RYAN RIEGNER

Today at my internship at Zago, we finally received the D’apostrophe portfolio book project from the printers with a lot of anticipation. The offset printed final copies had only marginal errors, which was not only exhilarating, but highly uncommon. This limited edition print run of 50 copies was completed for our client, Francis D’heane, a New York based Interior Designer originally from Belgium. It serves as the firm’s collective portfolio with projects ranging from apartments to offices and commercial stores. I find his work to be a marvelous fresh breath of color, material and composition. He has also has an expectational ability to integrate original artwork from artists such as Takashi Murakami and Matthew Barney into his conceptual layouts, accentuating them rather than overpowering them with MoMA friendly bells and whistles. Unfortunately, this book will only be available for client promotions, so low res, web safe jpg that I took today will have to do unless we can convince him to send it off to publishers.

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Some time ago I began a sketchbook in which I wanted to conduct a series of illustrative experiments, both conceptually and materially. It was a really fun experiment to engage on, and I found inspiration from many unexpected avenues. The main focus of the book was derived from ready-made materials and observations around me, and the sketchbook took on a very handmade, sporadic scrapbook type of feel by the time it was completed. It has probably been my most fun and freeing personal project to date. Please enjoy some of the selected spreads. Who knows what the next book will hold!

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Tasmania, the southern island appendage off the coast of Australia is one of the most beautiful places in the world, with a rich diversity of wildlife, and an even more breathtaking mix of landscapes. I recently took a trip around the island, in an 8 day adventure, in which myself and a couple friends covered 1616 km in a car, and 62 km by foot. The island is pretty small, roughly the same size of Ireland or West Virginia back in the States. But where it lacks in size, it makes up with diversity. On the course of one 6km hike, you could go from environments of Amazon-like subtropical rain forests, to planes of barren gum trees that mimic landscapes in Africa, to rolling green hills that resemble those in Scotland, to jagged cliff faces and rocky mountain summits that remind me of the Himalayas. With only a population density of only 500,000, most of which is compacted into two small cities, the country is mostly landscape with scattered winding roads that test the skills of any German driver.

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The WaterBlock Type Specimen book, my first designed font, is the prime example of the possibilities of even the simplest of printmaking and bookbinding processes. Created by watercolor mono printing onto Arches Rives BFK in a snake book format with Ochre hardback covers, I have decided upon the snake format to be the most useful for displaying a typeface, both as individual elemntal characters, and as a set.

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I arrived in Melbourne, Australia a couple days ago, and straight from the airport ATM, the first thing that caught my eye was the beauty of the Australian Dollar. I’ve been a kind of currency binge since my Philippines currency re-design, and compared to our horribly designed American currency, Australian money follows a well devised system from the coinage to the bills. Coins are arranged by color and size relative to their amount, providing easier access for internationals like myself, and the paper bills are coded by color and surprisingly size as well, making fumbling through a wallet to find the appropriate denomination easier than staring into a green abyss like in the states. Above this, the imagery on Australian currency is very elegant and beautiful. Next time you open your wallet or catch a stray on the street, take a look at the design of these paper bills, they are simply amazing.

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What would make a 4th of July more complete than an extremely large stockpile of illegal fireworks, placed in the hands of father and son? This is how we celebrated the Independence of our country, and by the way of the American Dream, the bigger the better! I took these pictures with my newish Nikon D40 and I’m overall pleased with how they came out, given my newbie camera cred. Happy 4th Everyone!

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Welcome to Carpet Art, Venango Pennsylvania. My father purchased this once majestic, three story roller mill, built in the 1800’s, and began a renovation of the building like no other. Appropriately dubbed Carpet Art, his carpet installation focused business takes up the entire 1st floor, and his home has been constructed, by him alone, on the 2nd. At some point I plan to take this signage and create a typeface for it. This building has truly been an inspiration for my work, as a showcase of my father’s greatest masterpiece. It has become one of the most unique forms of preserved but personalized architecture that I’ve ever seen. Frank Lloyd Wright would be so proud.

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Well I finally made it. I purchased a Nikon D40 yesterday through a really nice Iranian woman in Soho. The D40 has by far been my best buy on Craigslist to date, and I was overjoyed when she threw in an extra Nikkor 55-200mm VR zoom lens for free, on top of the standard 18-55mm. I’ll be using it mostly for my travels in Australia and at RMIT for the next several months. The Nikon D40 is a great transitional tool into the dslr family, as it provides many semi-pro features such as the 6-megapixel sensor from the D50 and the same processing engine from the d200.  I know It’s no D700, but it will do fine while I learn. Anybody who has any useful D40 tips I’m all ears. Now about those kids…

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Stumble Upon, one of the most useful websites to discover the hidden gems of the web, doesn’t do much for the user after introducing them to new and interesting content. I was messing around and came up with an additive solution that I’ve dubbed Explore, Where each tagged site can be expanded upon by the SU community. Each linked site has enabled discussion threads, related website links, customizable widgeted sidebars (for example showing items on Ebay or buying plane tickets to a destination), ichat options with the authors, and so on! This way, each site could not only have a jumping off point to easily gather more information on a Stumbled site, but it could also be a networked link to similar areas of interest in the SU world. I’m considering a sales pitch.

Yes that is my father, yes he’s hanging upside down, and yes that’s his real hair, or least it was. This was a photo shoot venture we did in Edinboro Pa with the purpose of showcasing his hair before it was chopped off and donated it all to Locks of Love. He had been growing or over 2 years! Prepare to be amazed at my genetic code. Thanks goes out to Lauren E. Kennedy for letting my use her D40!

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