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> > more....blogs > make blogs for core! be famous! >> JenTrip archives
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JenTrip The Journeys of a Brooklyn Designer |
....who is Jen anyway? |
Monday, August 05, 2002 Ahhhh …Coney Island. One day a week for the entire summer we’ve taken a day to go to good old Coney. Yeah, I know there are nicer beaches: more pristine, much more fashionable. But nothing beats the ongoing tradition of fried shrimp, beer delivered to you on the beach, and jiggling bootie and belly as far as the eye can see. And oh boy, the Cyclone!!! Around the fourth of July PBS ran this movie called The Little Fugitive. It’s an old 1950’s (?) story about a Brooklyn kid (Joey) whose brother, in a cruel attempt to lose his annoying sibling, convinces Joey that he has accidentally shot and killed his big brother. The young Joey thinking he is on the lamb – runs off to Coney Island and spends a day forgetting his worries with pony rides, cotton candy and arcade games. Not only is the film good on its own merits – it reveals the historical glory of the land that is my only vacation. Someone is sinking some money into Coney. They’ve added some big bathhouses and toilets; there are now volleyball nets and fake palm trees spurting water. Then of course, the Brooklyn Cyclones. My friend warns me: “better get it while you can before Disney buys it all”. How sad that would be. While Coney Island was in its heyday the quintessential Disneyland, too much cleaning up would do it wrong. Disney has a tendency to make things squeak like the rat that Mickey truly is. I’ll never forget the design school class discussion I had over Celebration. The instructor was going on and on about the details: designed street names and pristine lawns and I (thinking that we were of the same mind and that to actually live in one of these sorts of environments would be nothing short of that silly movie Pleasantville) was going along wryly, “Yeah! Designed street names! Exclusivity! Ha!” Little did I know that the designer in her had completely taken over her brain, because she was speaking joyously of the lovely creation of Celebration. Huh? Why are we so obsessed? Does it all have to be so perfect? Wouldn’t we be utterly bored? I think so. While I really could go without dodging glass chunks on the beach, I’ll keep it in a heartbeat to keep Disney far away from Coney Island. Saturday, August 03, 2002 08/03/02 2:07 PM I am in a pickle of sorts. I am finding that I am reluctant to sit down and design the big things that I so love. My furniture is too expensive to make, and - unless I need a particular piece – what am I going to do with it when I am done? I’ve been toying with the idea of designing completely useless sculpturey furniture like pieces that are about as useful to me as a credenza. A big wooden sphere with legs, or a box with no openings, antennas, and wheels. At least then I might be able to convince a Williamsburg gallery to do a show of my work, since no one really sees function as artful. What a shame that is. As I’m sitting here, I’m thinking about the simple things to design – cheap – with a production line of me: purses, pillows, halter tops, dresser boxes… simple little things that are easier to make, fund and sell repeatedly. However, the smallness of them leaves me with not a lot of financial return… nickel and dime-ing my road to success. The question again is, where do I start? I do not want to work for a corporation. That being said – I’ve always thought that coming to graduate school would be to mobilize my own business as a designer. Why then, am I so immobile? |
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