May 10, 2009
Design Walks // Bushwick, Brooklyn
Posted By: Thea
Located just a short train ride from Union Square is a glimpse of what Manhattan’s SoHo was probably like back in its industrial heyday, long before it ever saw the likes of stores such as Alessi or Longchamp. East Williamsburg - or Bushwick to the locals - is as much an artists’ haven as it is one of the only corners of wider New York City that has gracefully resisted gentrification, a rarity even in Brooklyn these days.
Stepping out onto Bogart Street from the Morgan Avenue exit off the L train, you’re immediately immersed in a wash of re-purposed factory space and 20/30-somethings running around with paint splatters on their shoes. There’s a sense that anything is possible here and that the people you pass are busy doing it. And after spending an afternoon walking its streets, you understand why the hipsters are taking up residence in Bushwick but keeping the frills to a minimum. Despite the friendly behavior and welcoming attitude, it’s clear they’re not eager to see their undiscovered bohemian village become saturated with rows of “independent” boutiques, coffee shops and imported quirkiness. The residents are entertaining enough.
The best way to start a Saturday afternoon in Bushwick is with brunch at Life Café NINE83, located on Flushing Avenue at Central Avenue. The sister location to the East Village original, Life is a great place to hang out with friends and discuss future projects or just relax over a pint. You can see why Jonathan Larson found inspiration for his cult Broadway hit “Rent” at the East Village location, as owner Kathleen Kirkpatrick ensures that the Brooklyn location is still a place where artists and musicians can come together. The menu boasts classic favorites like French toast or scrambled eggs with bacon in addition to vegan-friendly options, substituting tofu for meat and using casein-free soy cheese in their dishes.
Upon leaving Life, take a stroll down Bogart Street and stop at The Archive Café for a post-brunch coffee. Have a seat on the vintage couch for some people-watching or peruse their selection of DVDs, as the café does double-duty as a movie rental shop. A neighborhood hub, Archive offers free Wi-Fi service allowing for major hang time on a budget, since a cup of Harney & Sons tea will only set you back $1.50. The Edison light bulbs and large worktables keep to the theme of what’s going on outside the graffiti-covered steel door, and provide a charming interior without feeling stereotypical.
Put your caffeine buzz to good use and pop next door to The Archive at Ad Hoc, before heading over to 3rd Ward down the block. On current display at Ad Hoc is a collection of works executed by a group of international female pop surrealists. 3rd Ward is a 20,000-square-foot creative facility that boasts everything from studio space for photo shoots to a woodshop. Depending on when you’re there, the gallery may have an exhibit on display, featuring any medium imaginable, or you might find yourself in the middle of filmmakers’ showcase. If possible you should make your way there on 7 December for their Handmade Holiday Craft Fair.
Finally, reward yourself at King’s County, a bar on Siegel Street known for its wide variety of whisk(e) y at fair prices. The all-black interior may seem alarming at first glance, but its knowledgeable bar staff and sociable crowd make you feel completely at ease.
While Bushwick isn’t booming with tourists, the area itself is full of life and its quirky outposts are a promising sign that there are people out there who find meaning in what they’re doing with or without grand acknowledgment from the masses.
Karen Day is a freelance writer, a budding photographer, an experienced traveler and a terrible tourist.
April 30, 2009
Updates // Handmade
Posted By: Andrew
Our recently launched Loft Table Tools are ready to ship. Anna, Teroforma’s co-founder, is just finishing up the handmade linen sleeves that go along with each set. She had very particular ideas about how they should look and decided - for this first batch anyway - to make every single one of them herself. We’re proud and thought we’d share some pictures of the process.
Teroforma co-founder Anna Hellman sewing the prototype batch of Loft Table Tool linen sleeves.
Anna tends to be meticulous...
Once the structural stitching is done, she makes sure the fabric is flat before stitching the divider seam.
The finished product...
...ready to go.
