A flooring story

So pretty big office project, about 3000 sq meters. All the details in the rental contract had already been set when our team came in. Normally that means there is very little one can do about carpets, walls, ceilings and pretty much anything besides furniture. You can make changes, but the landlord will charge you for it. A lot.

All throughout the premises one single carpet was planned – in grey or beige. Nothing bad about the carpet, nice quality, good manufacturer. But the shades – or rather, lack thereof….grey and beige, goodness me..

This can really get me going though. If the limitations are harsh, my mind can suddenly turn into game mode.  And it sure did. First thing we did was call up the carpet manufacturer. They let us know that they would charge no more for the carpets would we decide to use more shades from the same collection. They also showed us other, fantastic quality, carpets which would cost only a little more, if we decided to switch collection.

So what happened was –  we went a little crazy… in the 14 premium conference rooms on the entrance floor, we switched quality entirely, into a 6 different patterned carpets – 3 gradient shades in each pattern  (hehe) – simply fantastic patterns! On the two remaining floors we picked no less than 12 shades from the original carpet quality and then I spent several hours making a pixelated pattern all over the thousands of square meters, pretty much a colour by number drawing where each tiny carpet tile got its own shade. Feverishly inspired.

So the reactions to this?

The client absolutely loved it.

The landlord absolutely hated it (I belive something like -NO-WAY-IN-HELL! was uttered) And threats were made on how much money they would charge for the extra work hours.

However, when the building team had laid it all out, it really didn’t make that much of a difference economically. And they sure made a fantastic job!

I went by the building site a few days ago, and this lovely sight met me:

(And for each of the 6 conference room carpets, I had to make a wallpaper design, to get a gradient to perfectly mach up with the flooring – Love this client for joining in on all of the extra! It really pays off!)

Its all coming together, and by the end of September the company will move in!

Domes of silence

Highlight of the day – this word I learned from a colleague. Its what you put underneath furniture to make them glide smoother on the floor. Furniture glides if you will. In swedish they are referred to as “furniture paws”. In english…. DOMES OF SILENCE!

For real. That name is for real. It’s not some corny band name, or an architectural structure from Game of Thrones. They’re tiny felt thingies with sticky tape on top.  I hade to image-google it in order to believe him.

Goodness, the english language is full of surprises…

thoughts on cords

So I’ve been working at home today, maneuvering my musical and artsy machinery with fierce determination. I hade a great time doing it, but my homey workplace made me think about things. Cords.

(an ordinary workplace, possibly mine.)

I love cords – in some sense. These coiling, flowing linear beings filled with the passing energy, that makes all of our electrical friends tick. Chords are like blood vessles in a way, transporting the forces of life, from a source right into the heart of all of our work and entertainment devices. They help heat our stoves, keeps our food cool, does our dishes, our laundry, our work, our communication and our lighting. They are awesome, and they are everywhere – literally, intertwining all the human power sources of this planet like a giant vibrating spiderweb. But honestly, how can that still be?

 

(Above images not my doing unfortunately – damn fine use of cords!)

I hate cords – I mean come on! Just look at them! So. damn. messy. We put people on the moon 45 years ago, but still no one can fix this utter and inexplainable mess that stirs in all our corners and grows from under our worktables. We can grow ears on mice, we have printers that can print concrete architecture, we can grow meat from vegetables, and as we speak, scientists are trying their best to recreate a tiny black hole on earth… But still, no one can do anything about the damn cords. Everyone has just succumbed.

 (This person has succumbed.)

I get that it sounds like the biggest first- world problem ever to be adressed, but its not so much the annoying mess and the gordian nots of all my everyday devices, as it is the complete ignorance from designers and It companies. All that time and creative passion spent, designing electrical tools. All of the thinking, sketching and calculating and refining a product, only to top it off by sticking a long, bulky, roudy beast to it. Most possibly a black one (why always black!?), to make sure it  really, REALLY stands out against your white walls and white desktop.

I don’t necessarily demand wireless, I’d be happy if only someone would put some thought into them. Perhaps just making them smoother, smarter, smaller or in a nicer material, I would even settle for more flexible… just do it. please.

New homepage!

So now this homepage goes live! Out with the old in with the new.

My old project blog is still intact  http://projectblog.erikajanunger.com/#home – however, from now on, I will update details from the path of my creative journeys right here. So stay tuned.

“Longing” – going live

Ever since me and Oskar Frisk made the film “Longing to fly/ Longing to fall” together, we have been dreaming of turning the tilted idea and scenography into a live-performance.

When shooting the film, we realised that watching the dancers using the scenography and the tilted monitor image simultaneously, was truly emotional and indescribably beautiful.  So we decided to turn this into an experience for audience.

So Oskar rebuilt the set in a nearby location and has for the last couple of months been teaming up with the magnificent dancer Anna Ehnberg, to further explore the possibilities of the sloping floor. Meanwhile, I focused on producing music for it.

This past Sunday we had our first sitting with an audience! Exiting stuff. We also took the opportunity to film everything to create a trailer. The plan is to use it to look for some funding to further developing the idea into a finished performance. Director of photography was the lovely Fredrik Ekholm and the lighting was done by Christian.

Early Illustration of the lighting and the scenography:

Filming: