can i have one of those chesterfields now?

dennis lee hopper 1936-2010

having lived and worked in venice for a number of years, there
were many sightings of dennis hopper in the neighborhood. he
took great interest in the battle between the city of los angeles
and the graffiti artists of the west side. the back and forth of
buffing up works and then the repainting of the walls. you used
to see him out taking photographs along brooks ave every now
and then.

seems appropriate to a large extent. he may have had that same
battle in his own persona. "how does one remember him"?,
becomes the biggest question. i saw him speak at the walker
art center in 1989 during a 20th anniversary screening of easy
rider. you could hear the reagan republican side of him through
his word choice, yet there he was: the director of a film that stands
out as the paradigm for freedom-seeking counter-cultural
revolutionists.

basketball, abstract expressionism, photography, graffiti art,
literature, political thought and, of course, stage and film work
were only a few of his passions.

great career and interesting life, to say the least. it would be
difficult to beat his performance in giant, easy rider, blue
velvet, apocalypse now, hoosiers, speed, river's edge or
the small role in true romance across from christopher
walken. what would be even more difficult is to forget his
contribution to not only his profession, but american culture
itself.

evening turntable matinee

west coast swing and the rockabilly sound is alive and well and
performed to perfection in the name of big sandy and his fly
rite boys. they were down at rancho nacasio last night rockin'
a capacity crowd from the inside stage. we've seen big sandy
a number of times and they haven't lost a step. brilliant stage
presence and killer performance. after a show in sacramento
tonight, they're off to europe for a mini-tour, so you'll have
to wait until the end of summer before you can get your best
dungarees and wing tips dusted off and see these guys do
what they do best.

how you like me now?

we've been working away on the drawing board for a couple
months now in order to create these four versions of a
versatile and handsome credenza made from sustainably-
sourced honduran mahogany. the different storage
strategies focus on the needs of the user: sliding doors,
drawers, open space, all three or any combination.

the prototypes are built and already sold to loyal clients
who always get first look at our new designs. they will
be part of our solid series and available through our
website and the marin store beginning next month.

you can thank us at any time.

hold the taps

the olde sonoma public house has had its share of challenges
with the county of sonoma in order to get their doors open.

the grand opening set for this weekend has been suspended
until the county gives them final approval on a couple minor
details.

the delay of a pint or two won't stop us from jumping in
and lending a hand this weekend in helping figure a few
things out.

we'll keep all you beer lovers posted.

it's a tightrope

anyone who has ever visited the kimbell art museum in ft.
worth has witnessed one of the most understated buildings to
display art in the world. louis kahn created a true masterpiece
in the eyes of most art, architecture and design aficionados
and the experience of walking through those hallowed halls
justifies the admiration without question.

today, renzo piano will unveil his design for the addition to
this most revered piece of american architecture. (we trust the
project is in good hands.)

nice article in the ny times on the challenge of adding on to
a masterpiece.

back and forth

we've posted our thoughts at least a few times about our commute
to work, so we won't go on about how awesome and inspiring it
is and how much we actually look forward to it.

and we won't go on about how green the hills are because of the
extended spring rains.

we won't mention how few cars we pass.

or how many wildflowers are still in bloom along the roadside.

there. we did our best.

oops.

the light fantastic

dude. check it out. these are pictures of lights.

what?

dude. pictures of lights.

huh?

i'm working on a photographic series of lighting fixtures
taken from directly beneath the source, allowing the
exposure to set for the bulb itself.

did you hit my stash, yo?

no.

back in the day

we've had a number of neighbors, and petalumans in general,
comment on the absence of our showroom from the boulevard.
(especially since the new tenants started to paint the exterior of
the building. it SAH-UCKS!.) we ran into our good friend
chuck at the petaluma coffee company on saturday and he
began reminiscing about the old days and the events we used to
host in our space. we were at the farmer's market later in the
day and a similar experience was shared by a few others in the
community.

we're not necessarily the nostalgic types, although every now
and then, as we pass our old showroom in petaluma, we can't
help but feel a connection to the building.

we appreciate all the comments and encourage folks to come
out to tomales and check out our new digs. they're way cooler
than what we had in petaluma.

what!?

can you rock it like this?

