered through education at the college, the artwork also evokes the cosmos and spirit of scientific inquiry.

Spark, detail

The murals are created from thousands of pieces of hand-cut glass, iridescent glass and mirror. The work explores the expressive potential of mosaic, with the purpose of creating intensely colorful, reflective  compositions that shift character as the light changes. At the beginning of the day, the gold highlights are most prominent in the red mural, but at dusk the iridescent blue details emerge.

Spark, details

Culminating close to two years worth of design, planning and fabrication, the installation experience was exhilarating. Faculty, students and staff were so enthusiastic, it reminded me of why we commit ourselves to working in the public realm. One morning during the installation, a custodian came by the site at 8 AM; “I’ve worked on this campus for 20 years, and I’ve been waiting for something like this; I will love seeing these murals every day,” he shared. Scott Hildreth, a professor who teaches  in the planetarium, came by with a box of donuts for us on the very first day of our work on site; he later returned with his wife and children, who each added  pieces to the mosaics.

Heartfelt thanks to Alexandra Blatteis for her skill, patience, and sense of humor as she worked closely with me throughout this commission.

Planetarium at Chabot College (prior to installation).

To read more about the development of Spark, click here and scroll down.

Special thanks to all those who contributed:
Diane Zuliani
Gary Goss &  Dave (G4 Fabrication Design & Consulting, LLC)
Henry Eakland
Debbie Bakal
Susan Ensign
Bonnie Volk
Samantha Blatteis
John Blatteis

Tagged: ali blatteis, chabot college, deep craft, Ene Osteraas-Constable, mosaic mural, public art, scott Constable, wowhaus

A barn full of beautiful wood, carefully laid up to dry, is better than money in the bank.

I’ve never really studied economic theory, but imagine there’s an odd relationship/kinship between miserliness and greed. Suffice it to say I learned firsthand over the past week how one might give way to the other, in predictable order.

In the course of single-handedly stacking over 1000 board feet of premium wood I had recently milled, aided only by gravity, levers and rolling bars, I loaded my barn and felt a sense of pride bordering on prosperity. I’ve never been interested in money or accumulation, but the simple act of loading the barn with my own hands shifted my perspective. My new pile of wood drying in the barn might as well be bars of gold, and will likely increase in value at an exponentially greater rate.

Tagged: aesthetics, appropriate technology, craft philosophy, deep craft, economics, scott Constable, woodworking

Ene and Ali get ready to grout the four 9′ x 12′ glass mosaic murals comprising Spark.

Ene and Ali have been working with a small crew installing our Spark mural project at Chabot College in Hayward.  Comprised of a sequence of four 9′ x 12′ mosaic murals in colorful hand-cut glass, the project evokes the ’spark’ of inspiration, and is permanently affixed to the school’s octagonal Planetarium. Ene has done a beautiful job managing this project and she and Ali have produced some truly magical murals that are sure to become a beloved feature of the Chabot Community College campus.

Be sure to look for the full story from Ene when she completes the installation. Meanwhile, to read more about the background of our Spark Project, please click here and scroll down.

Tagged: ali blateis, chabot college, deep craft, Ene Osteraas-Constable, mosaic mural, public art, Spark, wowhaus

We carried the Fluke sculpture into position with a giant forklift. (photo: Crystal Birns)

With a big sense of relief and the pride of accomplishment, Ene and I installed our Fluke sculpture earlier this week at the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center in Santa Cruz. Piero and his crew from Artworks Foundry delivered the 13′ bronze whale tail, carefully carried it into position, drilled holes in the footing to receive four threaded stainless steel rods, filled the holes with epoxy and lowered the sculpture into position. The sculpture will remain covered until the Exploration Center opens this summer.

Next week Dave Pettigrew will sandblast the curvaceous concrete hardscape surrounding Fluke, then grind the sections containing embedded glass, making a colorful, sparkly backdrop to the sculpture. We will return to photograph the completed piece, and look forward to seeing the building and its innovative exhibitions fully occupy the site, which promises to become a major Santa Cruz destination.

Piero adjusts the straps to ensure a vertical drop.

The Fluke sculpture looks great at the entrance to the building.

To read more about the development of Fluke, please click here and scroll down.

Tagged: california coast, deep craft, monterey bay exploration center, public art, scott Constable, sculpture, wowhaus