Design

Wolf Design Build Rethinks The Powerplant

by The Editors on January 26, 2010

Frontwork-Copy

Wolfram Kalber has big ideas for Carlsbadistan. And he’s not one who simply dreams things up and lets them sit. Through his company Wolf Design Build he has designed and built homes in many different styles, but they all feature a creative groove that makes them quite unlike anything that’s been done before.

Kalber’s most recent work in Carlsbadistan is the $17 million Kiko Beach House on Ocean St. which we last featured in our 12 Days of Carlsbadistan Christmas. Now, Kalber and David Evans have some ideas for the Encina Power Station property. It’s called The Peoples Sunset Terrace Pavillion & Amphitheater. The structure which houses a Carlsbad Cultural Center and Recreation Center, looks somewhat like Denver’s DIA airport.

Kalber says he is meeting with the Mayor to discuss this and another design for the triangle lawn at Offshore, but we’re guessing this will fly well over Mayor Lewis’ head. Everything else aside, it’s good to know someone is thinking way, way outside the box when it comes to Carlsbadistan’s future.

[Link: Wolf Design Build]
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Invitrogen Wins Award For Bottle

by The Editors on February 26, 2009

LifebottleInvitrogen, our favorite Carlsbadistan-based life sciences company has just won the “prestigious AmeriStar® Package Award from the Institute of Packaging Professionals” for their new GIBCO cell culture bottle.

We’ve never found ourselves using a cell culture bottle, nor do we know anyone else who has, but the bottle looks really cool. Don’t you think?

Follow the jump for all the details.
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Maku Makes The Green List

by The Editors on May 4, 2008

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Carlsbad-based outdoor furniture maker Maku was recently listed in the Chicago Tribune as number 6 on a list of 20 ways to live green “Make the green scene part of your daily life with ideas that are both practical and chic”:

6 TAKE IT OUTSIDE: Maku, the Carlsbad, Calif.-based maker of contemporary earth-friendly outdoor furnishings of sustainable woods, is now here at Orange Skin, Chicago.

Congrats. It’s good to see local companies getting press for doing things well.

[Link: Chicago Tribune]

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Tijuana Tuscany In The Village

by Eero Lloyd Neutra on March 13, 2008

Pharmacy

The new building on State street was under construction a little too early to “benefit” from the City of Carlsbad’s “revised master plan,” so I really don’t know who is to blame for this Village eyesore. When the foundations were being laid I was excited to see what the new face of Carlsbad Village building design would look like. Now that it is completed, I see that the new face of Carlsbad Village is: Tijuana Tuscany. (Sadly, after researching the Tijuana pharmacies this new building reminded me of I discovered that most of them have a more pleasing aesthetic).

So, what is wrong with this structure? Well, from a retail perspective the windows are much too small, not to mention that they look like they were purchased at a Home Depot remnant sale. This probably has more to do with they way they are positioned on the front of the building. There appears to be no consistency or balance to the placement of the windows. And then, of course, there is the burnt salmon color.

While it is nice to see new buildings in the Village, it’s disappointing when they look like this.

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Chrysler Closing Carlsbad Design Studio

by The Editors on March 8, 2008

Chryslerdesign 360Now that Chrysler has fallen into the hands of “private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP” things are obviously tightening up. That is a bummer for workers in the Carlsbad advanced design studio.

Chrysler says Friday night that work from the studio in Carlsbad will be moved to Auburn Hills, where the automaker has its headquarters. Chrysler plans to work with the about 20 Carlsbad employees affected by the closing. . . . In the statement, Chrysler says: “These moves are designed to help Chrysler become a more globally focused manufacturer.”

We’re guessing it’s more about cutting costs.

[Link: mlive.com]

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Carlsbad Man Puts His Stamp On Postage

by The Editors on March 7, 2008

The US Postal Service is in the process of releasing a new set of stamps memorializing “some of the most impressive scientific achievements of the 20th century,” according to a story in the Imperial Valley News. The scientists features on the stamps include: Theoretical physicist John Bardeen, biochemist Gerty Cori, astronomer Edwin Hubble, and structural chemist Linus Pauling. But the most interesting part to us was the involvement of Carlsbad resident and US Postal Service Art Director Carl Herrman.

