Final stretch

Just four days from now, my graphic designer cohort Tad Herr and I will present the Glasgow Design Guide to our client, Premier Custom-Built. The book describes and illustrates this cabinet design series in fully digitally rendered form, a first for us. I've been ambivalent about leaving behind the hand drawings that have been my presentation form for these books for so many years, but given the subtle details of the Glasgow design and the more marketing focused intention of the book, computer modeling and rendering is the most effective medium this time. But it is not without art - the renderings are lighted and composed not so much to mimic photography as to convey a rich, almost surreal sense of what the design is about. We're excited about how it's shaping up, and I look forward to previewing it with our client on Wednesday afternoon.

Then, before 6AM Thursday morning, I'll climb into my car and set out on the twelve hour drive to St. Charles, Illinois for the Chicago Pipe Show. This year, I'm bringing the beautiful Susquehanna Pipe Chest that Wayne Ritchie and I just completed a few weeks ago for Neill Roan. It will be on display (under my watchful eye to ensure that it is not carelessly handled or damaged) along with a couple of my framed pipe related drawings. With the past few months a blur of long work days finalizing the Glasgow design series for its late May rollout, a couple of days relaxing and socializing with other enthusiasts of this eccentric fixation on pipes and tobacco will be a welcome respite.

I hear AutoCAD and Photoshop calling, so time to wrap this up and get back to work!

Glasgow kitchen, modeled and rendered in AutoCAD

detail of the pipe chest and cradles

this morning's riverside pipe scrawl before work

Update on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 5:48PM by Scott A. Stultz

I'm fortunate that Tad's studio is only perhaps a quarter mile from mine, because I've been back and forth between the two places a dozen times a day or more for the past week or so. Tad is placing the final page titles, text, and captions into the now nearly completed layout, and having delivered the last of it to him late this afternoon along with the final illustrations, I have the evening to write the essay that introduces and explains Glasgow and its place in the world of architectural design. I don't think I've ever been quite this excited about a product series.

Comments

[Neill]

I'm looking forward to your being able to draw a breath without obsessing about autocad! I look forward to seeing your marvelous Glasgow book. It is a bell-ringer of a design - I want my kitchen done in Glasgow.

[Scott]

Me too, Neill, me too.

[Lindy]

Wonderful! Can't wait for the full show!

[Scott]

Thanks, Lindy. We're very excited about this product series. It's been a long time in development.