RYAN RIEGNER

Recently, through Zago I was given an amazing opportunity to work with the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conferance that ran earlier in December. The event was the largest international political conference held in Denmark, with 192 countries represented, and over 15,000 participants engaged in an open dialogue about the global climate crisis. The conference focused on the current misuse of global fossil fuels, with the goal to develop and implement an immediate course of action to redirect climate change. As a designer, I found it engaging to become part of the dialogue in relaying this message of urgency and hope for the future of our planet.

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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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In the beginning of the new year, myself and Alex Levin, a good friend and savy business partner will be opening a design studio in New York City. We’ve rightly named the company ALBINO RHINO by combining the first syllables of each of our first names, and the resulting logo is a reflection of the metaphor of our partnership. We’re currently in the process of turning this new identity into a corporate brand, and have been brainstorming promotions and organizing legal documentation before the launch in January. With that said, we’re both extremely excited and ready for a massive learning curve of experiencing first hand what it means to run and operate a design firm within New York City. I’m expecting a lot of hard lessons and long nights, but I am also looking forward to pushing my limits as a designer and businessman in terms of honesty and innovation within the wonderful sphere of graphic design. Here’s the guts of our identity system that we’ve been developing.

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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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Back in 1999, my father, Robert Riegner spent a solid year sentence in prison for multiple D.U.I. charges. Originally sentenced to 1-3 years at State Correctional Facility: Camp Hill, he was exposed to the harsh reality of the challenges of an inmate in the prison system. Throughout the process, he kept a daily journal of the account, describing his challenges with overcoming his addiction to alcohol. He explored the dangers and cunning needed for survival amidst dangerous convicts, and he exposed much of the corruption of the prison system. The journal was his way to maintain sanity and keep his goals in focus. Afterwords, he took the collected legal papers and created a manuscript over the next 8 years, which I have now put into a novel form.

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Write it, Buy it, Eat it, Enjoy it is a handy (possibly even tasty) book loaded with fifty blank grocery lists for every smart shopper. Album bound with twisty ties and hand transferred onto recycled paper. Pen not included.

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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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These are a couple of fun paper projects that I’ve been working on, “Explode” and “Erode,” I tried to use the possible dimension of paper to simulate action with typography. I custom made the typeface and used only Fabriano Tiziano 40% acid free pastel paper and white map tacks and of course Mr. Handy Exacto.

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Feast your eyes on the Eleflate, a larger than life, but yet lighter than air, full-grown inflatable elephant. First born as a mere plastic bag, this magnificently unique creature was first spotted in New York City in Greenwich Village this past May at the Parsons School of Design. Enjoy the power of plastic! Video filmed by Jacqui Molendyke.

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