design history – PLAZM

Art Chantry’s Heretical Design History

Joshua Berger — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 05:58:23 +0000

Art Chantry has a new book out and he speaks at Powell’s Tuesday at 7:30 pm

Art has shaped much of contemporary design with his hands-on, low-fidelity techniques and his unapologetic, poignant ideas. He is a design icon.

We’ve been fortunate enough to collaborate with Art over the years in the pages of Plazm magazine and in two books we have authored. Below is the first fax he sent me when working on the cover for issue #15 (1997).

There are a few silkscreen posters of that cover still available. Purchase at BuyOlympia if your interested.

The last time Art was here in Portland for an event was in 2007. Plazm put it together with PNCA. We designed the poster and companion matchbooks below. I remember a conversation over dinner before his presentation and Art talking in detail about design history. Not the kind you might have read about in history books, but a kind that exists in both ubiquity and obscurity. Since then I have followed along as he began posting on Facebook, sharing a similar conversation with the world—a personal view of history, shaped by being present and participating.

Anyone interested in the design history you couldn’t read about in books—until now—should check this out. Powell’s Tuesday at 7:30 pm

22 years of Plazm / 10,000x edit

Joshua Berger — Sat, 14 Dec 2013 05:02:22 +0000

This version takes about two minutes to watch. If you’d like to enjoy the full-length version, please visit the post prior to this. That one takes about two hours to watch. I guess it’s like a Hollywood movie preview. It shows you the whole movie in about two minutes.

Plazm 1991–2013 with an E*Rock Soundtrack

Joshua Berger — Thu, 12 Dec 2013 03:30:25 +0000

A few months ago Alfredo asked me if I could fill the lobby of the Liquid Agency offices in Portland with a history of Plazm. Some of you may have stopped in during the Design Week Portland open house and got to see the exhibit along with a bunch of other Liquid work. We plan to have a public event around the Plazm exhibit in January.

One of the things we created for this show was this video. Katelyn, my intern over the summer, turned every page of every issue of Plazm magazine. E*Rock made a very cool score for the video. It’s on display in the lobby and visible from the street as well. Now you can view it from the comfort of wherever you are comfortable. It’s odd how time compresses. I don’t know what the math is, but in real time it took 22 years to make this work. You can watch it in about two hours.

Thanks to Liquid Agency for making all this happen!