Custom space divider
A unique design solution featuring wood panels, 3-Form & Simpson brackets.
salon reception area
Salon Shanti, afull service salon in Fountain Valley, CA. Designed from a warm shell in 2004.
residential kitchen
hickory, limestone & glass are featured in this cottage inspired kitchen. 2009.
exterior features
exterior design/elevations and color selection in a historic downtown area, Garden Grove, CA
design concept
and sometimes good ideas never come to life - reception area design & drawings - 2008.
corporate office kitchen
corporate office kitchen featuring a full compliment of appliances, cork flooring, recycled glass wall tile and a large island for impromptu & scheduled gatherings.
Design Teacher
photo credit: Vinnie Y Photography
A few years back someone said to me: “you’re either a teacher or a designer” when I mentioned that I was BOTH. Sometimes comments like this are just plain ridiculous. At the time, I was both. A full time Interior Designer/Associate with a reputable Architecture & Design firm and teaching part time at Orange Coast College, so I’m not quite sure why this person couldn’t comprehend that. It’s not that it matters all that much what people think, but fast forward about 6 years and I’m teaching full time and indirectly involved in a design project with this individual. Sometimes, I enjoy irony. This time especially.
I happen to wear a lot of hats and always have in my work life. I’m qualified in every which way to design and teach and I also happen to enjoy crafting. In many circles, these do not blend well. People have strong opinions on what constitutes a ‘professional’ and the perceptions are defined through your activities. I kept my work life and personal life very separate for a number of years so as to be taken more seriously when it comes to work. I struggled with wanting to talk/blog about projects, codes, design qualification and design politics and work in my love of crafting, cooking, jewelry making and domestic type activities. I’ve come to realize that all of those things are who I am. I accept it and if certain others don’t, I can’t care. I choose to enjoy what I do, be it work, teaching (which is also work), developing new curriculum, crafting, jewelry design, amateur guitar playing, cooking, and various Mom activities. I love them all and I’m fortunate to do what I love and be able to change hats, switch gears and just enjoy what I’m doing.
People sometimes ask if I “miss design”. At times, yes I miss being fully engrossed into a project and in space planning/problem solving mode. In reality, I am engrossed in design on a daily basis. I have the opportunity to teach wonderful, talented, eager students and have design discussions often. I also have the problem solving challenge on how to improve my teaching practice so that I’m more effective; help that student that might be struggling with a certain concept and keep the curriculum fresh and current so we all enjoy the learning process together. What I don’t miss are billable hours, unreasonable co-workers/clients, 12 hour work days and losing sleep because someone might be upset over an ice-maker fitting properly onto the counter top. I’m happy to give all that madness up and focus on what is important to me, what makes me happy and where I believe I can make a difference in the world of design.
Inspiration
Need some color inspiration? Or do you just love to explore color palettes? This is the resource for you! I’ve recently discovered and instantly fell in love with Design Seeds.
I can think of so many ways to use this site and I’m currently thinking of how I can introduce it to my students and build projects around this concept. Explore it, check it out and be inspired!
The Design Process
Blending my love for design and learning are truly what I enjoy most about being a teacher. In the Spring 2011 semester, me and my students were given an incredible opportunity to work with a local Archtxture & Design firm on a very real project for Architxture, a new Steelcase Dealership. The concept of working on a real project, with a real client provided that missing link in the typical classroom of working through and refining a project, the true design process.
This video highlights the students working with Architxture and Studio SA, the A&D firm that brought the project to life and parterned with the students to create an amazing learning opportunity.
Perhaps even more exciting is that the project is built, the client has moved in and I’m working with them on some finishing touches, artwork and graphics to gear up for their Grand opening.
Coming soon…Part 2 video!
Love the music: Buy it on itunes. Tiana Star
Food I love – Part 1
I‘ve been taking a lot of photos of food lately. Maybe I’ve been cooking more with the holidays ,parties, etc. or maybe I just like playing with the camera and food is a nice, non-moving subject that I can practice on. Either way, I’ve made some delicious eats, so I thought I’d share. Mostly, I choose to cook healthy, easy to concoct recipes and occasionally, the not so healthy dessert treats find their way into my kitchen.
For Christmas Eve, we hosted my siblings and their families. So what do 6 kids under 10 and their parents want to eat? (besides candy). We opted for a Mexican themed meal. The kids mostly ate taquitos, quesadillas and hit the veggie tray. For the adults, I made some healthy ground turkey enchiladas and my sister and her hubby contributed delicious Chipotle style rice and beans. The turkey enchiladas are simple to make, healthy and good any time of year. The recipe came from a CD cookbook that came with the first computer I bought in 1995. I’ve edited a bit, and it’s delicious. It freezes well too, so you can make an extra batch for later. (see recipe below post)
For New Years Eve, I ordered both Japanese and Thai take out and we gobbled it up! On New Years Day, I decided to make a cheesecake since it’s my hubby’s favorite so I searched online for a great recipe. Found this one at Food 52 and it was amazing!! The raspberry curd and lemony flavors along with a cup of coffee were amazing beyond words. Try it, you’ll love it!
