I’m a huge fan of the amazing Google Sketchup for rendering 3D architectural models. My models informed the extensive renovation of a film composer’s Santa Monica home that included moving walls and windows to open up views, add privacy, and create optimal flow for entertaining. In another project, my models (built from 2-dimensional floorplans) guided a Studio City couple through their architects’ build while my finish concepts brought the owners’ and architects’ visions together.
Check out the finished project:
I was also fortunate enough to work with Environment, Sustainability, Public Policy and Design Consultant Susan Cloke to contribute 3D concepts to Santa Monica’s “Green Streets” pilot project. The effort is a redevelopment of the Ocean Park corridor (one of LA’s most picturesque roadways) to make room for storm water mitigation improvements and designated bike lanes.
Here’s a fun one. In collaboration with production designer Karin Hasse-Sehr, I designed a low-budget trade show booth created entirely from reclaimed and found materials such as in-flight cargo containers, thrift-store clothing, and a vintage console television. The booth, created for GOOD Magazine, was a roaring success and with that, others followed.
In my 20′s, when I was wildly ambitious and stupidly optimistic about how much I could accomplish in 24 hours, I started a catering company aimed squarely at the hundreds of other busy 20-somethings in the downtown core where I lived. I called it Summers’ Home, after my father and grandmother and I adored everything about it. It was a personal chef sort of deal before there was a moniker for that. Word spread. I couldn’t bake the damned signature cookies fast enough. Then I talked to a few successful restaurateurs I knew and considered a life in professional food service. Conclusion? I stuck to my day job in the new and exciting dot-com industry. Yeah. That’s what I did. If you’re interested, my old food blog is here. I add to it now and again. Mostly I spend my time enjoying the kitchen rather than writing about it.