Jillian Northrup's blog

Transmaterial 3 just came out!

If you are not familiar with this series, you should definitely pick one up. A great resource and inspirational guide to all kinds of innovative materials, techniques and applications.

Need another reason to pick it up?
We're in this one! Showcasing our Interactive LED tables

The Three Rings office space in downtown San Francisco is a Jules Verne inspired space complete with portholes to the sea, a secret door and a lounge area made of giant attacking cephalopod arms.
We created this space in 2006, and not only does it still look great, it is still getting press.
Recently picked up by SuperEco, I think this is the first time this space has been called out for it's eco-friendly fabrication!

All the walls and the interior decorative elements at Three Rings were painted with an Ultra-Low VOC paint.
The wood finished were all water based dyes and water borne sealers.
And no actual cephalopods were harmed in the creation of this office.

What is your New Years wish?
Is it big?
Then you'll need a GIANT WISHBONE!

But wait... what's that... you can't find a GIANT bird?
Have no fear, as Because We Can is here to the rescue with our GIANT VEGAN WISHBONE!

It's totally vegan.
It's even made of recycled wood.
Your HUGE wish will come true... and you don't even have to feel guilty about it.
Hooray for 2010!

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We have been celebrating the holidays here at Because We Can by merrily working away, and celebrating the year every chance we get.
We made a few large Christmas trees for people this year.
Next year the large trees will be available for purchase on our online store in 6ft and 7ft heights.

See the tree go together here...

This month's EatFoodTalkShop monthly open house has been post-empted by...

The Big BWC Holiday Party!

Grinches flee!!!
For there will be holiday beer, holiday cheer, and holiday jeers.
Let's ring out this turmoil year of 2009 and celebrate all we've got and how lucky we really all are.
All are welcome, so bring your friends & Family. We're bringing ours! (Really! Come meet our Moms and siblings!!)

We've got lots of reasons to party, from our recent DesignSlam win at Autodesk University to lots of great projects completed and happy clients.
So drop on by! We'll have food, gifts, and surprises!

Bring some beer!
Bring some friends!
Bring cake! (because cake is delicious.)

The Big BWC Holiday Party!

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

Starts at 5 PM, goes until 10 PM

At The Because We Cannery, 1722 15th Street, Suite C Oakland, CA
Hope to see you there!

Lost? Lonely? Not sure what to get us for christmas?
BWC help line: 510-922-8846

That's right!
We've just lowered the prices on our Tiny Christmas Tree and the Bundle Pack of Christmas Trees.
So get them now before Christmas!

Made of sustainably harvested wood, and fabricated here in Oakland CA.
The 2 1/2 feet tall flat pack tree design is a great size for a dramatic table top piece, but stores away in any tiny space.
It's hard to feel guilty about this purchase!

And, remember, we have FREE SHIPPING on these, as well as many of our other products.
So the price you see is the price you get.

Happy Holidays!

We recently worked on a San Francisco bar design, helping them with interior design consultation and furniture design and fabrication. And it is now open!
Check out ShowDown Saloon on 6th and Market.

When we first saw the bar it looked like this:

Now it is open for business again... and looks like this!

It is much brighter and more inviting now with the addition of some paint and mirrors.
Sections of the walls were given a fun wall paper, and in this back corner we added some long upholstered bench seats and cocktail tables.

The seats have a decorative pattern along the bottom...

And the tables have a multi colored resin float top, showing off designs and text...

We made a few other elements for the bar, such as table tops, drawer fronts and decorative molding.
It's a cute little bar, and was a fun project!

We are presenting a few talks at AutoDesk University this year.
It's next week!
One of the talks we are giving is on modeling to fabrication.
We'll be making little physical prototypes in class. But of course we wont have time in class to make all 80 of them (one for every one).
So we're making a bunch of them in advance. That way we can hand the parts out in class, and everyone gets to put one together.

Here's frank in action.... cutting out all those little parts!

5 foot long, 3D milled sign for Wonderhill.

Brought in as a jpg, we used the massing tool in our CAM software (ASPIRE) to mill the 3D aspects of this sign.
The 3D carved, recessed letters and the thick backing plate are the bottom layer.
The walnut veneer the middle layer.
And the 3D milled 'vines' in the top layer.

The layers were sanded, painted gold, or for the veneer, oiled with Tried & True., then glued together.

et, voila!

Beautiful glass and wood white boards for Wikimedia's new office space...

A thick piece of acrylic is sandwiched by two pieces of clear glass and held together with sustainably harvested american maple.

The white boards stand 6 1/2 feet tall and have a 5 foot by 6 foot area of writable surface on two sides.

The large handles on the sides are great for pulling the boards around on their locking caster wheels.

Beautifully designed details make the boards a pleasure to look at when you are not reading the important notes written on the surface.

And because of the acrylic and glass surface, light is able to travel through the boards, creating a diffused light source, instead of a light block.

A must for any large office!