For each stamp, artist Victor Stabin of Jim Thorpe, PA, with the assistance of art director Carl Herrman of Carlsbad, CA, created a collage featuring a painted portrait of each scientist combined with diagrams or photographic representations associated with their major contributions.

Mr. Herrman, is famous in the world of design for having been involved with the art direction of literally hundreds of commemorative stamps in his 16 years as an Art Director for the U.S. Postal Service. We’d show you an image of the stamps, however, they are being unveiled today in a ceremony at Madison Square Gardens.

[Link: Imperial Valley News]

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Show ‘Em Your O Towel

by The Editors on August 13, 2007

OtowelCarlsbad’s Laura Ogan was at the beach one day watching people try to fit square towels underneath a round umbrella when she had a thought: “Why doesn’t somebody invent a round towel with a hole in the middle to put their umbrella in.” No one had, so Ogan did. In fact, she filed and received a patent from the United States Patent Office for The O Towel, a round towel with two 100% polypropylene grommets that allow an umbrella to be planted in the sand right in the middle of the towel. Now, with the help of two other women, she is bringing the towel to market.

We took the O Towel out for a test run Sunday after Art In The Village and it worked exactly as promised. In fact, it made us feel stupid for having cut holes in all those old sheets. One thing: if you line the grommets up with the shadow of your umbrella pole, when the sun goes down you can move the umbrella to the hole on the outside of the circle and stay in the shade until sundown without moving the towel at all. And that is the genius behind the two-grommet design.

For more info call: 800.679.7032 and tell them you saw it on Carlsbadistan.

[Link: The O Towel]

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Maku Furnishings Warehouse Sale July 13

by The Editors on July 10, 2007

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Looking for some amazingly designed modern outdoor furniture? Our favorite Carlsbad furniture company, Maku Furnishings is having a warehouse sale Friday July 13 at their headquarters just off Palomar Airport Road at 2105 Camino Vida Roble Suite G. Here’s what Johnny West says:

This sale will feature tradeshow samples and very minor scratch and dent models with an opportunity to own a piece of Maku Furniture for pennies on the dollar. We’re talking Lounge Chairs that retail at $829 will be on sale for $375, Benches from $275, Dining Tables from $750, and Coffee tables from $275 plus much more. We need to make some room in the warehouse for the next 2 containers that will be arriving later this month.

He also mentioned that product is limited and it will go first come first served. Don’t say you weren’t warned and please remember to tell them Carlsbadistan sent you.

[Link: Maku Furnishings]

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The Steel Forest For the Trees

by The Editors on June 27, 2007

347018 500A-Singer-BristleconeOn our list of strange Carlsbad-based businesses, NatureMaker ranks pretty high up there. The company builds what they call “steel art trees.” And that’s exactly what they are: steel welded into the shapes of natural, realistic trees. Their most recent piece was designed for the atrium of an incredible well-designed “San Diego County home” titled The Oldest Living Bristlecone Pine.

The intricate hand-carving, hand-painting, and scenic aging of the gnarled trunk and weathered limbs accurately reflect the struggle of bristlecone pines to grow in the harsh high mountain climate and barren soil of the Sierras and Rocky Mountains. “This is our way of showing that despite the daily assault on our fragile ecology, Nature as force and timeless energy will surely prevail,” says Gary Hanick, president of NatureMaker.

Maybe someday we’ll get to see this tree in person. . .

[Link: Marketwire]

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The Cheese Cutting Masterpiece

by The Editors on June 16, 2007

Swissmar

Being cheese lovers, it’s rare that we focus too closely on exactly how the cheese gets cut. Cutting the cheese is something one must do in polite company because simply biting the corner off a brand new block of roquefort just wouldn’t be polite.

We’ve done our share of nibbling off a block of Sonoma Jack while lounging poolside at the Indian Springs Resort in Calistoga, California; ripping a piece from a sourdough baguette every now and again to keep the cheese-to-bread ratio perfect, however, those days are over. Now, we will take no trip to The Valley without our new Swissmar cheese slicer from The Poached Pear at 2946 State St. in downtown Carlsbad.

This stainless steel masterpiece is 5.75″x5″ and has the deft, balanced feel of a surgical instrument. It glides through even the coldest Tillamook Cheddar like it was melting butter. Cutting the cheese has never been so much fun, nor so effortless. Seems like we’re cutting the cheese all the time now.

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