#dwpdx2017

Outlet is open for business! Part illustration studio, part public design & zine library, part education space, part installation space, part retail space—Outlet is like walking through illustrator Kate Bingaman-Burt's brain (enter at your own risk). Upstairs is where Kate draws for herself and for her clients and projects in-between. Downstairs is where Kate experiments in public with concepts surrounding retail, education and community programming.

We reached out to Kate Bingaman-Burt to find out more about her new space, and her plans for the future of the space. We hope you enjoy this interview, and that you will join her for the Outlet debut on Thursday night from 4:00–7:00pm!

DWP: What prompted the move to this bigger space? Is this something you've been wanting to do for a long time?

Kate: Kevin Cavenaugh approached me over a year ago telling me about a weird little space in his new building that was screaming KATE. Kevin was my first landlord when we moved to Portland in 2008 and I love living and working in his buildings. We originally lived in his Box and One building from 2008–2014 and my husband worked in the Rocket Building for a few years. We are Kevin fans. When Kevin approached me, I was neck deep in teaching and illustration projects and was totally happy with my shared studio in the Ford Building (big shouts to Taryn, Jason, Jeff and Jeremy). However, the idea of creating more of a workshop, event, experimental retail, community library space has been something that I've wanted to do for years. The time or the space just had never presented itself to me. I promptly applied for sabbatical at Portland State after I decided that I was going to go for it and now I have the space and the time to work on making this REAL. 

DWP: What has been the most challenging part of building this space? The most rewarding?

Kate: Risk and money are always challenging. The guilt around money. Using it wisely. Getting it. Making it. If this is something that I should be spending money on. If the risk is going to be worth it. Aside from GUILT AND RISK, I was getting comfortable with my routine. So not being comfortable again is oddly rewarding? I THINK? 

DWP: What kind of engagement do you expect to have with the community at Outlet?

Kate: Ideally, I want to have an entire year of programming (2017–2018) scheduled out before I go back to school this fall. The space is small, so the workshops won't be any bigger than 8–10 people. But I want to offer a menu of topics from writing to business to drawing to presenting your work to zines to printmaking to poetry. And I want to draw from a wide range of instructors! It's important for me to work with people who are seasoned workshop givers as well as working with people who may have never given a workshop before, but have something to say/share.

Also, the space will be open to the public two days a week in order for access to the zine & design library, as well as our programmed pop up exhibitions and shops. 

I will also be offering workshops on the Risograph and once people have completed the workshop, they can come in and print during the public hours. 

After Design Week, I am looking forward to diving into the infrastructure of Outlet (schedule, mailing list, website, shop) as well as figuring out the best organization for the physical space. Love this stuff!

DWP: Out of all the rad colors in the rainbow, how did you choose yellow?

Kate: A few things. ONE: my favorite astrobright paper is SOLAR YELLOW. TWO: When I was in London this past summer with our PSUGD crew of students I purchased a nail polish that was the perfect shade of yellow and I wore it for the entire summer. It was a great trip and that yellow is forever associated with that nail polish. THREE: I had an installation in early fall at Mule Gallery in San Francisco and I color matched the wall paint to my nail polish (so dumb but so great all at the same time). I really enjoyed how yellow worked in the installation. I knew I was going to be opening a new space while I was working on that installation and I used that install week to test out ideas for Outlet. And this shade of yellow worked really well in the install. FOUR: Yellow makes me really happy. Sidenote: the specific shade I am using in the space is called POWER WOW (thanks for the excellent name, Benjamin Moore). 

DWP: Could you tell us a little bit about the community that is growing at New New Crusher Court?

Kate: Yes! My neighbors are Katie Reardon and Ben Sellon from Half Court Studio. They were actually my across the hall neighbors in Box and One, so it's great to be next to them again. It's also so nice to be able to compare notes about building a space out since this is our first time doing this together. My other neighbor is Kevin Cavenaugh and his office Guerrilla Development. Also, New New Crusher Court holds Studio Mega, The Beauty Shop, Pickathon as well as the store fronts Project/Object, Leeward Surf, Dream Cakes, Dava Bead and Urban Nest Realty. I've only been in this space for a bit over a week and already it feels like a little neighborhood.

Open House Details

Where: 2500 NE Sandy, Suite C When: Thursday, April 27, 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM Organizer: Outlet Cost: Free

Visit the open house listing to register, or check out the full listing of N/NE open houses to plan your perfect open house crawl!

