Journal Postings: Nathan Moren
| (08/09/09): New York ICFF |  I went to the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in May. This fair was not as inspiring as the one in Milan but don’t get me wrong it was most definitely worth it. Since it was more local designers it made it much easier to communicate and make contacts that I could more likely use some day. Surprisingly there was a lot of furniture there that I did not see in Milan. So all and all it was great and I got some new contacts and design ideas.
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| (08/08/09): Milan furniture fair |  I recently went to the Milan furniture fair with my fiancé Erin and my close friend Brian. It was quite the adventure. Erin and I stayed at a place called hotel Victoria. This place was one of the last places available in the city when I started to make plans to go to Milan. It was great except it was about an hour train ride to get into the city. So finding this place for the first time was a little interesting with the language barrier and all. The next day we made the trek into the city and went to the fair. At first it was overwhelming. The fair consisted of 10 convention size show rooms. The spaces showed things from classic furniture to contemporary design also there was a lot of lighting design. Once we got in and started wandering around it was very inspiring. It put us instantly in the frame of mind to start thinking of new ideas and designs. We went to the show for four full days and we where only able to skim 7 of the 10 show rooms. There was no time for in depth stopping, there was so much to see we had to move on to the next inspiring thing. It was amazing to see the booths that some of the big wig companies had at the show. Not only did they have amazing work but some of their booths where multiple levels and numerous areas. There was even some that made there space into a tour where you had to walk thru numerous rooms and once you started you couldn’t go back you had to go thru the entire booth. The show was amazing and definitely worth attending. |
| (08/08/09): Milan furniture fair |  more photos at the fair. |
| (08/08/09): Milan furniture fair |  more photos at the fair. |
| (08/08/09): Milan furniture fair |  more photos at the fair. |
| (08/08/09): Florence |  Since we where in Europe Erin and I decided to stay an extra week and see if we could fined some more inspiration in other countries. Once the fair was over we hopped on a train to Florence and met up with my brother. He was recently studding in Ireland and was doing some traveling after his studies. My brother Ben had a friend there that was a foreign exchange student at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design a few semesters ago. This is the school that I also went to. Ben’s friend Marcos brought us home for a homed cooked Italian meal and we drank wine and had olive oil from the vineyards in his back yard. It was all so amazing. We also witnessed some of the most over the top sunsets I have ever seen. And to top Florence off we went to see the big David sculpture.
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| (08/08/09): Florence |  The most amazing sun set. |
| (08/08/09): Nice |  Erin and I then went to Nice and got some relaxing days in at the beach. We also did some city seeing; we hiked up to a castle at the top of the city, where there were wonderful views.
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| (08/08/09): Nice |  Enjoying the beach. |
| (08/08/09): Barcelona |  Our last stop was Barcelona, Spain. This city was the second most inspirational after Milan. The Gaudi architecture was the most amazing things to see. It was everywhere that you looked. The buildings are so different from other architecture. They are so over the top with unique, organic shapes and colors. We went into the La Sagarada Familia church and up to the top of one of the spires. You could see so much of the city from there. We also ended up meeting up with Brian again and he wanted to go on a bike ride. So we rented bikes and decided that we wanted to bike to park Guell, a park that Gaudi designed. The only problem with this idea was the park ended up being on one of the highest points in the city. So needless to say it made for a long and hard bike ride to the top of the big, big hill. We ended the last day with a visit to the 92’ Olympic game grounds. And a hike up to another of the highest points in the city to see an old castle.
It was a once in a lifetime trip where I got more inspiration than I know what to do. I will put it all in reserve for my future work.