our work at the william tell saloon keeps rolling along.
the mahogany paneling is finished, as is the new redwood
rail and signs above the bar. (pics to come.)

what else are we doing, you ask?

we're only helping establish the coolest once-a-month
evening for all those west marin crooners who can't get
enough vocal action once they leave the shower. focusing
on old school country and americana, we will blow minds
and melt faces for three solid hours beginning june 10th.

kat, who hosts fantastic nights at the willowbrook ale
house in petaluma, will bring her talents out to tomales
to rock the house.

bench press

we've been working closely with mega and alfred at black

scale in order to come up with a design for a display bench

that fits into their retail space as if were part of the original

design concept.

we've been gravitating toward the idea of using a combination

of slatted wood and metal in order to maintain continuity with

existing materials in the space. with a few minor changes, this

will go into production next week. so when you find yourself

exiting the elevator on the second floor at 55 grant ave, look

for the latest form3 design.

beerfest!

over ten years ago, we came across a little brewery out of
petaluma called lagunitas. they created some of the best
ipa and pilsners we've ever tasted and we became huge fans.

one of the brewers, coley thinnes, along with a few others,
became fast friends of ours and turned us on to the northern
california craft beer scene. coley moved on to become the
brewmaster at iron springs in fairfax for a number of years
before deciding to do his own thing in sonoma.

the date has finally arrived, so we no longer have to have
anyone check to see if our glass is nearly empty. coley and
his wife, jo, are opening the doors to the olde sonoma
public house next weekend with 32 taps ready to represent
what great beer tastes like. we know they scored a tap from
brian at moonlight brewery (no easy task these days) and
have been working diligently to complete work and ready
the place for all those who love a well-crafted pint.

local hero

although our designs have been associated more with plywood than
hardwoods, one of our most popular pieces is also one of our
simplest: the live edge series.

made from salvaged lumber from trees felled on ranches and
farmland in and around marin, sonoma, napa and mendocino
counties, this is about as local as it could possibly be for finding
impressive hardwood materials. our source, evan shively does
an amazing job offering beautiful choices out of his facility in
marshall, along the tomales bay. we're fortunate to have such
a fantastic place so close to our fabrication studio.

cuss words and devil horns

we had a good friend (and client) who gave us some salty-
tongued feedback on our posts in a sprawling email last
night. in an observant and sharpened way, he thought it
was questionable to blog about ronnie james dio one day
and then plan B architects the next. "too much of a
mixed f@%*ing bag" as he put it.

truth is, we try to maintain as much diversity in our daily
lives as we can, keeping an open mind to a variety of
influences. there have been times we've become a bit
myopic, surrounded by so much work-related thought
that it's hard to see the forest for the trees, as they say.

we find one positive aspect of the economic downturn
has been the extra time to focus on our life outside of the
work we do as the entity of form3. don't get us wrong: we
LOVE what we do. it brings us an enormous amount of
satisfaction and enjoyment. in the same breath, we also
feel fortunate enough to continue the work we've been
creating, but at a pace that allows for reflection and
enough space for the contemplation of our commitment
to life pursuits other than design work.

so we SHALL continue to mix devil horns with thoughts on
sustainable design (and sneak out of the office and into
the movies with a fresh pilsner on a rainy day). matter-of-fact,
it looks like the possibility of rain later today.

what's the plan, B ?

the surge of biomorphic consideration in the world of industrial
design for the past decade has been so pronounced that it
seems almost commonplace in 2010. what's exciting about the
idea today is just as exciting as it was in 2000 and now we've
been seeing architectural design employ some of the same
strategies to great effect. witness the botanical garden design
by plan B architects in medellin, colombia. it is a simple
enough idea executed to perfection in a project that couldn't
be more appropriate. completed nearly four years ago, it still
resonates with a distinctly inspiring voice.

we were reminded of the project because of its mention in
the national design triennial in nyc along with a number of
projects that address human and environmental issues across
a multitude of design disciplines.

rainbow in the dark

ronnie james dio 1943-2010

you cannot NOT recognize the brilliance and contribution
of this man to rock and roll culture. widely considered the
first to use devil horns, he rocked it hard and often.

there's no doubt about it: DIO ROCKS!

in the shadows of history

don ervin, 1925-2010

don ervin, whose graphic design work stands out as some
of the best of the past century, died in a car accident march
10th. although he is not necessarily known by name, his
work has been in our collective consciousness for decades.

this poster was done for herman miller, where he was director
of graphic design early in his career.

good article in the ny times on his life's work. (what's more
special are the reader's comments.)

tell me something good

it's been a few months since we've been chipping away
on the interior of the william tell saloon and now it's all
starting to come into focus. the new owners were slightly
reluctant to have us working on the 133-year old building,
since we have such a modern aesthetic sense, but they've
come to see the delicate balance we've created in maintaining
respect for the community aspects of the saloon while
providing an update that serves a broader audience as well.

(we've also been running through different ideas for graphic
representation and looks as if we've landed on this classic
look for the new logo.)

stop in and check it all out when in tomales. it's becoming
the coolest place to have a cold one in marin county.

you can thank us now.

one red hot minute

the woman behind the fantastic bean tostadas and red hot
salsa at the william tell house is none other than jalisco
native and all-around pretty cool person, imelda barrajas.
she's been kicking out some totally tasty mexican food for
the restaurant the past few months and is now in the
marketing stages of offering her own brand of salsa.

we've been working with her designing a label for her
super spicy creation, now available through the bar.

if you make it out to the william tell, ask the bartender
for rosa'a red hot salsa. they give it to you in a shot glass
along with a corona for $3.

let there be light

we've been creating our lamps out of reclaimed, salvaged
and drop-off materials since their inception six years ago.
clients are given the opportunity to peruse our bins
containing large chunks of wood that will be appropriate
for their design and then we begin fabrication.

we just had an order for this particular design from some
local marin county residents that LOVE the process of
digging through the bins in our fabrication studio.

like kids in a candy store, they can't get enough of form3.

tipping the scale

we had a great meeting yesterday with the black scale creative
team of alfred and mega in their downtown san francisco digs.
we ran through a few ideas about some additional work they
require for their space to enhance the new season's line.

it was a pleasure to spend a little time catching up on where
they have taken black scale as a brand. we were impressed
with not only their space, but their business sense and vision.
alfred had us cracking up as we waited for mega to arrive at
the meeting. (he was only 45 minutes behind schedule: not
too bad for mega.)

if you find yourself amongst the pillars around grant ave, stop
in and tell them form3 sent you. they'll know what to do from
there.

here comes your man

our good friend and los angeles-based project coordinator,
derek crimmel, was up in northern california for a little
vacation time over the weekend. having worked closely with
form3 on numerous projects over the years, he hadn't gotten
a chance to see the finalized decarli house although he
was instrumental during the demolition, salvage and
construction phases.

for those top chef fans out there, derek is also the
construction coordinator for that immensely popular
television franchise and many other film projects.

we've always hoped he'd jump ship to the san francisco
area, but he's got a nice life carved out in los angeles
and just HATES northern californians.

(just playin'.)

play on playas

chris had an opportunity to see christoph eschenbach

conduct the san francisco symphony in the skidmore,

owings & merrill-designed davies hall on saturday night.

the acoustics were upgraded since the structure was originally

built in 1980 and is considered one of the best performing

arts centers for a symphony in the united states.

the performance of the brahms symphony no. 2 in d major,

opus 73 was the bomb! the symphony absolutely killed it!

the oboe section pretty much kicked out whatever, whenever,

pushing the limits of the woodwinds so far the string section

could barely deal with it!

chris took these pics from her seats in the second tier just

before the finale kicked in.

better than perfect

we try to be considerate of presenting images that have the 

potential to cause a mind explosion on this blog, so this 

didn't quite make yesterday's cut. 

then we took another look.

our minds exploded.

picture perfect

we've been dialing in our work at the william tell house in
tomales this week. we've built new frames for some historical
photos of marin county and began placing the new mahogany
paneling throughout the saloon.

chris took this photo at the goodwill store in petaluma while
exploring the possibilities of reusing old photo frames for
the william tell.

pretty amazing, i know.

the special people

we appreciate all the information and special assistance we 

receive from the good folks at mt storm lumber when we're 

sourcing wood for a project. from the sales staff, like rick 

and barney, to the guys in the yard, like cisco and nacho.

but none is more special than our favorite fork lift operator, joe.

and when we say special, we mean special.