Dead wood Redux

Bill Hilgendorf and company bring a whole new meaning to the phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle.”
By Christian Ghigliotty

Red Hook lies in ruins.

Even on days where the sun warms the mahogany bricks of the many hollowed, dusty factories along the waterfront, the neighborhood has the feel of a place long forgotten. Iron wrought fences bend back as if stepped on by giants. Human sized oil drums are scattered and labeled “hazardous liquid” in rushed handwriting, amongst warped deadwood that look like fossil remains. Despite the Red Hook Flea Market a few blocks away, it is noticeably empty on a Sunday afternoon. There is a quiet hum underneath the streets that can be heard, like something is brooding beneath. This is just one of Bill Hilgendorfʼs many Brooklyn playgrounds.

“I was so amazed at the stuff that people would throw out…full pieces of furniture, cutoffs of wood, material…you walk around on the streets on a trash day and youʼll never know what youʼll see.”

Bill is the cofounder (with business partner Jason Horvath) of Uhuru [pronounced oo-hoo-roo], a design and build furniture company dedicated to sustainability, repurposing materials such as riven deadwood to craft products with an emphasis on minimal, modern form. The word Uhuru is proudly emblazoned on the company’s insignia and is the Swahili word for freedom. It also happens to be the name of one of Bill’s favorite bands. As he talks he moves with a softness and fluidity that one does not expect from someone raised in Boston. The word “like” is prevalent in between flailing arms. Heʼs all knees and elbows. A short boxed beard sprouts from an affable face, a tidy shag cut skims above lightly colored eyebrows.

Video Interview

The two founded the company in 2004, and primarily collect scrap woods from local Brooklyn wood shops, leaving small bins to discard wood that’s not used in their production, which is then upcycled to create furniture that leaves the smallest environmental footprint possible without sacrificing quality, aesthetic, and durability. “…we like to show the simplicity of the material. So if itʼs wood, highlighting the figure of grain pattern, metal…can have a really great texture. Minimal forms with decorative graphics.”

Located in an old foundry in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Uhuruʼs has the feel of an old World War II manufacturing facility. Saws and welding tools moan as wood is cut to form. Weathered screw drivers and hammers hang from cork board, each one carrying memories of the furniture it helped create in the grooves of its handles and bits. Uhuruʼs insignia—a chair with wings spanned proudly flying underneath the word Uhuru, each of the letters like miniature pieces of Bill’s furniture—even seems to speak of another time, perhaps one better than this one. Each piece is built by hand and as a result no two pieces are the same, each sui generis in color, texture and grain. Their product line is replete with tables, beds and seating that echo their vision, however none greater than the Stoolen end table , one of Uhuruʼs original items that help push the company to its current standing. Using a vegetable based resin, dozens of smaller two inch pieces of wood are glued together into the top surface of a hollowed base, similar to that of a barrel. After sanding and multiple coats of finish, the end resembles a three dimensional puzzle that is inherently beautiful and deceptively stylish.

Billʼs passion for furniture design was rooted in scavenging for discarded electronics, bicycle parts, unwanted furniture that was left on curbs or in trash bins as a child, trying to Frankenstein whatever he could into something reusable. This obsession led to a degree as an adult from the Rhode Island School of Design studying industrial design. During his junior year Bill studied abroad for a semester in Stockholm , Sweden, where he started building furniture he was passionate about, using his hands and found materials to create pieces that arenʼt as Bill says “cheesy product design”.

The idea of sustainability transcends the Uhuru brand, as evidenced in the art installation Bill created with his girlfriend and artist Maria Cristina Rueda, titled “63 chairs.” Originally on Columbia Street in Brooklyn, the installation was a collection of sixty-three chairs from the Carroll Gardens, Park Slope and Fort Greene neighborhoods, piled high along an a twenty-two foot wall. From July to October of 2008, the chairs were collected the night before trash day and painted black. Oddly enough most of them are still usable. The chairs inherent forms are underscored by the shape of the installation and the rich blank paint used to coat them. The installation exists seemingly on its own, devoid of time or of place. The chairs all seem to be banding together as if to ward off extinction. “We collected these chairs as a commentary on the throwaway culture…a lot of these chairs are in perfectly good condition. People are into the idea of things being flashy, it doesnʼt have to last. Gone are the days that furniture is passed down from generation to generation.”

