TGM NEWS — the good mod

LED Signature Wall for Pollinate

We recently completed a second project for major Portland ad agency Pollinate. For their entrance area they requested a color-enhanced signage piece recessed into their wall. We created a 10-plus-foot tall steel-framed door with reclaimed wood and a laser cut rust patina steel panel that carries the client's logo. 

Set behind this signature wall are network-controlled LED strips, which can interactively change colors based on input from sensors. We programmed them so that the color that glows through the wood panels gradually shifts through the spectrum: Barely noticeable upon first glance, the changes happen over the course of approximately 3 hours. Watch a timelapse video below.

Working with microprocessors and programming panels was a great exploration and we look forward to doing more of this in the future. We're glad Pollinate liked it too!

"Everyone (staff, clients, random visitors) LOVES the sign/door! It’s a really great piece to walk off the elevator and see. Thanks again for another amazing piece of work!" - Laura Runkle, Pollinate

Designing the Pollinate Pitch Experience

The last few months have been massive for the team at The Good Mod, with many big new projects secured, some fully underway, and one of our largest ones to-date just completed: the conference room and pitch stage for Pollinate, a fast-growing interactive branding and advertising agency in Portland, which was just recently voted 2015 Advertising Age Northwest Small Agency of the Year.

photos by Arthur Hitchcock

Concept

The prompt was straightforward: develop lighting and a conference table to seat 15 people comfortably in a fairly small space of 21 feet by 18 feet. Goal was to provide an arena for multi-directional presentation that navigates both digital and analog work, while delivering an intriguing experience for Pollinate’s most important clients.

Taking inspiration from the energetic aesthetic of the agency, lead designer Brock Odalovich and owner-designer Spencer Staley decided to push Pollinate’s momentum to the extreme: surrounding the presenter with crystalline slabs of sheet metal visually breaking out of the ground, the design’s dramatic vortex explodes under a sci-fi inspired spotlight.

The table

The table’s major challenge was to seat that many people with enough leg room in such tight space, and identifying the need for maximum floor space for multi-directional presentation. Lead designer Brock Odalovich's solution was a horseshoe-style design with a base-less cantilever table that is sturdy and still allows for enough floor space around the presentation pit.

The base was created out of 1200 pounds of individually laser cut and hand-welded asymmetrical pieces of sheet metal. Special feat was the integral joinery in order to make the table base break down for a standard residential elevator. The tabletop iced the cake: 15 pieces of differently adjoined veneer pieces framed by oak hardwood edging visually extend the cascading facets of the steel base.  

The light

Hovering above, Spencer Staley’s lighting design extends the crystalline language of the table with five individually shaped pyramidal boxes clustered into a star-shaped chandelier.  Exploding into sharp angles, the 300 pound LED light piece is capped with removable shade panels covered in technical light diffusing fabric—all results of exciting new experiments in the use of materials. 

 

"From the initial brainstorming session to the final installation  we couldn’t have ask for a better experience working with The Good Mod. The creativity they brought into our showcase conference room leaves a powerful impression on our clients as they come to visit. We can’t wait to work with them on another project!" 

- Laura Runkle, Pollinate

20,000 Leagues Above Average

"The human mind delights in grand conceptions of supernatural beings."

The Team at The Good Mod recently completed a custom and supernatural 16’ x 8’ boardroom table with a nautical theme for the AirBnB Headquarters Offices in San Francisco. The table fits into the largest of their concept conference rooms, masterfully designed by the Airbnb Environments Team, to fit the fantastical theme based on Jules Verne’s novel Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. This was yet another wonderful collaboration with the amazing team at Airbnb.

Designed, engineered and constructed within a never-ever-heard-of turnaround time of 14 days, this largest of all meeting room tables is a handmade wonder of nature. The walnut-encased tabletop upholstered in brown leather elegantly interfaces with the circular brass inlays, referencing cartographic tables and ancient navigational tools—all while helping you connect and charge your very contemporary electronics right at your meeting table, via outlet, USB, Com port outlets that integrate with the entire conference room. The curvilinear concave rolled steel legs (700 pounds!) connect with a solid walnut mast, contributing to the look of a regal nautical vessel. With a highly cantilevered top, you feel the ship sailing in.

Rolled steel legs connected by walnut mast and brass hardware

"From the very beginning, it was such a treat to collaborate with you. After presenting our ideas and inspiration—which you all were so receptive to—you were so great in helping us identify the needs for the project. Together we were able to successfully problem solve and come up with a final design that created the perfect pieces for the space. Thank you for everything—We love TGM!"

                                                                              - Airbnb

Buckle Up

To complete the conference room experience with matching seating, we fully re-imagined a set of 18 vintage Castelli chairs. With new black powder coated legs, freshly restored backrests with brand new walnut veneer and new Maharam wool upholstery for the seat, these 18 stacking chairs add just the right amount of elegance and comfort to large conferences and expeditions.

Matte black powdercoat frame and new walnut veneer	Upholstered with premium quality Maharam wool

Dive In

Check out process shots of the masterful table construction, upholstery and woodwork below.

THE GOOD MOD Team Design/Build 

TGM Lounge for MadeHere PDX

MadeHere PDX, 40 NW 10th Ave, Portland

Last month we've teamed up with MadeHere PDX, a showroom presenting design focused, fashionable product entirely designed and manufactured in Portland, to create for them a lounge and play area highlighting our new TGM Studio Line.

With honest materials, straightforward lines, and playful attitude, the TGM Studio Line presents high quality functionality that is fit to match its calling. Our Ping Pong Conference Tables are made of solid hardwood construction on legs that are designed and fabricated in house. Our Plywood Lounges have been developed as flat-packable and versatile pieces, for variable office work (and lounge) scenarios. Solid russian birch construction matched with high-quality upholstery and ergonomic design give these pieces longevity in high-traffic spaces while maintaining their simple elegance.

Stop by MadeHere, play some ping pong on our TGM Ping Pong Conference table in eastern black walnut with copper plated legs and copper inlay, lounge on our upholstered TGM Plywood Lounge Chairs or stretch out on our TGM Plywood Love Seat, and take a moment to contemplate the brains and hands involved in all the things that are MadeHere in this great city.

The Good Mod team members Tom and Mike dialing-in the Ping Pong setup. Ready for play at NW 10th and Couch.	Spencer Scott Staley, The Good Mod's creator getting involved in the MadeHere Ping Pong Lounge.

Visit our showroom at 1313 W Burnside St., 4th floor, to view the complete selection of style options for your own TGM custom pieces. 

SCULPTURAL ILLUSIONS AT TGM

Artists Spencer Scott Staley and Zach Dougherty are mixing up science and art with visual objects and interventions. Using a 3-D scanning technique developed by Zach and intuitive experimentation by Spencer this styrofoam sculpture will trick your eyes!

The Good Mod is a place of productivity and exploration in the techniques and tools of digital fabrication.

CNC milled subtractive sculptural methods.

The nuances of form are accentuated by shadow. This play of light created by the recess in the styrofoam gives the illusion of the Bust protruding out.

Please contact us to visit the studio and talk with our Artists!