April 22, 2009
Perspectives // Make like a master
Posted By: Andrew
In this economic downturn, I have noticed a new directness. When presented with complex challenges, the answers seem to appear when layers are removed and the focus is on simplicity. Building Teroforma has meant time spent talking to and working with some really gifted craftsmen around the world. Not necessarily the type who figure in museums or in retrospectives (yet). But the kind who seem to do it for love of the game. Their differences are numerous - age, language, nationality, etc. It is, however, an elemental similarity that connects them: focus. Complete absorption in the task at hand. The ability to disregard the noise and to concentrate on the thousand practiced movements and nuances that turn motion into craft. While adopting some of that focus may help us all keep our heads above water in the turbulent ‘now,’ I wonder if a new found simplicity can survive in calmer times. And if it did, I wonder what could be achieved.
April 10, 2009
Updates // First samples
Posted By: Anna
We’ve been mulling over the idea of mixing warp/weft tones to develop a new line of table linens. These are among the first sample swatches. Still working out the details and probably need another few runs at it before we get it right. In the meantime, we’d love to hear your thoughts - which color combination do you like better? If not here, which combination of colors would you most like to see? Nothing like conducting market research with the people who matter most to us :)
Green/Blue
Blue/Red
April 9, 2009
Profiles // Jose Joaquim Ribeiro
Posted By: Thea
Jose Joaquim Ribeiro is the eldest of 5 siblings of the Ribeiro family that has owned and operated Cutipol Foundry in Caldas Das Taipas, Portugal since its opening in 1952. Having taken over daily management of the business from his father, Jose Joaquim is responsible for finding a balance between the traditions of the past - upheld by an unshakable faith in the importance of the role of the artisan - and the realities of a modern marketplace where demand for Cutipol designs stretches from Kobe to Copenhagen.
For the past 30 years, Jose Joaquim has worked to align his aesthetic preference for minimalism - as evidenced in the sleek and confident form of his Lolo flatware (left) - with the functional requirements of the 
objects he designs. As the Designer and Production Manager for Cutipol, he is constantly at the center of family- and company-wide collaborations.
In his own words: “I try to make things with a purity and simplicity. When you strip down the added decoration to the design, you need a very specific focus. I have a simple life - I enjoy the small things - simplicity is analogue to how I try to live.”
Having spent his childhood living literally next door to the foundry and accompanying his father on business trips, the balance of work and life for Jose Joaquim is somehow something more profound than it might at 
first seem.
Intrigued by the connection between a philosophy for living and a philosophy for designing, we asked how his outlook on everyday life influences his creativity:
“It is like ‘Columbus’s Egg’ (referring to a metaphor widely referenced in Portuguese and Spanish cultures about the apparent ease with which one can make an egg stand on its end). The trick is to make it all look ‘effortless’ and it is the hardest thing to achieve.”
We think he may have done it.
April 5, 2009
Design Walks // Malmo, Sweden
Posted By: Anna
I just got back from a quick trip to see family in Sweden and spent an afternoon wandering around Malmo with my mum. One of the things we share is a love for the beautiful simplicity of Swedish design. Here in the US, I think we are kind of stuck in a mid-century modern rut. And while there is no doubt that something special was happening in Scandinavia in the 1950-60s, there is a lot of great contemporary Swedish design that sometimes gets overlooked. While Teroforma is currently looking into a few projects that we hope will help bring some of the new generation of Swedish designers to the forefront for more people to enjoy, I thought I’d share a few of my pics from the day in the meantime - along with a few recommendations of the best places to visit if you happen to find yourself in Malmo with a free afternoon.
Form/Design Center in Malmö was founded in 1964 as a non-profit organization promoting the best of Swedish design, craft and the people involved. Located in Hedmanska gården (Hedman courtyard) next to Lilla Torg in Malmö, Form occupies 3 floors of a former granary building built in 1850. There are basically 3 parts to Form - an exhibition space, a gallery showing an always-thoughtful and frequently updated collection of work from emerging Swedish artists and designers, and, finally, a cafe. Each one is great, but it is the combination that I really like - see what’s going on, buy a little something for home and finish it off with a coffee and the most fantastic pastries from Olof Viktors Bakery in nearby Österlen. Form is open generally from 12-4 Tu-Su and closed on Monday.