Five years after its inception Uhuru continues to seek out new materials and new ways to create without waste. In preparation for New York design week (May 8-19^th) Uhuru has launched three new innovative designs: the Stitch Coffee table, the Standard chair, and the Metal Stoolen , a beautiful metal version of the company’s signature piece.

And just like all of his other pieces, the past and future intertwine in Bill’s work.

Bill’s Photo Shoot

Endangered Species

2008 was the year of Chuckboy. Can 2009 be a repeat year for the Brooklyn based urban vinyl designer?
by Christian Ghigliotty

From the front window pane of myplasticheart , a collectors paradise in the Lower East Side, Charles Hui (aka Chuckboy) stands arms crossed, hunkering over the glass shelving that houses many of the designs that has influenced his own work. He is pensive, donning a blue zip-up hoodie from another collectible store you may have heard of, Kid Robot . Despite the success and acclaim he received in 2008 for his work, he really is still just a kid at heart, admiring the collectibles as if he were the proud owner of them all. “I think creating a toy starts with a really great idea and design, either in your head or on paper…coming up with something great, then cleaning it up and finalizing it…if it hits people in the way it looks and feels, that’s when it’s successful.”

Chuckboy’s work thus far has done just that. His highly successful three inch Reindeer Dunny took Santa’s little helper and turned him on his antlers, shoved a ball gag in his mouth, a harness around his torso and handed him a mean little bullwhip to so some damage with. The design helped inspire a Kid Robot produced claymation video , that showed this Dunny doesn’t take shit from anyone. “It was a surprise…I was in shock.” The toy was a hit both in the U.S and abroad, moving UK based company Crystled to bling out the Reindeer Dunny using sparkling Crystallized Swarovski Elements.

ChuckBoy Interview at My Plastic Heart toy shop

His love for biotechnology and model building come to form in his interpretation of the daruma for the Dreams to Dreams Custom vinyl show which took place in December of last year. Prototype DCTO Mark 1 —painted in a shiny chrome, metal rivets running up and down layers that encase a smirking visage—resembles the helmet of a Russian space suit or space bound escape pod. Along with forty-one other choice artists his work was on display and for sale at the Japanese American National Museum from December 2008 to January 2009.

From April 10th-May 10th he was part of myplacticheart’s mixed media show using the Chinese Zodiac as inspiration for work. Born in the year of the monkey Chuckboy created three four inch models that look like a new genetically engineered species of primate, housed in glass tanks as if they were in cryopreservation. Coming up on May 21st Kid Robot is releasing its Dunny Endangered! series and Chuckboy it at it again, this time unleashing a Lion Dunny.

Walking in the Lower East Side a teenager recognizes Chuckboy and tells him that he’s a big fan. Chuckboy’s all “awww shucks” about it and thanks him but the kid wants more. He asks him to draw him something, anything. His dad pulls out some paper from a pocket somewhere and Chuckboy goes to work. Within minutes the kid has a Chuckboy original, a skull and bones piece that he says isn’t much and Chuckboy is apologetic. Nonetheless the kid is happy.

“It’s really a surreal for me. You do a couple of designs and nobody sees your face, and then all of a sudden people in the street are seeing your face for the first time and taking your picture…I hope it’s a sign of things to come.”

Looks like 2009 is starting to look a lot like 2008. For most people that wouldn’t be a good thing. For Chuckboy, it’s where he wants to be.

ChuckBoy’s Photo Shoot

MATAANO

Somali Twin Sisters Idyl and Ayaan Mohallim Talk Fashion and Multiculturalism
by Ella Mei Yon Biggadike

In high-waisted jeans and simple tank tops, long necklaces and boots fashion-designing twins Ayaan and Idyl compliment each other nicely as they walk into the studio.  You get the sense that effortless style is in their fingertips, waiting for inspiration. That inspiration is their multicultural heritage. Citizens of both the United States and Somalia, they decided early on that they wanted to make their careers in fashion, designing for the multicultural woman.

Mataano, which means twins in Somali, debuted with a Spring 2009 capsule collection of ten dresses to great reviews. Shortly after their collection landed in stores Ayaan and Idyl were invited by the Oprah show to Skype with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen about their shared experiences as twin fashion designers which brought national attention to their emerging brand. Now, with the Fall 2009 collection, Ayaan and Idyl have two seasons under their belt and are paving their way in the fashion world.

