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The Student Life an ongoing journal by Donald Lehman |
....who is Donald Lehman? |
May 31, 2002  by Donald Lehman Ah yes, the end of a school year. Remember back in high school when it seemed like the teachers just accepted the fact that no one (including them) wanted to be there anymore and any type of learning activities would be pointless? “Hey everyone! I have an idea! How bout we sign yearbooks for the entire class period? Doesn’t that sound like fun?” Yeah well, I thought high school sucked. Apparently so did my professors because the end of the year is when they love to give the biggest projects. I didn’t want to party and work on my tan anyway…… This years finals included: 1) Finishing not one, but three stools in my woodworking class to get the desired stacking effect. 2) Designing packaging and packaging graphics for said stools. 3) Coming up with a concept for a product and illustrate it using Illustrator and Photoshop. 4) Giving a presentation on Marc Newson in my History of Modern Furniture class. Normally this wouldn’t faze me at all, seeing as had had about 2 weeks to finish, but I had more important things to be thinking about at the end of the quarter, like seeing Star Wars. I won’t bore you with all the details of the late nights and countless studio hours because I know you all have been there. Funny though how these are supposed to be the most stressful times but they end up being the most fun you have all year. Everyone is all in the shop at once, the music is going, some people are ordering pizza, others are venting to each other about projects. People relate better to each other when they have had 2 hours to sleep. Anyway, the projects are done, Yoda kicked some butt, and here I am in New York. This summer I’m interning at Benza design in Brooklyn. The internship starts in June, so seeing as I got here with a couple weeks left in May, I’ve been able to roam the city. New York City = crack for designers. Plain and simple. Do whatever you can to make a trip up here for at least a weekend. Things that I have been able to see only in magazines and on the internet are suddenly 2 blocks down from me. Just yesterday I was walking down the street and I passed the sign for frogdesign. I just stared and gawked for a minute. (Note to self: visit frogdesign at some point during the summer.) Last week I checked out the ICFF over at the Javits’ center with my friends Katie and Kevin. I was pretty impressed with all of the student work, especially Parsons and Cranbrook who have won the student competition the past 2 years. (Parsons in 2001 and Cranbrook this year.) We also got to talk with the head of Ukao furniture, Gerard Minakawa, who was nice enough to take 20 minutes to talk to us younglings. All of his furniture is bamboo veneered which makes it super strong. You can see his Yolanda chair in this month’s I.D. Magazine. Below is a picture of his Bolivar stools that use traditional Aymara textiles in the seating.  Well, I’m going to head back out on the town but I have to first apologize to the folks over at Cappellini. The other night I walked by and saw Marc Newson’s Embryo chair on display. I may have gotten quite a few fingerprints on your windows. Sorry. “We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Grass” Design of the Month Club: Fake grass You have to hand it to New Yorkers; they are quite a resourceful bunch. Take for example the lack of grass in Manhattan. How is it supposed to feel like summer with out a little bit of greenery? Well it’s been fashionable to stick a box of grass in the windowsill but the design stores in Soho have been taking it one step further. They use fake grass to accent anything. I have even seen used as placemats. Plus, you never have to water or mow it. |
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