Sketches of Frank Gehry

Sketches of Frank Gehry is a documentary following the design process of the amazing architect, Frank Gehry.  Gehry’s incredible work can be seen throughout the world.  His modern style is very unusual, but also incredibly beautiful and mesmerizing.  He goes against the norm and doesn’t consider the “rules” when designing.  He lives completely in the moment, and experiments with everything and every situation.  Every design project begins with models.  In Sketches of Frank Gehry, we often see him begin by making paper models, folding and cutting as he goes.  His design team has come accustomed with how his mind works.  Their communication is almost nonverbal.  However, his team knows what he wants, and supports him in everything.  When his idea is almost perfect in model form, he works with 2 or 3 different scales of that model.  Once these models are complete, they enter them into a computer to create a 2D representation of the object.  One specific thing that inspired me in the documentary was his interpretation of a painting in his architecture.  This amazing architect that has made renowned structures around the world, wishes he could paint.  However, he has never tried and doesn’t plan too.  Instead, he portrays these paintings through his own type of work.  Frank Gehry is extremely successful because of his creativity, and his love for experimentation.  Surprisingly, he does receive much criticism about his work.  However, he keeps going, because he is true to his style.  

A. Zahner Company

Materials and Process recently traveled to Kansas City to explore A. Zahner Company.  Eric Steel and Gary Davis showed us around this incredible engineering and fabrication company.  Zahner is best known for their metal work in art and architecture pieces.  They have made some of Kansas City’s most well known sculptures and buildings, such as the Bartle Sky Stations, and more recently, the Kauffman Center.   However, their work is not only local, but also worldwide!  They work around the world with architects, designers, and artists.  My group’s tour guide, Gary Davis, explained that the artists challenge the Zahner designers with some of their outlandish ideas.  However, Zahner always manages to make their dreams come to life.  Zahner primarily works with all types of natural metal.  However, they have experimented with many different materials.  One of their experiments I really enjoyed was their glass and copper casting.  That is what I probably liked the most about Zahner, is their devotion and love towards experimentation.  Walking through their warehouse we saw different cuts from experiments during specific projects.  Some of their methods differed from other companies.   For example, they didn’t use laser cutting, but used a water press instead.  This prevents the laser’s heat from altering the edges of a piece.  They also bee-blast their metal with glass instead of sand or other materials.  This helps the metal keep well outside.   Last but not least, I appreciated their creativity.   For example, the structure on the outside of their building was inspired by sand in a receding tide.  This was such an awesome field trip. Their dedication towards experimentation and love for a challenge was completely inspirational.   It was an extremely fun, and dedicated environment.    

Hallmark Cards Production Center

We are all familiar with greeting cards.  We get them on our birthdays.   We get them as ‘get well soon’ messages when we are sick.  We even get them as invitations.  They connect people over long distances, or short!  Last Thursday, Materials and Processes toured the Hallmark Cards Production Center (101 McDonald Drive, Lawrence, KS).   This is one of three facilities supporting Hallmark Cards Inc. in the United States (right here in Lawrence!)   They greeted the world in 1958, producing and packaging greeting cards, ribbons, and bows.  They produce 8-12 million cards in Lawrence…Each week!  How do they do it?  With great production methods and processes.  These greeting cards can include messages, pictures, glitter, pop-up features, etc.  Many cards start out together, printed front and back onto a large sheet of paper.  Before cutting these cards out, some of them include a little shimmer.  The shimmer you see on these cards is a type of thin foil. Hot metal plates sit on one side of card. On the other side, the foil heats up, and sticks to where the metal plates touch the card.   The cards are then ready to be cut out.  They use a die-cutting method.  A die-cut has sharp, thin blades that are bent into the desired shape of the card.  They are pressed onto the paper, so the cards can easily be extruded individually from the large piece of paper.  Other processes the Hallmark Cards Production Center utilizes is “flocking” and “flittering.”  Flocking is a process that adds that velvety material to a greeting card.  Some nickname it “bumblebee fur.” However, the correct name for the material is cellusuede.  Flittering is a process that adds the glitter to greeting cards.  This company also produces ribbon and bows.  The ribbon is made from polypropylene.  They also make their own ribbons spools with plastic from an injection mold.  Hallmark goes through several materials a day, and produce a ton of scrap.  Thankfully, they are big recyclers.  Italy is actually their biggest scrap buyer!  They are very close to being a zero percent landfill facility.  We all have given and received greeting cards and they continue to be a holiday staple.  Hallmark has helped continue this tradition.

