If I were a Multi-Millionaire…

If I were a Multi-Millionaire…
08/10/09

Shows like Cribs and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous are great shows. Letting the poor and downtrodden scum of the earth designers like me venture into the homes of celebrated personalities like pornstars and gangsta’ rappers is not only thoughful, but downright American.

But when I think back through those shows, I seem to remember a lot of “houses”. You know what I mean? Sure they were big houses, sure they had big pools, custom crown molding, marble tubs w/TV built in, king size beds for infants, and typically a really stocked fridge. Awesome. But they were Houses, like mine. Probably like yours. Pointy roof, shingles, windows, front door, garage, brick, carpeting or hard wood. Same basic design principal.

I guarantee you right now, if Ol’ Rob ever wins the lottery or finally execute my grand jewel heist, my house will be unlike any home as I know it. And why not? If I have the financial opportunity to be imaginative, work with amazing designers and architects, and live uniquely, I say again, why not? I guess I’m a quality over quantity kind of guy.

But, I saw this “Shell” home today and it inspired me. Take a look.

This is what Designboom.com had to say about the home:

“The ‘shell house’ by architect kotaro ide, is a sculptural shell-like structure which has been built in the woods of karuizawa, located in the nagano prefecture of japan. the house is meant to function as a vacation home, which is able to withstand the humid summers and cold winters of the region. to accomplish this, ide opted not to use the typical wood structure of villas in the area because of their susceptibility to decay easily. instead, he used reinforced concrete to construct two elliptical shell forms which are supposed to represent a conch.”

If Johnny Knoxville, Rev. Run, Dion Sanders and Kelly Clarkson want to spend their money on monstrous houses that all look generally the same, that’s fine, but for me, I would go in a different direction. Or at least have a vacation home that did. The only problem would be that there wouldn’t be enough closet space for all my guns, shoes and mistresses.

Fun work

Martin Luther King Tribute
06/1/10

I wanted to attempt this style  in February, and being Black History Month I chose the Rev. as my muse.

His face is made up of the words of his epic Lincoln Memorial “I have a dream…” speech.

Take a look. I am having it framed as I type.

Smoking Goat Branding
04/1/10

I like beer.

Beer high in flavor, alcohol and price. I brew at home, but wouldn’t consider myself very good at this point. I’m working on it.

We have friends in Louisiana who I would consider really good. I designed some branding for their forthcoming brewery down there.

The Smoking Goat will hopefully be amazing, especially if I get some good beer out of the deal.

Have a look. Then drink a beer and have a look again. Continue this process until the logo looks awesome.

New Poster
02/4/10

This is a poster I made for my buddy Dustin.

A classic quote from him as we drove by Effingham, IL’s infamous and huge cross.

I thought it would look good in his new apartment.

Sheltered Perceptions
01/6/10

I recently got the chance to work on a project for the Humane Society. Given the fact that every time I walk into an animal shelter I have to be talked down from taking home every animal in the place, I was happy to help in anyway I could.

With the majority of pet buying in the United States coming from breeders, mall pet shops and unfortunately mills, animal shelters (specifically the Humane Society) are left overflowing with pets that need loving homes. They are running into a perception problem however, and many misconceptions about shelter pets are accepted as fact, and often repeated as such.

To get past this, we decided to take the problem head on, and address the most common misconceptions individually.

Here is where we landed:

Lauren and Dan sit’n in a tree…
01/5/10

My good friend Lauren is getting married in July, and though I am extremely jealous of her fiance Dan (don’t tell my wife), I made their save the date cards.

I use VistaPrint to print these types of things. Though the quality suffers, and the rumor is that they are destroying local community printers nationwide, for the price they can’t be beat. Check them out next time you want to customize your own holiday card or invitation.

Here’s how Lauren’s STDs turned out: