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“scribbling outside the lines,” a graypants contribution to the fall 2010 issue of ARCADE.
[download a pdf of the article here]

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How does one make a beautiful object? What’s the source of the beauty? Is it the physically pristine product, or does it have more to do with the users reaction? Graypants was created as a responsible design studio out of a simple but very focused effort to return to the joy of crafting with our hands, and we found that the latest technologies actually support an organic and craft-based design process surprisingly well. We’ve learned to embrace the notion that beauty can come from nothing, or as Brian Eno so eloquently put, “Beautiful things grow out of shit.” Some of the most beautiful sculptural objects and buildings come from seemingly arbitrary seeds of inspiration or references to nature. Is this a result of function, form, process, technology, material or magic? Truly embracing these unexpected forces becomes the soul of our design process and thus the final product, and one of the greatest lessons learned through allowing Graypants to evolve is to above all support and encourage discovery.

Go on a treasure hunt. Furniture designer John Reeve’s moved to Vietnam where he has began collecting old scooter engine-blocks. He melts them down to create cast-aluminum furniture. It’s a filthy process recognizable in the final product through the almost-charred, industrial textures left behind, and yet his chair gleamed like a diamond in the rough at New York’s bustling ICFF trade show this last summer. If you’ve yet to discover that life-changing design moment during a focus group or over the plastic-water-bottle-littered conference table (damage done within the sixty minutes allotted for the meeting), look elsewhere. Ideas are free, and there are trillions of them floating all around us in the air at any given moment. Reach out and grab one from the sandbox out back, the dusty box in the attic or a dream.

Scribble, too. Scribbling is about sharing. Whether with crayons on the wall or a stick in the mud, it’s really fun and the process of designing is much more enlightening when messy and organic. We try to share our ideas almost immediately. It’s okay to shout them out loud and fling them across boundaries where they have more opportunity and a chance to evolve. Sir Ken Robinson speaks of a more agricultural approach to education, where we simply create conditions in which we think an individual could flourish. Instead of providing a linear path of bullet-pointed goals, an opportunity of discovery is gifted early on. Our cardboard Scrap Lights were born out of an experiment to create one-offs of a single chair design out of as many random household materials as possible.  We used Stranger newspapers, cardboard, plywood scraps, pallet slip-sheets, and at some point had to deal with containing a disastrous concoction of trash bags, glue, and expanding foam. After all of that, we woke up the morning of the gallery exhibition featuring the chairs and said “Let’s make a lamp super quickly to hang above the chairs – we can pull it off.” There’s a willingness to expose one’s self, possibly fail and then fail harder that is encouraged in this kind of process that I think many of us recognize and take to heart now.

Finally, blur all the lines together. The best advice is usually unexpected, and we’ve found that it comes in random waves from the mailman or next door neighbor. Why not have a local chef or musician critique your architectural design?  There’s a grassroots level of collaboration available that is often overlooked that many times exposes critical points within a design process. I can consult my seven-year-old niece for design advice via a video call from my regular Seattle bus route now.  We can share sketches, and while I’m often instructed to “make it pink” or “add flowers,” I always leave inspired and with a new perspective. We may never reach a state of final completion on a particular project but approaching it from as many angles as possible does help spot the magical moments where the pieces align beautifully. These moments are wonderful gifts.  When this happens, take a snapshot and share it with the world!

We have no recipe for creating beauty, but through collaboration and a readiness to create and maintain an inspiring environment, I do know that it can be encouraged and harvested along the way. Most of all, we like to sum-up our collective approach with a quote from the Persian poet Rumi: “Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”

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Jonathan Junker and Seth Grizzle are Seattle architects, but they enjoy the crafts side of design, too. So the pair founded a new firm called Graypants in January of 2008 to design and make furniture and lighting.

They also kept their day jobs as architects at other firms in Seattle.

Starting a business in a recession has been a struggle, but Graypants has done relatively well, Junker said.

One reason is diversification: A third of its business is lighting, a third is custom homes and other buildings, the rest is furniture and graphic design.

Their lighting is found in upscale restaurants and offices around the world. It’s also sold through graypants.com, at the Seattle Art Museum shop and at Nube Green on Capitol Hill.

Having service-based and product-based business segments that complement each other has helped during the recession and they want to keep that balance in the future.

“I think the diversity of our work is what’s allowed us to bridge those gaps,” Junker said.

Graypants is one of 10 firms selected by a panel of curators for the AIA Seattle New Edge|New Blood exhibit that features up-and-coming local architects and landscape designers.

There’s a reception tonight from 5 to 7 p.m. at AIA Seattle, 1911 First Ave. The reception and admission to the exhibit are free. The exhibit runs through Oct. 1.

Besides Graypants, the featured firms are: Alley Cat Acres, Blip Design, Cast Architecture, Coates Design, Grey Design Studio, Hapa Collaborative, Michelle Arab Studio, MW|Works, and Patano+Haferman Architects.

The exhibit was curated by Jay Deguchi of Suyama Peterson Deguchi, Shannon Nichol of Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, Rick Sundberg of Richard Sundberg Architects, and David Spiker, an AIA Seattle board member.

New Edge|New Blood runs every other year. The first exhibit was in 2008.

