Friday, November 22, 2013

TOIstudio becomes a company

In the past month or so I have taken steps to launch TOIstudio as an Architecture, Planning, Design Research and Fabrication Firm. Hitting up the social media campaign (facebook, google+, etc.) is all new world for me. The many hats of trying to start up an Architecture office means wearing many hats, sometimes simultaneously and I am not entirely sure my skull is the proper shape for that. I admit, I have been really lucky in that I have had the privilege of working under some very strong mentors and with some extremely talented people.

The reasoning for the schism of trying to run my own shop it not a reflection upon the firms I have worked with or for but rather my desire to pursue a different sort of client or project than typically offered at these more traditional firms. I have to admit, I also miss the collaborative studio environment that I trained for Architecture in and believe that the model could be applied to the professional sphere.

With that in mind TOIstudio (the name reflects an appreciation of the surrealist movement made most palpable by Rene Margritte's painting "The Treachery of Images") has hung out the shingle so to speak and I will be documenting and sharing what is occurring in a multitude of ways.

First off, the blog will become a place for longer and hopefully more thoughtful diatribes upon the running of a business, architecture or design in general. There will be some project postmortem's, a bit of discussion of what is going on in the office or the shop and general responses to design culture as a whole.

The TOIstudio facebook page will be for taken quick snapshots of projects and process and will work as fodder for more cogent posting here. It is easy to post to and add a quick photo with caption so I will use it for it strengths. More importantly as a social media engine it allows me to share who I am also collaborating with very quickly. I am working under the assumption of "a rising tide lifts all boats" mentality. I work with enough hardworking and creative people that I feel that sharing accolades and exposure is a good for them as well as myself.

So I appreciate you taking the time to read this and join me on this journey. Here's to seeing how it pans out.

For those of you wondering what sort of projects TOIstudio works on, I enjoy practically any sort of project in which the client has a vested interest and is willing to take part in the design process. It is a lot of work, but I prefer jobs when everyone has some skin (meant in this definition as effort) in the project. That way success is more personal and we can move past the egos and personal opinions a bit quicker and figure out what the real problem is that we are trying to solve. Again, more on that eventually as well.

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