Welcome

Ahoy Matey, and Welcome to REPTIRE, an intermittent ‘ship’s blog’, chronicling the slow rise in the South Easterly skies of Reptire Designs; a studio that designs and crafts always artful, and sometimes useful THINGAMABOBS from old Indian Cucachou, aka ReTired Rubber.

Down Below, Ye shall find a permanent 'flagship post' marking the Maiden Voyage of Reptire Designs.

And below that, in the ‘hull’, can be found more recent posts chronicling the daring new adventures of Reptire Designs, dashed with small bits of whimsy, spotted pickerel, local color, and lizard lore..

In fact, on the right, in pale purple, ye shall find the Captain's Log’s Table of Previous Posts, which ye can peruse by year, month, and title to ye hearts content.

If ye haven't gotchyer sea legs yet, My Pretty, Ye can take a gander at our website at www.reptiredesigns.com, to get a proper Landlubber's Introduction.

Thanks for stopping in, I do hope you enjoy your visit aboard this ship! HARHARHARHAR.......

Sincerely, Travius Von Cohnifus

Captain, Founder, Indentured Servant, Rubber Alligator Wrestlor Extraordinaire a' this here ship.

enter the treadknot

Welcome
On September 26th, 2006, I launched my tire art/design business, Reptire Designs, with a solo exhibition of my artwork in The Green Gallery at The Scrap Exchange Center for Creative Reuse, in Durham, NC. For many reasons, it was a night that I will always remember, and I am grateful to Laxmi (my girlfriend at the time) and Edie (my mother, still) for dutifully documenting while I shmoozed, so that I may now shmare a taste of the evening with anyone who was not able to attend...



On a cool but lively autumn night-before-Center Fest, a stream of friends and curious strangers trickled (like pebbles through a rain stick) through the forest of odds and ends (that roost at night in The Scrap Exchange), out into the warm light of the back savanna, a scene utterly glopped with bizarre rubbery hybrids. Tentative and curious, the visitors craned their necks, nibbled, pecked, stood back, moved in closer. From the walls, glassy mirror eyes gazed back through black unblinking eyelids, while beneath the visitor's feet, in a steamy drainage cistern, a mortal drama unfolded. Primordial forms, with no eyes at all, sat puckered on stoops. A cascade of glittering steal droplets formed a curtain, to which clung a colony of tiny tire knotlettes.

Vito D., a long-time collabator down from the Asheville area, caressed the warming air with his Strange Little Folk music. I bobbed and I flit, and at an increasing clip-someone must have opened the faucet a bit....for soon I was swooning, I just about lost it! As the evening progressed, to my delight and amazement, 'family' from Durham, Chapel Hill, Pittsboro, Hillsboro, Siler City, Asheville, and Fresno all made it! From the Cohn Clan to the Steudel Clan to the CFS Clan; from the WWC Clan to the Duke Ac Pub Clan to the SAF Clan; from the Bike Shop Clan to the Ninth St. Clan to the Scrap Clan... and every one in between, guys, they were all appearing before my stunned, blinking eyes. While I spun and I splayed, Vito now played-CHURNED- up a torrent of gritty ditties; while a staff volunteer (Brandon's a photographer, I swear) whipped up pitchers of Mango Lassies. And The 'Scrap Exchange girls' worked the door, the counter, and the floor, going "cha-CHING!", cha-CHING!","cha-CHING!".!.



By the end of the night, hundreds of friends, acquaintances and had-been-strangers had poured in, poured over the work, and partaken in, what was for me and my art, a monumental communal feast. And on top of it all, I got to place many of my preemies in hands that I love and trust, and in several instances, hands that fit them like gloves. What a privilage to be able to connect with people this way. Heading into the turbid seas of small business, I can confidently say that if I drown tomorrow, I am at least blessed today with the memory of (as Vito later put it) one authentically good Durham night.



Thanks to all of you who were there; in body and/or spirit.





Reclaimed-wood Builder and Reptire Collector Howard Staab enjoying magwi knot at the Scrap Exchange

Reclaimed-wood Builder and Reptire Collector Howard Staab enjoying magwi knot at the Scrap Exchange
I can't think of anything more rewarding for an artist than to see someone interacting with their artwork. Photo by Laxmi Haynes

Sammy and Dannette contemplate

Sammy and Dannette contemplate
Photograph by Laxmi Haynes

Cascade Colony of Knotlets

Cascade Colony of Knotlets
They would go with your jacket, would they not Claire?

Laxmi Resplendent

Laxmi Resplendent

Mavis In The Mist

Mavis In The Mist
Photograph by Laxmi Haynes

Tire Amazement

Tire Amazement
Photograph by Edie Cohn

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Working on Rain Barrel Edge Design with The Recyclique

2 Sundays ago, I had a product design session with some of the folks down at the Recyclique.
I had an idea of how they could possibly improve the edging of their rain barrels with a tire gasket of sorts. Their barrels are beautifully hand painted, and well constructed, but they are still lacking some refinement in regards to the edges of the misquito netting which guards the opening at the top. Presently, they had a rubber band and sting holding this shut, it did the trick, but I thought a tire could do it with a lot more style. As the barrels top was of course rounded, and just the right size, a mountain bike tire could fit snugly on this edge, and hold the netting in place, also creating a sort of frame for the artwork featured on the barrels.

Sandy, the mother of this coop in the making, was open and receptive to such ideas, and so we set up a meeting with Henry the main builder of the barrels, and any one else who was interested. Ismael, an aspiring designer who had been working with Mark at the Biofuels plant there also joined us, who a good addition. We also had Joanne, a steady force at the Recyclique. Also in attendance was Connie, who's Birthday we had the pleasure to celebrate, and her son. So it was a good crew, generally focused on the task at hand, and so out back amid the falling leaves and railroad tracks, we conviened around the barrels, and their edges, to see what we could do to enhance them.
  They were receptive to exploring this idea, and we had a good time/ work session exploring different options to dress the edges of the misquito netting with bike tires and innertubes. We came up with some interesting stuff!

  I have to admit that I was dissapointed that at the end of the day, they didn't spring for the tire edging, as I think it could provide a really handsome, solid and flexible lip/handle for the netting. The fear was that it would harbor the rainwater and misquito larvae they were trying to avoid with the netting, a problem which I think could easily be worked around with a series of holes. Perhaps I should just work of a mock up model for them to see in the flesh.
   There was also a reluctance to add too much time to the production of the barrels, to maintain low overhead on them, so that they can keep them affordable, something which is pretty central to their mission I think. While I can somewhat appreciate this sentiment, I personally believe this is the wrong approach. If people are going to lay down $60 - $70 anyways, why not strive to create an attractive product, and Then figure out how to bring the production prices down?
  To me this was a somewhat self-defeating attitude, and to be honest, it makes me a little bit weary of partnering with them on my designs. Its seems to me like a step in the wrong direction, almost like reducing value rather than adding it...

Perhaps there is still time to convince them of this, though probably I need to also hear them more about the realities of running their cooperative organization. I am working with them both to offer, and to learn, so why not learn too?

I was pleased though that they did take some of my point about the edging to heart, and we very effectively incorporated some inner tube edging across both the top and bottom edges of the netting.
I don't think this design has yet reached its full potential, but what we accomplished was a good step in the right direction. It was definately a positive developement, and showed promise for the future.