This year it focuses on firms that have a leaner model of practice and project delivery, firms that are showing tenacity and ingenuity in this poor economy.

“What we found is that economically it’s such a difficult climate to work in,” said Jay Deguchi, a partner in Suyama Peterson Deguchi.

In the pre-recession days, promising young firms got smaller design jobs because there were a lot to go around, he said. Now more established firms are picking off even the small projects.

Some of the exhibitors have broadened their practices beyond designing buildings and landscape architecture, he said.

“You just put out as many things as you can and see what happens,” Deguchi said. “You can’t be as picky as before.”

One exhibitor with an interesting take on architecture is Grey Design Studio, he said.

It created something called Modern-Shed, which Deguchi describes as a prefab shed that can be used for an office or storage. It comes as a kit-of-parts and buyers can select from a variety of options.

“It’s a very modern looking shed and it’s certainly much nicer than the ones you can get at Home Depot,” Deguchi said. “It’s a pretty ingenious little design that allows them to pursue other avenues.”

Grey Design came up with its first Modern-Shed in 2000, and has sold about 200 of the prefabricated kits. They are from 8 by 10 feet to 16 by 60 feet, and cost from $12,000 to $100,000.

“We’ve been selling these things (to people) that want to scale down and add an office to their home or add an extra living space to their home because they have an extra person living with them,” said Ryan Grey Smith, who owns the firm along with Ahna Holder.

Grey Design also designs and fabricates custom light fixtures. It has joined with 3form, a materials solutions company based in Salt Lake City, to provide lighting for customers across the country, Smith said.

Lighting offers a way to impact a space without spending a lot, he said. More architecture firms should focus on such practical architectural solutions that serve clients’ needs, especially given the changing economic climate, he said.

“It used to be you could get a job anywhere and there were endless amounts of projects to do,” he said. “Now it’s just the opposite.”

One practice that impressed the curators is Patano+Haferman Architects, which has broken into a tough area for small firms: public sector work.

Another firm that got the curators’ attention is Michelle Arab Studio, which does landscape architecture and art.

Deguchi said this multitasking is especially important for young landscape architecture practices, which unlike traditional design firms, don’t have small residential projects to get started with.

This diversity “doesn’t preclude you from the work you’d like to do,” Deguchi said. “It just gives you one more opportunity to keep a practice afloat.”

bringing art and business together through iphone.

when young architects come together to start a design firm, the results can be electric. that’s what happened at graypants, a seattle-based design firm founded by friends seth grizzle and jonathan junker. lights — striking fixtures hand-fashioned from cardboard boxes — were the company’s first product to make it to market.

click here to browse the entire feature on apple’s website

this series of scrap lights came out of our love and fascination with the giant planet that shares our solar system.  it is the largest of any planet, fifth from our sun, and is categorized as a gas giant. its best known feature is the great red spot, referenced in the assembly of this scrap light. we chose the four largest moons discovered by galileo to accompany jupiter. from largest to smallest, these galilean moons are named ganymede, callisto, io, and europa. you may purchase them at a discounted price as a set of 5 (including jupiter) or individually.

ganymede || callisto || io || europa

>SCRAP LIGHTS ARE FOR SALE!
>[click here to buy now]

instilling new spirit into salvaged pieces of corrugated cardboard, a scrap light’s lively play on light and shadow invigorates once lifeless materials. graypants scrap lights: creating a brighter now.
>[click here to learn more and download scrap light spec sheets]

a snapshot of the commonly-in-flux graypants design studio in seattle… it’s where we get our hands dirty. existing walls and spaces have been reconfigured to make efficient and shared use of the multiple daylight sources, while created walls and movable panels allow the studio to immediately transform and accommodate the many needs of a live+work approach to design.

mural and paintings by mark vonrosenstiel | collage by jon gentry

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Two years ago the first New Edge | New Blood exhibit opened with twelve of up and coming young individuals and firms. We wanted to go deep into the profession in terms of the “new blood” that would make a difference in the architecture of the region, challenge the status quo and reframe the ongoing debate on the nature of architectural practice. And we wanted firms with an “edge”. This year we included landscape architecture practices to recognize the collaborative approach that is critical to a successful built environment.

New Edge | New Blood 2 occurs in a totally different economic climate; our professions are in transition toward a leaner and, perhaps more sustainable, model of practice and project delivery. We looked for firms and individuals who are showing tenacity and ingenuity to push the boundaries of architecture and landscape while operating within current fiscal realities. We wanted firms that take risks and redefine the landscape of architectural practice in our region.

New Edge | New Blood examines great design and the way young firms get there. Our curatorial team selected firms for their innovative use of interdisciplinary talent, unique methods of project delivery, and for pushing the boundaries of architectural and landscape design.

graypants has been featured in the july 2010 issue of northwest home! pick up a current copy (packaged inside this month’s seattle magazine) to read about our current product lines, including the recycled aluminum steplights which were introduced at ICFF earlier this summer.

following initial studies in clay, wood, and paper, the animation below represents the daylighting of a local residence’s central gallery space throughout the course of a single day.

before | after comparison _ (photo credit: benjamin benschneider)
work performed while at sullivan conard architects.