Ice Man

I've been thinking a lot today about my dear friend and mentor Regin Schwaen, who happens to live very close to the Red River in Fargo, North Dakota. I've been following the incredible flooding that is taking place there, and was happy to hear that their house and 1963 Chrysler Newport was spared.

As you can see by his photos here, Regin is an architect, builder and adventurer, who always seems to find a way to place himself in extreme conditions...consistently at the edge.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with him on his first house in Denmark. Here we are constructing a wood mould for the casting of large ferro-cement dormers, which would later be lifted into place, onto the roof, and serve as the childrens' rooms in the house.

Everytime I visit his beautiful website, I get a little restless and want to either travel or build.

Barn Stack

Though we spend most of our time living here in the city, we're always trying to find new ways to get our hands dirty. Since moving here nine years ago, I have spent a lot of time teaching and practicing architecture, designing and building furniture...and recently started an accessory line with our ol' buddy FLEAHEART called BOX & FLEA. Still there is nothing quite as exciting as finding a big stack of weathered, hand-hewn barn siding...sitting there, full of unrealized potential.

We spent yesterday morning unloading 1,100 sq.ft. of siding for a new project we're working on in Brooklyn. Though we can't reveal who the project is for quite yet, I can say they're old friends and we're super excited to be helping them out. Anyone that will get us a big ol' bunch of wood to play with, is fine by me.