informal alchemy

Merchants of Reality: SMALL THINGS

laura stevenson — Wed, 09 May 2012 03:00:58 +0000

I have some new work up at Merchants of Reality in the show titled SMALL THINGS.

photo: tree reflection in triangular prism texture

laura stevenson — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:38:50 +0000

In Rio de Janeiro.

8 Bit Lights

laura stevenson — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 02:45:11 +0000

I’ve been helping out with some fabrication for the excellent 8 Bit Lights team. Find them here!!

beware the carnivores.

laura stevenson — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:20:13 +0000

dodecagonal pyramid

laura stevenson — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 23:57:01 +0000

Laser cutters are amazing for uncountable reasons, one of which is that you can tune the settings to pre-score paper along all your folds for you. It’s not pretty, but here is my favorite source of polyhedra vector patterns.

working on the gothic terrariums

laura stevenson — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 22:19:04 +0000

Dead things made into life forms that never existed, held captive in tiny dreamlike landscapes. For sale!

negative root space

laura stevenson — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 22:35:13 +0000

owning your own glasses.

laura stevenson — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 19:45:41 +0000

Well, I’ve moved beyond Franken Frames. TechShop has given me access to so many tools that at this point, it’s hard to buy anything at all. Toothbrush? Why buy one of those when I could just 3d model my own design, machine a two part mold on the Tormach CNC mill, and injection mold my very own? etc. As it happened, it was time for new glasses frames, and since some of my favorite styles are 40s-50s era and quite flat across the face, they’re naturally suited for the laser cutter. I started making frames based on vector line work, cutting them out, trying them on, making adjustments, etc.

About this time, someone came to visit me at work, took a bunch of photos, shared them with some other people, one thing led to another, and Michael contacted me about doing some contract design work for one of the most interesting start up ideas I’ve come across. oyoglasses is a simple 2d design tool that lets you shape your ideal pair of glasses frames. (Not choose from pre-made modules, but actually shape a unique form factor.) The frames are 3d printed, lenses are put in, and you get them in the mail just as you would from a generic seller. Democratization of industrial design, improving on a tricky purchasing experience, fascinating hardware, software, manufacturing, material, and UX problems all rolled into one. I’m thrilled to be on board!

condemned building, new furniture

laura stevenson — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:13:49 +0000

Danny and I will be making some benches out of rescued cast iron theatre seat parts.

clever little bag: gold IDEA award

laura stevenson — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:27:50 +0000

This is quite exciting…

my first professional design project, ever, in the wild.

laura stevenson — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 00:27:25 +0000

The first project I did at Utility.
I created this landscape of rough wooden limbs to break up spaces in the eating area of a Westfield mall foodcourt. It’s in Southcenter, WA and though it was installed several years ago, I saw it for the first time while traveling this December. I was amazed that every last detail of the installation was executed exactly as I specified in the Rhino model. Awesome!

The Selby at Tartine

laura stevenson — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 01:09:03 +0000

… means the Toast Chandelier is in the NYT Style Magazine!

Piñata? Monster!

laura stevenson — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 03:52:37 +0000

BRUETlabs and Informal Alchemy warned you about the monster in the park, but you came to see it anyway.

Toast Chandelier

laura stevenson — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 03:26:25 +0000

Karl Dotter and I made a Chandelier together; a Chandelier of bread. Some of the bread is actively toasted whenever the Chandelier is turned on. It smells wonderful. Go see it, at Tartine Bakery.

Giant Piñata: Sketch Models

laura stevenson — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 10:41:35 +0000

Creating a giant piñata for Brute Labs; part of a sketch model bleeding silk thread. Destroying the giant piñata of inequality october 2nd, in dolores park. Join us!

Start of the Lichen Garden

laura stevenson — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:30:26 +0000

So many iterations of a life form, sharing one broken branch gleaned from the forest floor.

Celebrate Low Tides

laura stevenson — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:45:12 +0000

Franken Frames

laura stevenson — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:03:07 +0000

An ongoing exercise in the spirit of fixing rather than replacing: a series of shades cobbled together out of other broken sunglasses. Sometimes all that’s needed is a new earpiece; other times, the lenses must be reshaped and replaced. Depending on the treatment, mixing and matching lenses can lead to a sort of ‘real life’ 3D glasses…

Informal Alchemy BirthdayFest 2010

laura stevenson — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:19:06 +0000

informal alchemy likes to make party invitations, so if you’d like one specially made just for you: by all means, do ask!

Phone Sweaters

laura stevenson — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:34:09 +0000

Warm up that cold, cold technology.
I just finished another phone sweater- I crocheted this one around a cardboard mockup of Mielle’s phone.
Dark purple with a super light seafoam tassle.

Dust Heart

laura stevenson — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:06:00 +0000

frown town sunday

laura stevenson — Fri, 28 May 2010 01:41:56 +0000

Frown Town is ‘a puppet show about children but most definitely not for them’ in the words of Steven Froundling and Andy Warner, the co-creators. It follows a misanthropic boy as he leaves his family for a decaying city full of horrible children. It’s lushly detailed, snappy and dark, and the boys let me paint a fire hydrant for the set. Project time spent working together with friends on a sunday is delightful.

Tiny Wonders, Big Success!

laura stevenson — Wed, 26 May 2010 03:30:05 +0000

Thanks to Donald for the glamorous photos.

The Flock

laura stevenson — Sun, 16 May 2010 21:15:33 +0000

Giant Cranes! Tiny Wonders!

laura stevenson — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:05:14 +0000

I have an art show fast approaching!
Curated by Dylan Hosey and the folks at Treehouse Gallery, it is Tiny Wonders round two. I am making a series of giant origami cranes, and a series of 2D works out of cut paper and gloss.
I’m not an artist, so I’m a little nervous. Here’s some process:

New Workspace

laura stevenson — Sat, 01 May 2010 07:32:54 +0000

Since October, I’ve been renting a space in ‘The Big Gay Warehouse’ at 250 Loomis. The warehouse is AMAZING and Alix, of apocalypse vintage is the mastermind behind the whole thing. Other notable tenants include old hat estate sales and cyclecide among many other artists, musicians, makers, movers, and shakers. The Big Gay Warehouse was a rad place to work but I found a better fit for my needs (specifically, access to shop tools). I am in the process of moving into Jared Rusten’s furniture studio and I couldn’t be more excited about the projects to come, now that I have a professional brain to pick and a shop full of tools.

Home Taxidermy

laura stevenson — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:24:10 +0000

I stopped working on this sculpture during the worst time ever last year. I finally got around to finishing it in time for Dylan Hosey’s Tiny Wonders show at The Good Shop. Thanks to FFA for finding the IDEAL bird carcass for me, and letting me keep it in their band van for several hours. Thanks to my housemates at Treat Suite, who had to witness (and smell) my first experiment with home taxidermy. Thanks to Dylan and The Good Shop for putting on the show!