County Seat Supplies: July 2013

Thursday, July 25, 2013

peter baldwin arts - brooks, maine

I feel very lucky to be partnering with Peter Baldwin for the installation of this weekend's pop-up shop in Belfast. Based in Brooks, Maine, Peter is a woodworker who produces beautifully-crafted orchard ladders. For my purposes, setting up shop in a space where the walls are to remain untouched and with the benefit of very high ceilings - these freestanding sturdy ladders are the perfect solution to pop-up fixtures. A variety of Peter's offerings - straight, pointed and tripods - will be seen. Sourced from across Maine, the wood used is bigtooth aspen for the side rails which contrasts nicely with ash for the rungs.

Peter has lived in Maine since 1971. When considering a potential product made of wood, he turned to his home state of New York where he grew up in an orchard and spent his childhood playing on tree ladders. His first year was 1984 and he built fifty ladders; the following year, one hundred. Currently he averages 1000-1200 ladders a year. His work is widely distributed and his largest markets are back in New York and in Michigan.

Everyone to whom I've mentioned Peter knows and highly regards him. I'm still new to the area, but I gather Baldwin Arts is an institution in these parts. His generosity extended to allowing me to grab offcuts from the shop to route into hanging rods and plane into shelving. (Another byproduct will go to a friend's sawdust toilet.) The result is a flexible modular system that is high functioning and visually interesting. One more reason to visit the shop!

Pre-inventory:

Monday, July 22, 2013

belfast pop-up shop

Join County Seat Supplies for a two day pop-up shop this weekend in Belfast, Maine. As usual, expect a collection that is equal parts mens and womens, classic, wearable, one-of-a-kind secondhand clothing and accessories.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

built on squares

Kaftan, tunic, serape... I like the simplicity of the construction of these garments - based on single squares and rectangles - and the resulting fit. Two contemporary artists/designers inspired by these restrained patterns come to mind.

Mexico City-based designer Carla Fernandez gains inspiration from the indigenous clothing of her country. Geometric patterns demonstrate an economy of materials as the dimensions are based on those of the backstrap loom on which the cloth is woven, and folding rather than cutting is used to manipulate cloth. Fernandez works directly with artisans through her fashion line and mobile laboratory, Taller Flores, to design and produce clothes that combine traditional and modern processes.

According to fashion writer, Sass Brown, by "having a pedagogy for artisans to communicate through design, Fernandez's philosophy is that tradition is not static and fashion is not ephemeral." In her book, Taller Flora (download here), she describes how a fresh approach to indigenous clothes resulted from her studies in art history that included avant garde movements like Russian Constructivism that merged with design.

The geometry of Constructivist uniforms are also what influenced pioneering artist, Andrea Zittel. Along with every other mode of living - homes, furniture, vehicles, food - her clothing experiments adhere to strict guidelines for prolonged periods of time. Her Personal Panel and A-Z uniform series not only reference the utopian ideals of these movements, but also a method of assembly that rejects the cutting of fabric, altering it from its orginal form. In her Smockshop project, she works with artists to produce income by reinterpreting her single panel garment into something original, working by her principle that 'rules make us more creative.' She references the indigenous Huipil form as a basis for one iteration of the smock.