So I had a very interesting morning. I went to swissmiss’s CreativeMorning. CreativeMornings are basically Tina’s personal TED Talks, only these are free and there are Danishes served. If you fancy yourself a creative and haven’t been to one of these yet, you’re really doing yourself a disservice. Hell, even if you don’t have a creative bone in your body, you’ll find these speakers interesting.

Today’s speaker was Rachel Sussman, a photographer who is photographing the oldest living things in the world. We’re talking 2,000 plus years here. Really interesting stuff. The Discovery Channel or National Geographic should be jumping through hoops to make this a show.

And then on my way from the talk to the subway, I passed Gleason’s Gym. Gleason’s is one of the stops on the Key to the City art project, a cool summer event. I had to pass some tough looking people to get to the locker. Those boxers are no joke.

All in all, a full morning.

Yesterday’s lathe demo at MAD was incredible, what a place. It was so interesting to meet all the museum staff and visitors. Sorry to all of the people who can’t speak English that I had full conversations with before realizing that you didn’t understand a word I said. In the first two pictures below, you can see Columbus (from “Circle” fame) in the window.

Thanks to everybody who made it out, I had a blast and hope you did too. I also got to use my favorite Simpsons line on the viewers, “I want to see goggles people!”

The Laser Party was fantastic. The ladies of Design Glut and the fine folks at Length Width Height (a fabrication lab in the “incubation” center at NY Designs) hosted a great event. Met some great people and saw some very interesting designs.

They have a 51″ x 51″ laser cutter, the biggest I’ve ever seen. The thing opens up like a DeLorean and when the roof deck door is open, you can see the Empire State Building (my streak of using tools with some killer views continues). She’s a real beauty.

After a little trouble with my CAD file (I was the only one to give them a bum file, awesome), we cut a Monster Mirror. It turned out great. I still need to glue it up, sand it, and finish it, but this beats cutting them out by hand.

The other designs were incredible, check them out here. If you are in the NYC area and in need of a 51″ laser cutter, I know a guy.

And FYI, laser cut food does not taste good.

The lovely ladies of Design Glut have invited me to their Laser Party on Thursday. It’s being held at NY Designs’ prototype lab

They’ve asked a group of designers to come hang out and have a night of free laser cutting and etching. It’s pretty much a party from the future.

I’ve re-worked the Monster Mirror design, so it can be cut with the laser. I’m excited to see how it turns out.

Robot sculptures by Gordon Bennette. They are in a store window on 5th Ave at 16th St. Totally worth checking out if you’re in the neighborhood.

Last post on the MAD Salon, I promise.

Christina Latimer, a great photographer, was kind enough to share some of the pictures she took at the event.

Thanks Christina. Check out some of her work at bailliwik.

The DIY Salon at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) was fantastic!

So many people showed up ready to make, it was great. And almost everybody who tried the star, stuck it out. Even though it was much more complicated than I originally thought and my directions were sketchy at best.

You can get the star light mini template here (pdf). And the directions to make it below:

Want to thank Jessica, Dess, and Molly for making this happen.

AREAWARE - The Drop from kendall mills on Vimeo.

Thanks to Kendall Mills for making the video. It shows all of the hard work that went into a great show.

Around the 1 minute mark you can see them set up my mobile on the right side of the screen. And just because I’m really narcissistic, around 1:26 you can see me stand by it while my picture gets taken.

Kiel set me up with a sweet location. The mobile was hanging over a fantastic table and bench from Bear and Lion. They make some fantastic furniture.

It was an incredible show. There was a piece by Yoko Ono, a Chuck Close spotting, live graffiti under the High Line, free booze. It was fantastic. Open till Oct. 17th, check it out if you can.

Go see Apartment Therapy’s post on it, much better pictures than I took.

I recently visited Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s homestead. It was incredible. I have rarely been to a place that has inspired me so much, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Growing up, my favorite founding father (everyone had a favorite founding father, right?) was always Ben Franklin. Let’s face it, he had the best marketing. But after watching HBO’s John Adams mini-series (I can not recommend this enough, it will make you want to be a better American), I really started groovin on Jefferson. I loved the shots of him at Monticello, writing to Adams about how much he loved his home. I needed to see this place.

I knew Jefferson was a lawyer, a politician, and a writer. But I never knew what a Renaissance man he was. He was an architect (designed Monticello and the University of Virginia), a meteorologist (possibly the first in America), a musician, a zoologist, a botanist, an inventor, and a gadget guy. Monticello is now a museum and all of these aspects of his life are on display there.

Mastodon bones, given to him by Lewis and Clark, are on display (the man had dinosaur bones in his house). He has a giant 7 day clock, which he designed, that requires cannon balls as counter weights. He has a wine bottle dumb waiter hidden in the dining room fireplace. He used a polygraph to duplicate every letter he wrote. He invented automatic closing/opening doors. He invented double pane storm windows. He surrounded himself with books and art.

This place made me want to be better.