Lastly, for a friends party recently I was tasked with cupcakes and assisted with the food prep for the rest of the menu. I rocked the cupcakes and champagne punch and sort of lost my way with the fondue. So, fondue, not my thing. I can’t control an open flame. I’m much better at something that remains constant. The cupcakes were a simple box mix with some homemade touches. The inside-out Twinkie cupcakes were BC’s French Vanilla mix with a homemade cream filling and gold sugar on top. The retro-cupcakes were the BC Chocolate mix and I used my new handy dandy cupcake core remover thing to insert some of that homemade cream filling. Topping was the Duncan Hines Amazing Glazes, chocolate glaze. I love this stuff! Not a fan of frosting per se, this give just the right amount of sweet topping to the cake. The pink cupcake swirl was simply powdered sugar and milk piped from a plastic bag corner. Easy and delish!
Turkey Enchiladas:
12-15 6″ corn tortillas
1 lb. ground turkey
1/2 cup chopped onion (I buy the frozen ones when in a hurry)
1/2 cup green pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp flour
8oz carton of plain, low fat yogurt
1 14 1/2oz can tomatoes (crushed works best)
4oz can diced green chili peppers, drained
1 tsp ground corriander
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 cup (or more) shredded Montery Jack cheese
Wrap tortillas in foil. Warm in 350 oven for 10 minutes
Spray large skillet with nonstick spray coating. For filling, add turkey, onion, green pepper and garlic. Cook over med. heat until turkey is no longer pink and veggies are tender. Remove from heat.
Meanwhile, in a bowl, stir together flour, yogurt and pinch of salt. Stir yogurt mixture into turkey mixture.
Divide the filling among tortillas. Roll up tortillas and place seam side down in a 13x9x2 inch baking dish.
For sauce, mix tomatoes, green chilies, coriander, oregano. Pour over rolled up tortillas and sprinkle cheese on top.
Bake covered in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until heated through.
Enjoy!
Photoshop & SketchUp – a bit about both
This summer I had the opportunity to attend a few presentations put together for IIDA – OC Chapter. It was the 2nd and 3rd Installment of their ‘Survival Tools’ series and featured Photoshop & SketchUp. These are great tools and two of the major pieces of software that I introduce my students to in the Digital Visualization class.
In the Photoshop (with a little bit of SketchUP featured) presentation, we were led by Chana Messer – Adobe Certified Expert. She describe the basics of the Photoshop program and an overview of the tool palettes. She also talked about the next installment of the program, 5.5 and noted it will have a better interface between the iPad. Expect PS CS6 by next Spring.
She gave some very good tips for working with Photoshop such as:
Work in a non-destructive way – Always preserve the original image
Utilize Bridge – it works similar to and allows you to create favorites, collections and keep your work organized.
Bridge also allows you to place and object from bridge into the program as a smart object
Layers and masking are most critical tools
Content aware – very cool and it’s not always perfect but is super time saving when it workse The trick seems to be making larger vs. tighter selections.
Smart objects and push pins allows you to move the object without changing the original. The push pins work in the ‘pupper warp’ command too and is really fun to play with and alter images.
Panorama photomerge creates masks that conceal the seams and somewhat seamlessly puts your photos together.
After Chana’s presentation a few of the OC A&D firms shared their projects and the ways that they integrated Photoshop into their work. A few things that I found interesting and worth integrating into my teaching are:
Using the mask feature to when coloring areas that are subject to change such as flooring. It will save time rather than re-selecting and seems a little more flexible rather than just creating a new layer and changing color/finish. Also, one of the projects shared had used SketchUP for the drawing and Photoshop for the color. They did an interesting layering technique using different Sketchup styles which I thought was interesting and will definitely try.
The second presentation featured Aidan Chopra of Google and author of SketchUp for Dummies. He was very cool, so personable and down to earth and really did a great job of connecting with us, the audience as he began his presentation.
Some of the basics he covered:
Color is direction – referring to the axes
‘Chimps’ use the buttons in sketchup…. Use the shortcuts (guess that makes me a chimp) but shortcuts don’t exist for all commands so either you need the buttons or you need to program your own shortcuts.
Push/pull tool –This is Sketchup’s big idea and the have a patent on this tool.