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| (08/08/09): Barcelona |  Park Guell |
| (08/08/09): Barcelona |  Right after the long bike ride. |
| (08/08/09): Barcelona |  A view of the city. |
| (04/09/09): Furniture in China |  I traveled around in Hong Kong and China for 13 days. I had the liberty of visiting many furniture and lighting manufacturing facilities while in China and got some amazing contacts with places that make furniture and lights for big name American companies. I was surprised with the quality of the working environments at the factories that we visited. There was a lot of high tech equipment and tons of space. |
| (04/09/09): Furniture in China |  A photo of me in one of the factories. |
| (04/09/09): Project Willow |  On December 28, 2008, I installed a sculpture that I have been working on with two other artists for the past three years, in XinHui, China. We have just been given the go ahead to share our story, so please follow the link to our project website that has many process photos and videos and descriptions of the piece. (projectwillow.com) |
| (04/09/09): Project Willow |  A detail shot. For more photos go to projectwillow.com |
| (03/04/09): Tools | | I started buying tools that will begin to furnish my shop. Black Friday was good to me and my Amazon.com shopping spree. I got a Bosch jig saw, Makita circular saw, Makita belt sander, Makita impact drill combo set, machine squares, a 30 piece Bessey clamp kit, Jorgensen clamps and C-clamps. I can't wait to put these tools to very good use. |
| (03/04/09): Tools |  I started buying tools that will begin to furnish my shop. Black Friday was good to me and my Amazon.com shopping spree. I got a Bosch jig saw, Makita circular saw, Makita belt sander, Makita impact drill combo set, machine squares, a 30 piece Bessey clamp kit, Jorgensen clamps and C-clamps. I can't wait to put these tools to very good use. |
| (11/30/08): SOFA Chicago |  November 7-9 I went to Chicago to see the SOFA (Sculpture Objects and Functional Art) exhibition as well as to visit furniture galleries in downtown Chicago. I have been to SOFA before, but wanted to visit again to take in the new work and appreciate the craftsmanship on a new level. I enjoyed being in Chicago, not as a student, but as an artist. I visited a few furniture galleries that acted as great inspiration for me to start working on new pieces. |
| (11/30/08): SOFA Chicago |  At the exhibition on Navy Pier. |
| (10/09/08): WWW |  Since June I have been working at Willie Willette Works. It is a custom furniture design shop in Minneapolis. I did my internship there during my Junior year at MCAD. Working has kept me busy building and learning new techniques. We work mostly with wood at WWW, so I’ve been gaining skills in that area. Here is a link to the website and this is a picture of the shop I get to work in everyday!
http://www.williewilletteworks.com/ |
| (10/09/08): My web site |  If you want to see more of my work go to
www.natemoren.com |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  July 20-Aug 5 I took a class at Penland School of Craft in Penland, North Carolina. The class was called “Unlocking the Potential of Cork.” I had a wonderful time, met a lot of new and interesting people and gained many new skills. It was great to be out in the woods exploring the potential of a new material and having all the time I needed to create what I wanted. Cork is a great new multipurpose material that I would have never thought to use in the way that my instructor Dan Michalik showed us.
Please see my attached pictures of the shop and other facilities at Penland and some of the sample pieces that I worked on when I first got there.
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| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  This was an amazing light sculpture in Michigan air port. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  this is some of the supply of cork that we have (this is the block form) |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  This is what cork looks like after it comes off the tree. (its bark) |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  This is some of my tests. we were just playing with the material. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  This is the work area in the amazing shop. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  This is one of two power tool areas. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  This is my space I get the hole bench to my self, and the shelf behind it. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  I had fun on the lathe and made my self a cup out of cork. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  This is How to cast cork, first build a box. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  line it with tape so the cork won’t stick |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  Get the mold ready |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  Mix the ground up cork with watered down wood glue. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  Pour into your mold. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  Press the top on. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  Place in the press. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  Start turning |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  Compress the cork to 40% of the mold and let it dry for 12 hours. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  Pull it out of the press. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  Unscrew the mold |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  Pull out your cork and let it dry some more with air. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  Start to lay out what your chair in going to look like. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft | | After a lot of experimenting with this new material I worked extensively on 2 big projects. I really wanted to explore my own techniques of working with the material and created a stool and a chair. Please see the pictures below. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  The stool is made from one block of cork with slits that are cut from the top and the bottom. The slits were stretched open with cork wedges. |
| (08/20/08): Penland School of Craft |  This chair is made from 4 cast pieces of cork that were attached together with structural wood pieces layered between them. |
| (07/08/08): Furniture Society Conference: State of the Craft, New York |  I recently got back from the Furniture Society Conference. It was held at Purchase College in Purchase, New York from June 18-21. The conference consisted of many workshops, demonstrations, lectures, viewing of work and plenty of time to network and meet new people in the furniture field.
I was lucky enough to attend a demonstration by Daniel Michalik, who happens to be the instructor for the cork class that I am taking at Penland in a few weeks.
I also attended a great demo about automotive finishing techniques for furniture.
Another interesting person that I met was Park. He was a Windgate recipient last year. It was fun to talk to him about his proposal and how his plans worked out.
The whole conference was really great because I got to see the Multiplicity show, Seating of New York show, work by students at Purchase College and work in the Members Gallery show. It was inspiring to see a wide variety of work and to actually meet the artists and craftsmen, hear their stories and share my own. |
| (06/06/08): Grauation Minneapolis College of Art and Design 5/10/08 |  I graduated from the Minneaplis College of Art and Deign May, 10, 2008. I am excited to start my future plans. The Windgate Fellowship is an exciting opportunity for me to expand my studies and craft. I have been busy making flight arrangements and planning lodging for my first 2 events this summer. June will be The Furniture Society conference in New York City called "State of the Craft". The second event is studying at the Penland School of Crafts in July. I will take a course called "Unleashing the Potential of Cork". I am greatful for these opportunities. |
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