Ayaan and Idyl Video Interview

Though born in the United States, the twin sisters spent their first nine years in pre-civil war Somalia. It was important to their mother that they learn Somali language and culture. But when the cultural climate became tense with curfews and a heavy influx of refugees, their mother brought them back to the States.

They are inspired by Somali fashion in some ways. “The black look doesn’t exist in Somalia. The brighter you are the better. The peacock, the gold. Lots of perfume. Standing out. You can see that influence in the Spring 09 collection,” they say. But, you’ll still find some black in their collections because their designs are all about melding the style of two nations. Their fall collection , for instance, is much more muted with rich purples and grays. Their fall silhouettes are also much more American vintage. “We feel strongly that fashion, beauty doesn’t have a color and so we wanted to make that obvious in our clothes [so that they] really transcend all borders,” says Idyl. There’s no question that this meeting in the middle is something that they hope will help launch their brand into the global arena.

With no formal training in fashion design­­, Ayaan and Idyl held on to their dream and their passion to create the brand they’d envisioned even as young girls. After college they moved to New York City and took internships in the fashion industry. From Jill Stuart, Ayaan learned about how to take vintage fabrics and classic forms and give them a modern edge. From Betsy Johnson , Idyl learned about design technique and color. When asked about designers they love, they gush over Carolina Herrera and Tracy Reese who they feel transcend a cultural base as well as Oscar de la Renta and Donna Karan who they say understand their woman. “We want to zero in on who the Mataano woman is and then begin to expand that concept. We see her as uptown meets downtown, east meets west, multiracial, she likes to travel.”

Aside from turning to other more established designers for inspiration they also look to their own travels, visits to art museums, vintage shopping haunts, and anything that is visually inspiring. “It doesn’t have to be clothes that inspire us; it can be the structure of a table, or a particular color. You don’t want to be all over the place. You want to start with one thing and build–– Spring in bloom, bright colors, modern meets vintage with a 1920’s twist,” says Ayaan.

When it comes to working together, they wouldn’t have it any other way. They find balance by relying on each other and feeding on each other’s ideas. In many ways their meeting in the middle of nations is natural for these compromising twins. Idyl says Ayaan is all about class, quality, and texture, real materials and timeless silhouettes. Ayaan says Idyl is eclectic and draws on her cutting edge attitude to take risks. Their different attitudes aren’t a hindrance to the brand, but bring the balance that they seek in their designs.

As for the upcoming season Mataano predicts a more somber tone in fashion because of the current economic climate. They are looking at a lot of deep colors like wine and eggplant. Ultimately though, it’s the consumer they think has the final say.

Their biggest advice as young designers to young designers is to put fear of failure aside, ask lots of questions, and take a risk. “You are your only obstacle,” they say. That’s what they’ve done and what they’ll continue to do as they take Mataano from dresses to a future lifestyle brand.

Ayaan and Idyl’s Photo Shoot

Pen to Skin

Brian Wren builds his Tattoo artistry in Brooklyn.
by Joshua C. Harris

Late one night, new tattoo machine in hand, Brian Wren started his first practice tattoo on a slab of pork. Half frozen after an hour or so, the flesh starts to become a bit unusable, shifting around the over sized plate on his dining room table. “It’s looked down upon to start tattooing on someone when you’re not ready” Brian explains as he gives us the reason for inking a perfectly good pork chop. Brian carries himself with a quiet confidence, his face is strong and he always seems to think before he speaks. We find out that Brian is a man of some pretty strong conviction, he’s ambitions, truthful, and damn handy with a tattoo gun.

Until 1997, to tattoo was an illegal act in New York City. After hepatitis outbreaks occurred in the early 60’s, New York lawmakers put the blame on the tattooing community and passed a law to prohibit the art form. Brian explains that there where a handful of artists that really preserved and nurtured the skill of tattooing during this time. These people took tattooing seriously, “…back then there where no magazines, no internet..really there were just a handful of people that kept tattooing alive through personal contacts” Brian explains.

Brian’s Video Interview

The social mistrust didn’t suppress the practice fully, tattooing became legalized in the late 1990’s and a swell of interest followed. Brian was drawn to tattooing after being stuck at a dead end job working usually twelve or more hours a day. He found the opportunity to go into his passion of drawing full force, which then evolved into a strong attraction to the mystique of tattooing. After a couple years of practice on himself and very trusting friends, Brian began searching for a home: a tattoo shop to apprentice under an experienced artist in order to one day take the reigns himself.

