Here’s a project we just completed. It’s a completely white powder-coated 10-foot tall by 6-foot wide mobile that will hang in a private residence in Los Angeles.
Purdue University Mobile
The mobile we mentioned last week? It will hang in a residence hall at Purdue University, right below a skylight, so it should cast lots of reflective shadows. It hangs 6.5 feet wide, 4.5 feet deep, and 6 feet tall. It includes 35 strands, with a total of 158 polished leaf shapes.
We’ve finished it up and shipped it off. But first we took some cool photos of it in our shop:
Sunny Day
It’s fall in Portland, which means one thing: gray skies.
So it was a pleasant surprise the other day to get some sunshine. And it was an extra-pleasant surprise to see the sunshine reflect off our our current project, lighting the back wall of our shop!
Seattle
We took a quick trip to Seattle, mainly to check out the Calder exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. Inspiring, of course!
We also ate at Poppy, a fantastic restaurant that we made a mobile for last year. (See October 16, 2008.) It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Poppy was among the best meals we’ve ever had. Take our word for it, concord grape rosemary sorbet is genius.
Wisconsin Project
A few weeks ago we mentioned a collaborative project we were working on for a healthcare facility in Wisconsin. The client just sent images of the final piece!
Packing & Shipping
Sometimes packaging a mobile can take as much work and forethought as the design and build processes. For example, here a few things we had to take into consideration with the Saudi Arabia mobile:
- Disassemble mobile as much as possible to keep shipping costs low.
- Disassemble the mobile in a way that will be easy for the client to reassemble.
- Ensure that the frame is not damaged in shipping.
- Ensure that the fabric stays clean during disassembly, shipping, and reassembly.
- Create detailed reassembly instructions for client.
In this case, it culminated with a 15-page Mobiles for Dummies document that outlines every single aspect of reassembly. And it includes a lot of boring–but important–images like these:
Done at Last!
The Saudia Arabia mobile is about three feet too tall to hang in our shop, so we used a local gymnasium to fully assemble it. We are so happy with the result!
Ok, so we’re not totally finished: We have a lot of work ahead getting it disassembled, packaged, and shipped abroad…
I'm Going to Disneyland!
Next time you’re at Disneyland, see if you can get yourself access to the VIP lounge of Tomorrowland so you can see its latest addition–a custom-painted Ekko Balance Mobile!
Collaborative Project
We’re in the middle of a collaborative project with a design firm we regularly work with. We’re creating three 11-feet tall by 3-feet wide aluminum tubing frames, and our client is sewing fabric sleeves that will cover the frames. The translucent fabric will be airbrushed with color. Sounds intriguing!
The final piece will hang at a healthcare facility in Wisconsin. That’s our third Wisconsin-based project this fall! Is it time to relocate?
Custom Desktop
We almost forgot to mention this fun piece we did a few months ago for a private residence in New York City. The client liked our Desktop Mobile, but they requested something a bit bigger and more complex. Here’s the result: a stabile that resembles our original Desktop, but three times the size!