Formagruppen Butik & Galleri is an artists cooperative with a shop and a gallery located at No 8 Engelbrektsgatan just around the corner from Form. I suppose I should stop here and say that Form means ’shape’ in Swedish - hence the pervasive use of the word here. The cool thing about Formagruppen is that it is a collective with a 20-member stable of locally-based professional crafts artists who work in different materials. Most of these artists can be visited directly in their studios or ateliers. So just visit the shop and figure out who you like and then call ahead to schedule a visit. One of our favorite regional talents is a designer/maker named Tomas Alexandersson who makes incredible modern primitive shapes in salt-baked ceramics. Formagruppen is open Mo-Fr 11-6, Sa 10-4 and closed on Sunday.
Norrgavel means ‘North Gable’ in Swedish and is a fantastic story as much as it is a fantastic store/company. The company was founded by furniture maker Nirvan Richter in a one-room workshop which was literally under the north gable of a building. Richter combines the simple/functional virtues of Swedish design with farther-flung influences such as the Pennsylvania Shakers. Norrgavel consistently produces thoughtful, well-crafted, unique pieces of furniture that are strong enough to make a statement and subtle enough to play a chord rather than a single note. Even if you don’t speak Swedish, be sure to check out Nirvan’s book about Norrgavel - the illustrations are beautiful. The original store is located just down the road from Formagruppen at No 20 Engelbrektsgatan and is open daily from 11-6.
If you get hungry for lunch during your wanders, just stop in to the Lilla Torg Steakhouse for a nice-sized meal at a reasonable price. Most restaurants in Sweden offer a lunch special called dagens meny - or literally, ‘daily menu’. Lunch is a very social meal and is usually had out at a restaurant even during the work week where you can often find colleagues out together. Dagens can sometimes be a buffet of selected dishes or a limited menu offering and normally comes with a salad, main course and sometimes a drink - wine, beer, etc. Don’t forget to follow it up with a coffee which you will come to realize is what Swedes really live on. When mum and I stopped in on our walk, we had the best moussaka I’ve had in ages! The steakhouse is aptly located on Lilla Torg at No 7 and is open daily.
Finally, if you have the energy, it is worth heading down to the harbor to stroll through the shops and get a look at Malmo’s architectural crown jewel - Santiago Calatrava’s Turning Torso. I won’t get into a review of the structure itself - enough has been written about it by those far more qualified than me. The thing I will say is that the area around the Torso has absolutely exploded in recent years. Previously a kind of derelict industrial area near the harbor, the emergence of the Torso has brought a huge infusion of restaurants, shops and energy. In the summer, you can often find people diving off the harbor retaining walls and getting a tan on the well-landscaped public gardens nearby. Swedes make good use of the outside when the weather permits - so pick a nice day and enjoy your walk through Malmo!
March 31, 2009
Profiles // Thomas Allen
Posted By: Andrew
One in a series of Teroforma Profiles. The questions are always the same. The answers, though, are as unique as the people who gave them.
Name: Thomas Allen
Hometown: Petersfield, Hampshire, England
Occupation: Designer-maker (Ceramics)
Hobbies: Any thing outside: Walking, Camping, Sailing, Rowing
Design philosophy: William Morris said ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.’ I will design only that which I ‘know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ and where possible the things I design and produce will be both.
Childhood ambition: To be an inventor.
Biggest challenge: Setting up my ceramic design business.
Favorite place: The Western Peak of Suilven (a mountain in Northwest Scotland)
Prized possession: My 55cm thrown stoneware plate.
Words worth remembering: Balance, composition, geometry and defenestration.
Working with Teroforma: My inspiration for Teroforma’s Oyyo White series was a single concept of fluid transformation from circular base into oval top - referencing the way potters alter shape with such apparent ease. I had been working on it off an on and had a small prototype which the guys from Teroforma liked when they visited my studio - I think it was a little flowerpot on my windowsill that caught their eye. Then came all the work as we turned that initial idea into the entire Oyyo series.
March 29, 2009
Life at the Table // Is it too early for summer?
Posted By: Anna
Our friend Jenn Clapp is a bit of a tableware nut. So much so, we enlisted her help when we first began developing the idea for Teroforma. Now an interior designer with a leading Boston architectural firm, we suspect she has thoughts about the perfect decanters and linens more often than she admits. This photo was submitted by Jenn in the spirit of longer days, warmer nights and summer color.