At the base of 682 Union St. in Brooklyn is where Brian now hones his craft. The shop name is 3rd Eye Tattoo and it proudly serves the local Brooklyn communities’ permanent ink appetite. It’s everything you’d expect in a tattoo shop: underground entrance, amazing art, vivid personalities, and tattoo artists with lots of stories to tell. Brian found what he was looking for in 3rd Eye Tattoo and now enjoys his own clients and studio space. The customers are friendly as they pop in and inquire about what a tattoo involves. Sometimes the shop is visited by long time tattooed patrons and other times over sixty grandmothers looking for a final thrill. No matter the customer, Brian stands poised and reassuring as he explains the process. All leave happy.

“The way I see it is, …everything I do here [tattooing] is still walking around these streets”, Brian explains, “I dont want anyone to walk out the door with something I’m not proud to attach my name to.” Brian’s passion for making a permanent mark is boundless. You get the sense from him that he’s found that thing in his life that sets him apart from the rest. Brian’s creativity helps this; his ideas for tattoos combine traditional elements such as Japanese coy fish or 1950’s pin up art with more modern designs filled with color and bold lines. His tattoing space is neatly filled with frames of his pen and paper artwork, while his desk boasts a drawing lighttable always blanketed with a new piece of tracingpaper etched with a new design.

I happened to catch Brian as he was making some touch ups to a previous customer’s ink. He was patient and meticulous, circling his orange ink drenched tattoo pen inside the previously made lines. During this process you can see why Brian describes being tattooed and tattooing as an amazing experience, “…to me it’s just more about opening yourself up to that experience”. Excited and content after his work, he even invited me back to his shop, “whenever I was ready”, with a look that made me think he expected me to one day want a tattoo.

He’s probably right, after all, everybody can appreciate some good ink. If not, Brian will make sure of it. He called me over, and opened his art book; tons of references in the form of torn sheets and leaflets seemed to pour out. Flipping quickly through it, he closed the book shut and then picked up another. He was looking for a Chinese zodiac themed Ox , a design he overheard me saying would be an optimal tattoo for my left arm. “That one!” he pointed to a charcoal sketch of a bull writhing with power, it’s back arched creating the shape of the “c”. “That’s the inspiration for a great tattoo…we could work with this…” he said.

I couldn’t help but agree.

Brian’s Photo Shoot

Slapstick With a Little Pink Lipstick

Amanda Duarte wants to be a household name of a different kind.
By Joshua C. Harris

I enter the Peoples Improv Theatre at W. 29th St. and 7th ave. It’s tucked upstairs, nestled as most things are in the city so I almost miss it. I don’t know what to expect from the show. All I remember is Amanda’s picture on the promotional flyer that she gave me: her legs open with the title “Lucky Pink Wonderland” in bold lettering conveniently covering anything indecent. “Hi! Come on back! We’re setting up…” Amanda yells to me from the theater as I stand in the lobby. She seems a bit flustered but excited nonetheless. I obey. I creep back, suddenly surrounded by the black walls of the theater. It’s small, with flairs of red and pink, sort of like Amanda.

She’s about to go on; the music blasts a bubblegum pop tune as the lights dim. Amanda enters wearing a white dress, pink scarf, pink handbag, and pink sunglasses. She has so much overdone sass, I have to laugh. Her intro is hilarious. The opening dance satirizes the latest music video, incorporates faux cocaine snorting, and Britney upskirt shots . If I had had an expectation it would have been shattered in this moment.

Amanda’s Video Interview

Amanda Duarte has probably always been an actor and writer, because as she puts it “…she was never good at anything else…” I find that hard to believe and laugh as we sit down at the G:NY studio and have a chat. The topic: how Amanda got where she is, and where she’s going. Amanda duped her way through college, conning professors into giving her credit for acting and writing gigs. After graduating, she lived in San Francisco for many years, honing her skills by getting acting jobs at various venues. Eventually, she made the leap to the Big Apple: the ultimate test of an actor’s true value. Amanda quickly realized the game was much bigger in the city that never sleeps; however, she’s proving she’s up for the task.