Here are the Top 5 things you need to know according to Aiden and I concur:
Moving things around: Keeping objects on axis and specifying the destination point. Copy and move use the same tool. Space object a particular distance apart and type #/qty to equal spaced objects. Use shift to lock inferences.
Scenes: setting up different scenes, position camera, eye height, look around. Important to change properties to save within a scene so you can change from sketch mode to color, etc. You can skip scenes in you animation by selecting that option.
Styles: can edit the way styles look with profiles edges and option
Groups & components: if you don’t want soothing to stick to something else, make it a group. Components are just fancy groups. If you name a component, all others with the same name will be updated.
Field of view & 2 point point perspective: Use the zoom tool. You want to change the field of view to 60 degrees for interior shots/scenes. Camera: 2 point perspective will take the 3d distortion out of you scene.
Words of wisdom:
If you show a client a rigid computer model, they feel like it’s finished. And when you show them a hand sketch, there is a much different response where they feel like it’s up for discussion. I tell kids this all the time. Maybe they will believe me if they hear it from someone else.
Succulents and the fair…
My love of plants began a little too late. When I was young, my grandparents were award winning plant growers: Bromeliads, orchids, etc. They would win ribbons at the fairs and I absolutely loathed going to the fair to look at plants. Well, times have changed…Fast forward 25 years, I love going to the fair, even by myself to look at the amazing plants, crafts, etc. Here are a few of the treasures that I found at the OC Fair and mid-state fair this past summer:
My favorite of the jewelry art was this found beach glass…would give the artist credit if I remembered their name – very beautiful! OC Fair 2011
Mid-State Fair 2011
Mid-State Fair 2011
As my love for plants, drought tolerant landscape solutions and outdoor living spaces evolves, I fondly think back to my childhood and wish I could have learned more. All that said, I have the present and the future. I am working mostly with succulents right now…basically because I’ve always loved them and they are the only type of plant that won’t die no matter how much I neglect them. They also seem to be super trendy right now.
My latest project is inspired by my students from Spring 2011. They wanted to incorporate a living garden into a project that they had the opportunity to work on. I had seen a feature in Sunset Magazines May 2010 issue and fell in love! Built from recycled palettes, succulent clippings from my own plants and $150 worth of purchased plants, these boxes are looking truly beautiful. They are intended to find their future home in an Orange County furniture showroom, but if they don’t, I have my own plans for them to live in my backyard. Either way they are naturally gorgeous!
My Backyard 2011
A Summer Tea Party
Photography is something that I’ve always enjoyed. In college, I had a great time shooting with film on a Nikon FG-20 with a fixed 50mm lens. I took that camera with me to New York, England and Holland and have some great memories from the 90’s that I probably need to scan into digital format before they are lost forever. Somewhere in the early part of this century, digital cameras took over my world…and not the good kind. I have years of point & shoot pics of family, friends and trips and it was not until I had my daughter that I finally got my hands on a nice digital SLR. Canon EOS Rebel T2i. I don’t claim to be a ‘photographer’, I fancy myself more a ‘momtographer’ and hobbyist. It’s been really fun re-learning and practicing. I’ve taken a few workshops locally, thanks to Groupon and if anyone is looking for one, I really liked the Capturing True Emotion workshop (though I would not have liked it as much if I paid the full retail price for it). So I’m having fun, learning and I think I’m getting good again. I was honored recently to take some engagement photos for a dear friend’s daughter and fiancé. They were a happy, gorgeous couple with some creative ideas and I think the pics turned out nice! Have a look and Congrats E & S! Wishing you all the blessings of a lifetime together.
Day One – Dwell on Design
I had a late start due to an appointment this morning, but a quick 45 min drive to the LA convention center. Upon arrival I spotted a $5 Parking lot which is great if I promised to leave by 6pm.
Walking downtown through LA Live, I was immediately distracted by the Grammy Museum. So I have a place to go if I get bored…Now that I’m inside, there is probably no chance of that. There is so much to see.
It’s noon, I’m hungry but decide to exist on of a free organic toddler cereal bar and sample of juice.
I’ve stumbled (purposefully) into the Design Innovation Stage and have just listened to an insightful young community artist as I wait for the next speaker to talk about “how to pitch the media”
Two of the editors from Dwell speak about pitching to Dwell.
They are well-spoken and engaging. Here is their advice:
Email, don’t call
Send As many visuals as possible
Make info easy to access in terms of format
Editors meet and share submissions, don’t submit the same project to various editors
Be patient
Long lead time, They work 6 months in advance
Tell them:
Why does your project matter?
Why is it modern?
Why do the readers knees to know about it?
