Join Us at Welcome to Sportland

Posted on | February 15, 2011 | No Comments

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Rejuvenation up for Best of Year Awards

Posted on | October 6, 2010 | No Comments

Attention architects and designers: We are pleased to announce that our friends at Rejuvenation have two products up for Best of Year Awards in Interior Design Magazine. In the Lighting category, their Menlo and Galaxy chandeliers are both in the running. Visit their category on the Best of Year website to place your votes and show some support for a great local company!

Category: Architecture, Design

Google Maps Typography by Rhett Dashwood

Posted on | September 21, 2010 | No Comments

We love this little project by Rhett Dashwood. Over the course of several months beginning October 2008 to April 2009, he spent some of his spare time between commercial projects searching Google Maps hoping to discover land formations or buildings resembling letter forms. Typography is everywhere!

Category: Creativity, Typography

Congress Center Official Unveiling

Posted on | September 10, 2010 | No Comments

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Join us Monday, September 13th 11:30am to 1:30pm for refreshments and music to celebrate the official unveiling of the Congress Center’s new 100-foot window display in downtown Portland. The new display features photography from the block’s historic past as the Congress Hotel, a once famous but now forgotten piece of Portland’s history. The panoramic photographs show key vantage points from downtown Portland over the course of a hundred years.

The Congress Center is located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and Main and Salmon Streets along downtown Portland’s transit mall. It is home to many professional corporations and has a vibrant ground floor that serves both the building and the street. This block was previously home to the Congress Hotel - which lit up Portland’s southern frontier and served as a center for the city’s political and social life. When the building’s west street facade needed enlivening, representatives from the building owner, Shorenstein Realty Services L.P., the Portland Business Alliance, the Clean & Safe District and the Portland Development Commission turned to Vizwerks to develop a historic solution.

Working with the Oregon Historical Society and Portland independent writer and researcher, Lisa Radon, the Vizwerks creative team developed an almost full-size drawing replication of the original Congress Hotel street façade layered with historical photos of the surrounding street activity and short text stories. The photos are arranged by common subject and perspective and create panoramic views from decade-spanning images.

“We wanted to tell a story about how that block has evolved over the years, and tell it in a way that would allow the exhibit itself to evolve over an extended period of time, rather than live for just a few months,” says Vizwerks owner, Shauna Stinson.

“These projects add to the vibrancy and livability of our downtown,” said Michelle Martin, chair of the Clean & Safe District’s board. “When you have engaging and inviting storefronts, the streets feel cleaner, safer and attract more shoppers and visitors so we applaud this innovative project.”

Additional storefront and window display enhancements are also on tap for the upcoming holiday season.

Category: Architecture, Conversational, Window Displays
Tags: Event > History > Portland

The Visual Language of Herbert Matter

Posted on | August 6, 2010 | No Comments

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We recently stumbled upon the Grain Edit and The Art of the Title Sequence posts on the Visual Language of Herbert Matter. From the website, “Herbert Matter was a man who seemingly fit many lives into one by excelling in the creative disciplines of design, photography and film. The documentary The Visual Language of Herbert Matter profiles his extraordinary life and seminal work.” We just love movies about designers and are definitely looking forward to when this one screens in Portland.

Category: Conversational, Cool, Graphic Design

Back it Up

Posted on | June 11, 2010 | No Comments

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Another fun piece by Friends of Type!

Category: Cool

White Stag Block Talk: Image + Word

Posted on | April 20, 2010 | No Comments

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Category: Architecture, Art, Culture, Design

Letter Cult: Best Custom Letters 2009

Posted on | February 4, 2010 | No Comments

Letter Cult recently compiled a list of of the Best Custom Letter Forms of 2009. The artwork above is by Jessica Hische, who we’re big fans of. The list is a nice roundup of innovative design techniques and a good snapshot of what designers are doing in the present day. Worth checking out!

Category: Conversational, Graphic Design, Trends

We’re Attending the NADI Retail Design Collective Show in New York City December 9-11

Posted on | December 9, 2009 | No Comments

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We’re looking forward to a fun week in New York to attend the Nadi Retail Design Collective Show December 9-11th. NADI is the Visual Merchandising Committee for A.R.E., the Association for Retail Environments. Members include manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers involved in the visual merchandising industry. As visual merchandising has evolved throughout the years into its current integral role in retail success, NADI has taken the lead in informing and educating members. The association’s significant support of the visual design profession has grown with NADI’s exclusive support of GlobalShop’s Visual Merchandising Show and Retail Design Collective.

While in New York, we also look forward to checking out Droog NY, Odin New York, the new Armani flagship on 5th Avenue, the Bauhaus show at MoMA and the High Line!

Category: Design, Fashion, Trends

PDX Pop-Ups Shops Grand Opening

Posted on | November 11, 2009 | No Comments

We would like to invite you to stop by the new PDX Pop-Ups shops this Thursday evening November 12th at 5PM for their grand openings. Mayor Sam Adams will be on hand at 5PM for brief remarks and ribbon cutting. As part of the Downtown Retail Strategy, Portland Business Alliance, Portland Development Commission, Downtown Marketing Initiative, Downtown Retail Advocate and local design consultant Tad Savinar partnered with property owner Downtown Development Group to turn two vacant retail spaces along Morrison street into PDX Pop-Up Shops. Local artists and designers were presented with the opportunity to temporarily ’set up shop’ in the core retail district, sell their work and even design right in the space. Randy Higgins of Vizwerks helped the designers re-imagine these vacant spaces into their first retail shops, working with student designers at PNCA to create store fixtures, and designing the store layout to incorporate active elements and best showcase the products. Together, we are helping entrepreneurs grow their business, bringing even more unique products to downtown, developing the retailers of the future, and showcasing these properties to prospective tenants.

Workroom 719 at 719 SW Morrison Street, in the former See’s Candy Space will showcase artwork, women’s clothing, jewelry and accessories from six artists.

Flurry at 401 SW Morrison Street, in the former Shoe Pavillion Space is presented by Portland Fashion Synergy and will showcase women’s and men’s apparel, footwear, and accessories.

UPDATE: Ten days in, designers recoup their investments, exceed sales expectations and gain extra exposure…read the latest report from the Portland Development Commission.

Category: Art, Culture, Design, Fashion, Retail Trends

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