Jillian Northrup's blog

We are in NYC this weekend so we went to see the old World's Faire grounds in Flushing Meadows.
What do they have there you ask?
Oh, not much.
Just a twelve story tall globe made of stainless steel for the '64 worlds faire called the "UNISPHERE".
THAT'S ALL!!!

wow.

According to Wikipedia, it is also known as the Globitron. Which we think is totally awesome.
We are now fantasizing about making an enormous sculpture and calling it THE GIGANTOR!

The fountain that surounds the globe is empty, and is very shallow, so we could walk right up to the base.
This place is usually filled with skate boarding kids, using the smooth fountain bottom as their playground.

We we able to look right up through the base into the center of the earth.
It was inspiring as all hell.

You should go if you've never seen it!
Take the subway out to Flushing Meadows and then just walk toward the Sphere. You can see it from the train!
And then you can go to the Queens Museum of Art

And not only will you get to experience a very cool museum, you'll get to see this:

A scaled model of NYC and the surrounding boroughs.
This was also made for the '64 world's faire and is still being kept up to date!
They have an exhibition going on now that shows how many foreclosures have happened in the boroughs by marking them with a pink flag.
eeek!
And worth checking out.

Woohoo! Time for another Eat Food Talk Shop!!!

And again on a different day than usually... to keep you on your toes!
Random quick changes keep you agile and fast thinking. Remember that!

Tonight at the Because We Cannery... come enjoy BBQ and drinks with us.
Bring Friends!
Bring beer!
Bring grand ideas!
Bring something for the grill!
Bring projects you've been working on!
Most importantly... bring yourself! (and beer)

This month we will be showing off some of the recent building projects we've
been working on as well as some 3D surface carving and a new product launch!

We'll have our new photo studio set up too, so we can all play with that!

The event is being promoted by the AIGA, so there should be a fun group of
people here. And... to jazz it up a bit, we are having a band!

It will be a night of BBQ, beer, networking and inspiration.
We'll be showing off out latest ideas and products, and we encourage you to
do the same!

Eat Food Talk Shop
6:30PM - 10PM

BYOB and stuff!

at the Because We Can Studio
1722 15th Street
Oakland CA 94607

Questions? Lost? Eternal salvation?
510-922-8846

When visiting Falling Water, we stayed in a resort hotel where the hallways look like this:

The knotty pine walls with 500 layers of shellac on them juxtaposed with that yellow pattered framed fabric seem like an interior you'd see on an episode of Twin Peaks.

Can you see Bob in this one!?

Look! It's me at Falling Water!



The famous Frank Lloyd Wright building in Western Pennsylvania is definitely worth the trip.
Built in 1936-1939, the amount that it has been talked about is well deserved!
It was a very modern and innovative building for its time. And it is inspiring, as all of Wright's fully intact buildings are, from outside to inside.
He thought a lot about the experience one would have with the building, so every last detail is thought out, almost every light fixture and furniture piece custom made.
You can see why we like it!



Entering the building you are taken through a small dark hallway, then the room opens up dramatically as you enter into the expansive main room with beautiful views.
Though Wright was known to go to extremes with his ideas at times (like refusing to put screens in the windows because it would interfere with the view), over all the building is a wonderful experience. It is filled with choreography at every turn, from little dark nooks to grand vista views through corner windows..



We dont have photos of the inside as only exterior photos were allowed.... and only from certain designated areas!
But the tour is well worth doing, and the center that manages the house does a wonderful job. And makes great signs like this one around the preserve...




If you're ever in the area, or even if you are out of the area.... its worth the trip.

We've just finished production on our new counter - like desks for Techliminal, a tech salon in Oakland, CA.
These desks are made of FSC certified sustainable materials with water based dyes and water borne lacquer.




And they clip together to function as 1, 2 or 4 desks, depending on how large of a table you need, or how many workstations you need.







The versatility is exactly what the Oakland Tech salon needed to have a flexible working space.


And the legs of the desks are made for super cord control!



Again, just what a tech salon needs.

Ponoko moved a small part of their office into the BWC facility in West Oakland last month,
and they have been working away getting their space set up for production.

Well, it has finally happened!

Their Bay Area office is now live and they are taking orders.
Check it out here!

Mint.com just got this video interview on Yahoo developer network blog.
It shows off some of the stuff we did for their office, specifically the treatment on the tops of the cubes.
You can also see the quotes on the walls and video screens we made if you look closely. The video title says "part 1"... so there may be another up there soon?!

It doesnt have the benches we made for the break room or the conference tables we did. But, if you want to, you can see those here!

Hey! We're all set up and rocking here at Maker Faire 2009. Our booth is in the Expo hall, over on the right if you're facing the Exploratorum's big setup in the center. We've got Maker Faire specials on our wooden robots and our new Pulse Table. Artgolf is here too, out on the grass over by one of the beer tents. Drop on by!

Maker Faire is almost upon us and we are getting really excited!

We will have a booth in the "Commercial Makers" pavilion, as well as exhibiting Art Golf again for the 4th time!

If you want to get a free ticket to Maker Faire, and a free gift from Because We Can, volunteer for a few hours at Art Golf - and have the rest of the day to run around the faire!
Contact us if you are interested.
You will have to show up half and hour before the faire opens (9:30AM) to get your volunteer pass.

And get excited for Maker Faire!

Occasionally we get pictures of our products in their life after they've left our shop...

Jen emailed us and sent through these great images of her nursery she recently created. Purchased "unfinished" and then painted, our Tree Stump Table gets a prominent placement!

The whole room is wonderfully thought out with mod trees painted on walls and delightful touches in every corner.

See all the photos on her flicker set!