We just finished this collapsable ping pong table for The Balvenie Rare Craft Collection which is now traveling around various cities in the USA as part of the “Rare Craft Roadshow”.
Designed by RH Lee & Michele Diener
Built and rigorously tested by the fantastic crew at Offerman Woodshop
To read more about the collection & the travel dates near you click below.
Pop-Up Institute for Craft and Ingenuity rolls into Hollywood
By Carren Jao
6:45 AM PDT, August 12, 2013
DIY gets a new HQ as Hand-Eye Supply, a Portland, Ore., purveyor of shop tools and artisan advertisement gear, takes up residence for a month at Space 15 Twenty in Hollywood starting Friday.
“We wanted to get the Urban Outfitters crowd excited about the process of making and of thinking about where their products come from,” said Lyndsey Lee Denyer, who is heading up Hand-Eye’s Pop-Up Institute for Craft and Ingenuity.
After a kickoff event featuring Santa Barbara-based letterpress studio Tabletop Made and music by DJ Neil Schield of Origami Vinyl, the Pop-Up Institute for Craft and Ingenuity will be serving up a month of films, talks and workshops, including Jimmy N’ Adi’s platonic speed dating for creatives on Sept. 8; designer open mike night by de Lab, Design East of La Brea, on Sept. 12 (Full disclosure: de Lab founders are L.A. at Home contributors); and woodworking sessions led by Offerman Woodshop from Sept. 14 to 15 (yes, Offerman as in Nick Offerman of “Parks and Recreation”).
“We wanted to build a place that promotes dialogue between people who love to make things,” Denyer said.
Everyone, from die-hard makers to dabbling designers, is welcome at the pop-up, which will be open through Sept. 15. More details on the Hand-Eye events page.
A really nicely done video which features one of my first childhood woodworking projects, some scary stories about what you may find cutting into a fresh log, and lots of other heart warming hoke about working with wood.
This tide indicator exhibit is designed by my old pal and longtime Exploratorium collaborator, Jesse Marsh. I went up to San Francisco to help prototype these with Jesse in February. I cut a lot of King Starboard (marine plastic) on the CNC machine, and then bolted all the parts together and slipped over the pilings. Then me, Matty and J banged out thirteen more and installed them in the Bay just in time for the opening of the new museum.
This composting demonstration shed was designed & built for the new Exploratorium site. When closed it stores composting & instructional supplies, and when opened it expands into a pop-up demonstration kiosk for public composting workshops.
This is how it will look installed against the exterior of the museum at the new Exploratorium site when it is not in use.
The inside of the shed is outfitted with a counter top work surface, a white board for instruction, a pegboard for tools and shelves for worm bins and soil. Two saw horses for the pop-up demonstration table are stored flat.
The sawhorses unfold to create the base for the demonstration table.
Both barn doors easily lift off their hinges…
…creating the demonstration table surface
This simple set up will accommodate a couple of instructors, thousands of worms, and a large crowd of eager visitors ready to donate their lunch scraps to the collective experiment.
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I had the honor of collaborating with my best friend JD Sassaman on this project. In our late teens and 20s, we worked together on a wide range of semi-awful building jobs and unsuccessful business ventures. So it was a great relief to come together again in our more confident & competent mid-30s to design and build this project.
Woodworking can be a solitary and pensive craft, so I love the occasional opportunity for collaboration–particularly on projects like this which allow for looseness and creative spontaneity. This rough build project was especially fun for J and I–both of us coming from a refined fine furniture background, and J having recently graduated from a grueling and perfection-oriented 4 year architecture program.
While most people associate the hammer and the nail with my profession–this was the first project in a long time that I have been able to employ this basic fastening technique! It felt pretty good.
Meanwhile, J did all of the lap joinery using a traditional timber frame method–using a skill saw to cut the edges of the joint and to remove some of the inside material. She then came back with a large framing chisel to clean it up. After using tiny precise tools for years, this method was fast and particularly satisfying for both of us.
And nothing is quite as enjoyable as driving in the pegs to finally pin your joint.
Covering over 128 square feet of wall space throughout two adjoining rooms, these shelf units were designed to house an impressive home library. The varied grid offers plenty of custom nooks for objects, plants, and books of all sizes. Built for the nomadic intellectual, these shelves easily break down into six separate units.
Walnut plywood with solid black walnut nosing.
Lee, 2012
18′L x 7′H x 12″D
Reclaimed redwood, douglas fir, and cedar cabinetry. Marine-ply and aluminum carcass. Tricycle chassis made by Nijland.
This cargo trike is designed to house both a mobile exhibit collection and a kiosk for Exploratorium membership staff. The trike cabinetry tucks away for compact travel. Once parked, the surface expands to create the membership desk and the main box opens out into a seemingly endless cabinet of scientific curiosities.
Co-designed by Lee and Jesse Marsh for the Exploratorium
Woodwork by Lee, 2011
Bookmatched California claro walnut dining table with black walnut benches.
Hand rubbed oil finish
Lee, 2010
106”x40”x30”
This island separates the living room from the kitchen–providing storage for both rooms. The maple counter-top serves as a chopping surface and has a flip-up extension for casual dining use.
Reclaimed old-growth douglas fir trim, vertical grain douglas fir plywood carcass and panels, western maple countertop.
Design by Lee
Built by Lee & Michele Diener, 2012
60″x35″x16″