Other DWP open houses at New New Crusher Court:

Brett Schulz Architect and Guerrilla Development Company

Half Court Studio

Pickathon

The Beauty Shop

Please join us for the official DWP Closing Party TONIGHT from 7:00 to 11:00pm at the William Kaven Architecture Annex. Here are some photos of the murals being painted in the space by Portland State Graphic Design students. You’ll get to see the finished murals tonight at the party! Thank you, Miller Paint, for the donation of paint for the murals.

Location: 4018 N Williams Ave Tickets: $10 Time: 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM

Jodie Beechem pictured, mural collaboration with Shannon Kidd

Mural by Nagini Reddy and Sage McElroy

Erica Belland pictured, mural collaboration with Nate Corrado

Mural by Ryan Morse, Drew Hankins, Ben Horton, Anya Gearhart, Heidi St. Clair, Jordan Salazar

Today is our last day to attend Design Week events! Here is a listing of events and happenings open to the public, or still selling tickets. Don’t miss the official DWP Closing Party TONIGHT from 7:00 to 11:00pm at the William Kaven Architecture Annex.

11:00am–2:00pm Assembling a Mosaic – The Portland Green Loop Exhibit Untitled Studio

Tonight at the William / Kaven Annex, we’ll close out Design Week Portland 2017 with the official Closing Party! Warehouse. Mural painting, indoors and out. Mixed realities. A lo fi / hi fi ending to a week of experiences touching so many parts of the city, so many design disciplines, and so many new connections. This is our moment to come together before everything fades to memory and vibe one last time. You can expect to experience:

VR experience by William Kaven Architects

Beer trike by B-Line with beer from Gigantic

Food carts and music

William Kaven Architecture is a multidisciplinary design studio founded by brothers Daniel Kaven and Trevor William Lewis.

Event Details

Where: William / Kaven Annex, 4018 N Williams Ave When: Saturday, April 29th, 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM Organizer: William Kaven Architecture Cost: $10

Sounds et al has collaborated with sonic artist Ben Glas, and visual artist Tyler Snazelle on a new exhibition—Music For An Empty Space and A Full Mind—running during April 2017 at the One Grand Gallery, Portland, OR. The compositions presented in this exhibition are experimental sonic works that question alternate modes of listening and experiencing. Utilizing space and focusing on the individual listener’s interaction, the sounds presented are relativistic to each individual and their movement through spacetime. Simply open your ears and partake in experiential listening. In doing so, the space itself becomes a kind of installation, begging to be ephemerally composed with. Below is an interview with Andy Fry about the event. Enjoy!

DWP: First off, I love this event's title. Would you mind elaborating on the meaning behind it?

Andy: Ben Glas' compositions are heard differently by each individual who visits. As the listener moves around, and interacts with the physical space, the acoustics of the gallery and one's own psychoacoustics affect the perception of the sound. The combination of the space's acoustics, the subjective perception of an individual and sonic phenomena as produced by sine waves and their interaction with one another and space make for a relativistic experience. The title indicates the relationship between the space in which the compositions are played, and the individual listener. Music For An Empty Space allows the individual audience member to project their awareness into space and time, whereas Music For A Full Mind brings the composition into the mind of said individual. DWP: What do you see as Sounds et al's relationship with Portland's design community?

Andy: I moved from London to Portland about 2 years ago, and the label has been running for about a year now. Over the last year we've collaborated with different artists and businesses in and around Portland on our different projects—sound artists, graphic designers, printers, packaging experts...! Really looking to collaborate as much as possible. This current exhibition is a great example where Sounds et al has worked closely with Ben Glas, Tyler Snazalle and the One Grand Gallery to put this all together, and been fortunate to be a part of Design Week too. We've got more projects on the way at the moment, and I'd really like to see us as both engaging with the current design community, and also producing things that perhaps don't necessarily exist here yet. DWP: What types of tools or instruments will be used to create the music for this event (or is this a surprise)?

Andy: These compositions will be simply played from a laptop, in stereo, out of two speakers. The compositions themselves are actually very simple, yet will have completely different properties when played in various rooms. This is based, again, on the subjective experience of the individual listener and the acoustic profile of the space the sound is presented in. My label, Sounds et al, will also be releasing these compositions on vinyl and digitally so you'll be able to experiment and compose a unique ephemeral experience at home, as the record lives on as an installation and or art object. Ben produced the compositions using Pure Data, a visual programming language that makes working with sinewaves and oscillators quite accessible.