Avoid just sending links
Hi -res artwork is best
Shorter lead time for online publication
Coverage online is as big a deal as print coverage
Multimedia opportunities
Ok to pitch ideas that go beyond the word
Target the editors and tell them something relevant about why you want to be in dwell
Who is your audience? Why do they need to know your story?
The dwell community cares about methodology and the process.
Pitch often, get rejected often. Learn to have a thick skin.
After that, I hit the show floor and have a look around…I’ll review my favorites in the next post.
A $9 salad and a vent iced-coffee later, I find myself back on the design innovation stage to catch the end of Craig Steeley’s presentation. He seems very interesting and worth checking out his work and philosophy. And I always appreciate someone who can sketch and shares their process:
I decide to sit through the next speaker waiting for the last 2 I want to see. This next presentation is definitely not my favorite. She is showcasing bathrooms from around the world. Pretty pictures, a bit of bathing history and culture but too scripted and not once did she crack a smile or engage with the audience.
Up next: Mike Tadros
Excited to see him doing a live demo of Product Connect. I follow his blog and YouTube videos and anyone who takes my digi-viz class will become familiar with him.
Product connect can be downloaded for free (with SketchUp) and used in the 3d warehouse. Miele, Oceanside glass and thermador each have featured collections with others already online and more in the works.
I end my day at DOD on the Design Innovation stage enjoying the “unseen Eames” films.
After this inspiring day, I head to the other end of town to meet up with a friend and eat some bratwurst. Check it out.
The surroundings are so interesting too, so a few photos playing with the camera of the Downtown LA scenery and my obsession with pallets continues.
Summer priorities
Summer is always a perfect time to re-group, catch up and get my personal priorities back in order. I’m lucky. I’ve worked very hard, but I still consider myself lucky because I know a lot of people who also work very hard. Since teaching is my full time gig these days, I’m fortunate to have the summer off, so to speak. I have no ‘teaching assignments’, but the work-a-holic in me really never stops working. I am supervising several interns this summer, reviewing and refining my Fall class assignments, taking 3-4 classes and workshops myself, spending lots of time with my beautiful daughter and family and reflecting on the things that are really important to me.
I love my job. I love design and one of the greatest things about what I do is seeing the passion and motivation in my students. Again, I’m lucky. There are many other things that I love to do too. I love to design jewelry. Admittedly, this has been very low on my priority list for the last 2.5 years. ( I have a 2.5 year old…you see how this happens?) The other day while she was napping, I got to spend time with one of my nieces making some earrings and it was so much fun! Now, I’m motivated to create!
So on to my personal summer goals:
Get this website done! I’ve been messing around with it for a few years and it’s time for it to be done. I want it to have my information, current projects, and blogs featuring my own work, thoughts and other talented inspiring people, my current jewelry collection and resources for students & others. Maybe a large task, but I’m going to give myself until July 16 to complete it. If it’s not done…I need to hire a graphic designer, but I know I can do this!
Back up my computer/photo files
Work on my digital scrapbooking
Create (2) new ‘for fun’ classes: Digital scrapbooking & beginning jewelry making.
Household goals:
Install the recycle/trash bin
Design my closet
Paint the office and consider putting a bed in there for guests
The backyard! Design and get started on a more drought tolerant setting and room to play.
Work goals:
OCCinteriordesign – blog design
OCCinteriordesign website
Work with interns on art/design/landscape projects: keyboards, video, planter boxes
Get ready for Fall with fresh assignments and learning opportunities for the next classes of great students!
I feel better already, just writing it down!
Re-Purpose
It doesn’t take much to do something to help others; it all starts with a good idea!
The idea came from Leslie Bradley to use the scrap fabric that was left over from the IIDA OC Fashion Show to make some nice tote bags for the kids at Olive Crest. After hearing the story of a little girl in foster care arriving at her foster home with her belongings in a pillow case, it touched the heart strings of all who participated in making this happen. Charlene Reed, an Interior Design instructor at Orange Coast College & IIDA member wanted to make this happen. With the generosity of Christina Amaral, the Program Coordinator of the Fashion program who lent her sewing studio and the many student volunteers who came to cut, coordinate and sew, the result was 20 beautiful bags to donate to Olive Crest.
The project started and continued very organically. We decided to do it, a date was chosen, a pattern was created and we asked for volunteers. Students, Professional Designers and Industry representatives showed up and everyone found something to do weather it was coordinating fabrics, cutting patterns, ironing or sewing. The entire project took about 15 hours of production time over a 2 week period with a few hours for planning and the final delivery of the bags still to occur. Everyone has given very positive feedback about the project. One of the sewing instructors thought it might be a great idea to integrate into the curriculum for her class. With the popularity of the Fashion Show spreading to various IIDA chapters, there will be a lot of leftover fabric out there – you too can re-purpose it and make a difference to a child in need.
