40,000-piece textile archive

It was an accident really that led me to Andrea Aranow. I was working in the Goldsmith Building in Chinatown when Caleb Sayan poked his head into the studio. He was looking for Jelly Helm. In his stead I followed Caleb up to to the fourth floor and caught my breath when I walked into what is the largest private textile archive in the world. Caleb mentioned that his mother, Andrea... Read More

Invisible Creature with Don Clark

Two cities, two houses of design, one community. The Spit Swap has happened, and not only was it informative/inspiring/radical, it was engaging. Here’s the thing with being engaged, it leaves you better prepared to create things worth sharing than passive involvement. I never feel like I just attend a Designspeaks talk. They actively engage, so in fact I’m paying a... Read More

Badge design & inspiration

Badges are pretty much everywhere. Some people aren’t willing to call them logos, arguing that they’re just a trendy piece of graphic eye candy, soon to be dated, and not really worth pursuing in your own work. Others think they’re beautiful and should be plastered on everything from skate decks to the Lakes of Minnesota. Recently there was a blog post from Allan... Read More

Will Bryant, Please!

William Bryant just moved to Portland via Austin and just killed the New York Times Magazine front cover with the illustrated question of the year “What if the Secret to Success is Failure?” This man can draw, and he draws everyday. Plus he’s humble and nice and hard working. So that’s amazing. Mr. Bryant has been generous enough to share some process sketches... Read More

The Spit Swap – Aaron Draplin & Invisible Creature

Design community oriented events usually satisfy our urges to see our kind in a condensed time & space, almost an excuse to see each other away from our screens, drink in hand, and in our socks, so-to-speak. There are very few occasions however where this is accompanied by the ability to see great work, hear magnetic speakers, and get stuffed with inspiration. This phenomenon... Read More

Op Art Modernist case study, Burton Kramer

Most well known for his iconic, geometric, and order-based mark used for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Burton Kramers’ work spans just over five decades, two continents, and too many design trends to count. Despite such a large breadth of time designing, Mr. Kramer has remained a seminal figure in Optical Art, modernist theory, and logic-based reasoning applied... Read More

It’s Official. It’s a co.

The fact that FORTPORT has not featured OMFG co. yet is practically a crime. It’s nearly impossible to be in this town and not be exposed to their stunning array of works strewn about. The three men behind the odd acronym (which when I first heard it looked like swear words, condensed) are Jeremy, Mathew, and Fritz. They have been working hard building out and polishing up... Read More

Starbucks Reserve flagship Portland store

The coffee snob that lives a hearty life inside me generally says “Starbucks” as much as Harry says “Voldemort.” But I am attracted to the only Starbucks in the world outside Seattle that is offering food, wine, and a different atmosphere from the Starbucks I fled years ago. This company has taken its lashes from this town. In SE Portland rocks were thrown... Read More

HMCS Whitehorse + Dunderdon

June is parade month in Portland, which includes fleet week as part of the Rose Festival lineup. Our friendly neighbors to the North usually compliment our banks with a ship or two and this year I toured both the Saskatoon and Whitehorse which are twin Kingston class coastal naval defense vessels. Canada has 12 of these 55 meter steel beauties, 6 on each coast. They’re not... Read More

Guest post – Honest Design

I’d like to introduce a friend of the FORT, one Ryan Bush – who has been instrumental in previous posts, playing an obscured role in the shadows of this blog. No more, we say! Ryan wrote a piece on what he sees happening to our craft, and I’ve a response of mine below if you care to hear it. If you’ve got beef with it, love for it, or are just here for the... Read More