DWP: Should attendees arrive with any expectations or mindsets to best enjoy the event?

If people come with an open mind and open ears, I think they'll enjoy it! Coming at different times of day affects how the light interacts with the visual artwork from Tyler Snazelle, and we have seating so people are welcome to come and sit, work, read, sleep...however they'd like to enjoy the exhibition! Oh, and you can also come and talk to us!

Event Details

Where: One Grand Gallery, 1000 E Burnside St When: April 29th–April 30th, 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM Cost: Free

Visit the event page for more information.

Other DWP events you may enjoy:

Dance Church

Burn After Listening: Fire and Ice

We have two days left to make the most of Design Week! Here is a listing of events and happenings open to the public, or still selling tickets. Tonight will be the last night of Open Houses, so head out to the Southeast to visit some studios from 4:00 to 7:00pm.

11:00am–11:00pm Assembling a Mosaic – The Portland Green Loop Exhibit Untitled Studio 11:30am–1:30pm Making the Place: Branding Strategies for Public Space 4:00pm–9:00pm Pop Up: Fashion Curated by Eden Dawn 4:00pm–6:00pm Designing a Political Campaign 5:00pm–6:30pm Ask an Expert, Citizens Improving Neighborhood and City Livability Kelly Fedderson 5:00pm–6:30pm Ask an Expert, Portland and Urban Planning Ethan Seltzer 6:30pm–8:30pm Dreaming the Future: Portland 2035 9:00pm–11:00pm Powerpoint Karaoke

The Vanilla Workshop is a small bicycle frame-building house in Portland, OR. They make about 200 frames per year with a staff of about 15. All design, fabrication, paint and buildout is done in-house in their workshop. Even their unique shipping systems are worth seeing. Below is an interview with Vanilla’s Gordon Hirsch regarding the shop’s Design Week open house this Friday. Enjoy!

DWP: It's pretty amazing that a team of 15 can crank out 200 frames per year! How are roles divvied up between crew members when you're customizing a frame?

Gordon: From start to finish, we put 150 hours into each and every Speedvagen. Ask around and you’ll find that in the world of custom bikes, this is an extraordinary amount of time. A mass produced steel frame can take just an hour to weld, while a basic custom frame can take as little as ten hours.

There are a lot of bikes in the world. Heck, there is a lot of everything in the world. We are not here to crank bikes out and fill the world with more stuff. Stuff that is just OK, or even stuff that is good. We are here to make a handful of bikes that are the pinnacle of ride quality and to give our customers a rarified great experience.

DWP: Which bike models (road, cyclocross, touring, etc.) are requested most frequently? 

Gordon: Our most popular model is the Speedvagen Road with electronic shifting. Though, we are seeing more of our clients getting into mixed terrain riding and have developed the Rugged Road model to accommodate wider tires and geometry suited to that style. Since we are building custom bikes, we can work with individual client needs to develop their dream bike.  

DWP: Does The Vanilla Workshop utilize any digital design software when planning a custom frame job?

Gordon: We work with mostly analog fitting tools, a Serotta fit bike and tape measure. The Speedvagen fitting concentrates on an individual's riding form and how well balanced they are on the bike. After we obtain measurements from their fit session, we work on the design in Bike CAD and Adobe Illustrator to finalize their geometry and paint scheme before it heads next door to fabrication.  

DWP: Do you have a personal favorite Vanilla Workshop custom frame projects?

Gordon: Designing and prototyping new models is always exciting! We work diligently to develop custom fabrication elements to support the exact way we want the bike to perform. When we have a model dialed, that's when it is available for clients to even further customize with components and paint options. Paint is an area that we are particularly excited about because you can see a person's personality come out with their choice of colors and scheme options. Whether it is tough, fruity, euro-racy, or classy, everyone of our clients rides off with a bike that perfectly suits their style.

Open House Details

Where: 1735 SE Powell Blvd When: Friday, April 28th, 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM Cost: Free

Visit their open house listing to register, or check out the full listing of SE open houses to plan the perfect open house crawl!

Other DWP open houses you may enjoy:

Pioneer Millworks

Portland Garment Factory

Photo by Carly Larsson

As Design Week starts to wind down, you only have two more days to visit DWP Headquarters! Check out the Green Loop Exhibit to learn more about the design proposal, and to make your mark, or peruse the event listing for special HQ programming.

Where: The Redd, 831 SE Salmon Street