Star Signs LLC

Last Thursday, Materials and Processes traveled down to 801 East 9^th Street to visit Star Signs LLC.  This company fabricates signage and environmental graphics, and also provides installation for their customers.  The process starts off in the design lab, where they create computer models of the product and communicate with the customer.  After the design is made they send it to the shop.  Since customers all want different things, Star Signs do not stock every single material they have ever used.  They order the materials as needed.  However, many of the common materials we saw were different grades of aluminum, acrylic, steel, polycarbonate, PVC, vinyl, and hard woods.  We were all very curious about what made one grade of aluminum different from another.  Aluminum is very light and strong, and depending on what they are using the material for, they have to combine it with other metals to create different grades to fit their needs.  Another material I really found interesting was the vinyl.  They used this material in several ways, but the one I was most intrigued about was the use of it in their shop as a large Chiefs photo that looked as if it had been printed straight onto the wall.  After printing the photo on a piece of vinyl, it acted as a gigantic sticker that took form to the texture it was stuck on too, and in this case, it was a cinderblock wall.  Star Signs LLC also introduced me to many different processes.  Like Reuter Organ Company, Star Signs also utilized a CNC router, to cut out letters, shapes, and patterns.  They also used 2D and 3D printing.  In their ‘print lab,’ they had a process/finish that I had never seen before.  It was called photopolymer.  It is a 3D printing process that alters the material when it is exposed to light.  Star Signs primarily uses this process when adding brail to their signage.  Star Signs LLC not only introduced us interesting materials, but also gave us a good look at a company’s process through a project.  

The Reuter Organ Company

Recently, my Materials and Processes class made a field trip down to The Reuter Organ Company (1220 Timberedge Road, Lawrence, KS 66049.)  Our tour guide was Tom Watgen who is the voicing supervisor at Reuter.  This company has been in Lawrence since 1919, and has been making, rebuilding, and restoring customized organs ever since.  These instruments can be extremely large, and are primarily found in churches.  However, churches aren’t the only ones who take advantage of these incredible instruments.  Universities, theaters, department stores, and private residence also utilize them.  Reuter Organ Company makes these instruments to last, and look good, but the importance of sound quality is what towers over everything.  We were introduced to several different materials that were used to manufacture these products.  The console is primarily made out of different types of wood.  This can include poplar, walnut, oak, MDF, etc.  The pipes of the organ can be made out of copper, zinc, tin, lead, brass, and steel.  They even combine tin and lead to create spotted metal.  Ivory is no longer used to produce the keys of the instrument.  Plastic, wood, and cow bone are great alternatives for this piece.  Another material we came across was leather.  Leather is used for the valve stoppers in the organ.  They use sheep, goat, lamb, and even kangaroo skin for this leather.  It was incredible how important it was that this piece was leather, and nothing else.  Leather is flexible and lasts a very long time.  There is no substitute for this material.  I was impressed with how much of the work manufacturing these instruments’ was done by hand.  Being a musician myself, I was especially impressed with the process of the organ pipes.  These pipes start in a sheet of metal, and are cut and hammered around the size and shape of the pipe they will soon become.   These pipes need to sound a certain way and hold a certain pitch, which makes this process very significant.  I was also impressed with the assembly and disassembly of these instruments.  Pipe organs can be gigantic and have many different parts. If an instrument needs repair, they need to be able to disassemble it and even ship it to fix it easily.  For our very first field trip, I found the Reuter Organ Company to be incredibly interesting, and the information to be very beneficial.