Amanda penned her one woman show “Lucky Pink Wonderland” over time by collecting different pieces of her writing and weaving them together into a full commentary on modern ideals of celebrity, self-worth, and the pit falls of stardom. In the play, Amanda is an ex-child star “What’s-Her-Name” or “Pinky Peppercorn” as the public remembers her. She’s struggling to transition from child actor to actress, relapsing into impressions of her former character for old “fans” but more often waiting tables. Yet, “Pinky Peppercorn” isn’t the only character Amanda plays, she shifts seamlessly into a negligent mother, a drunken ex-actor, and a hyper-unaware teenager among others. Each character is introduced after a musical interlude in which Amanda does another dance number against a video projection backdrop featuring the latest in pop-culture’s excess.

The show is a success. The audience laughs uncontrollably while feeling guilty for doing so after one of Amanda’s soliloquies as the forgotten ex-child star. It’s a thrilling mish-mash of reactions. Amanda’s excited after performing two sold out runs. She remembers a time only close friends and relatives would come see her perform, “…probably the most exciting thing were the nights of my show when I would look out in the crowd and I didn’t really know the people who where there…”

I ask Amanda what happens in the moments before she goes on and performs as these characters and she stares at me blankly. I re-iterate, “what are you thinking in that moment? You seem very pensive”. Amanda responds with a giggle “I don’t know…I’m probably thinking about what I’m going to eat later!” I laugh with her and then try to pry out some more information with my next question, “where do you want to be in the future?” She answers, “I want to be on your TV; I want to be in your movies; I want to be in your cereal bowl,” she laughs, “I want to be all up in you,” she laughs some more, “…that’s what I want, why else would I be here?!” I join in her laughter as I realize that’s all anyone can do when they’re in a room with Amanda Duarte.

Amanda’s Photo Shoot

The World Coming In

Dante Russo finds inspiration all around for his writing/acting/singing.
By Joshua C. Harris

As the needle on the throwback record player rides the vinyl groove, Dante quietly sings along. He adjusts his pressed collared shirt downward over his slim frame and thumbs through his eclectic record collection at the same time, label by label, finding various oddities to laugh about. “Oh..this one..” he chuckles “…Persuasive Percussion!”, Dante switches the sweet sound of the Joni Mitchell album to what sounds like 1970’s elevator music. Oddly enough, the smooth bossa nova like sounds of “Persuasive Percussion” are relaxing and set the mood for our talk with Dante Russo.

Dante is an actor and playwright living in Washington Heights . His resume is impressive, having acted in Disney’s national High School Musical tour, countless regional theater productions, and having written many of his own full length theater productions. While his resume is enviable, it’s Dante’s methodology that’s truly striking. “…When I write, I have to travel, I find so much more inspiration when I travel”. Dante finds his writing inspiration through focused interpretation of the world around him. It’s a seemingly simple concept but rarely followed through in lieu of the cyclical habits that modern life demands of us. Pay the bills, go to work, take out the garbage, respond to our e-mails, those tasks that limit our field of view are the things that , Dante indirectly expresses, inhibit our ability to become inspired. While Dante alludes to the sense of being affected by the world around him in order to find something to capture for his writing, he juxtaposes this with the solitary closed off method of preparing for his acting, “…When I prepare to perform, I have to sort of shut all that out, because it becomes overwhelming”.

Dante Video Interview

As he explains these theories, my eyes wander to Dante’s living room walls, particularly on the art and pictures he’s collected on his journeys and those that connect him to his family. “Yeah, that one is my sister Theresa and I when we where kids. She passed away when I was young…” Dante explains as I admire the two children in the picture combined together in a waltz-like dancing stance. Dante tells us of his new play “Extraordinary“; a production inspired by his late sister and empowered by his family’s foundation for her. The Theresa Alessandra Russo Foundation , as it was named, since 1992 acts in the interest of nurturing the development of children with special needs via funding creative activities such as music, dance, and art. Dante speaks passionate about the foundation, highlighting the fact that in association with the foundation, he and his family are also announcing the Theresa Academy of Performing Arts, an academy dedicated to actually instructing special needs children in the creative arts.

We break from our conversation and Dante puts on another record. Among the melodic riffs, we find out Dante has more projects — a lot more projects. He tells us he’s working on a full web-series, children’s book, an epic play set during the second world war, and auditioning for more plays. He exhausts himself describing everything, and smiles. You can tell he’s embarrassed and proud at the same time with doing so much. Yet, it’s his nature to be so involved with the creative process. From the inspiration his family instilled within him, to the constant reminder his sister’s memory provides him, Dante is thankful for his passion, “..I’ve always just woken up, being allowed to be creative…”.

Dante Photo Shoot