potrero view

Potrero Hiller Vanessa Einbund (right) shares her designs with Aurore Thibout, a current Workshop resident.

January 2012

Dogpatch Hosts Design Residency Project

Keith Burbank

Last fall, a dozen San Franciscans gathered in a renovated warehouse next to the Yellow Building in Dogpatch, to learn about heat transfer and sublimation printing from designer-in-residence and French artist, Aurore Thibout.  Sublimation printing is a technique that enables designers to create images on textiles, such as cotton-polyester fabrics.   Through the process a solid is converted into a gas, and back to a solid, without going through a liquid phase.

Sunlight streamed through the warehouse’s back windows as participants introduced themselves, found a workspace, and unpacked shirts and fabric.  Using a heat press, the students experimented with the imaging technique to create innovative fashion designs.   

Amy Williams, who chairs the California College of the Arts’ fashion program, brought two college seniors with her to the workshop.  “It’s lovely,” said senior Steven Soundara about the event.  “I like having an opportunity to work with someone who is a fashion designer.”   

“She’s sharing some of her ideas with us,” said senior James Zormeir, about Thibout.  “It’s good to step away from school for a while.”   

Braden Weeks Earp, a Yale graduate in architecture and design, directs The Workshop Residence, which was created by Ann Hatch.  Hatch previously founded The Capp Street Project, another artist residency program, which was one of the first of its kind in the United States.  She also co-founded, with Robert and Margrit Mondavi, The Oxbow School in Napa, an independent arts-oriented high school.

“You will have to experiment,” Thibout told participants, as she explained the day’s design process.  “Be careful, the press is hot,” she added, advising participants that the press’ temperature is 200 degrees Celsius, roughly 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  

The Workshop Residence is located in Dogpatch’s burgeoning locally-made products district, which includes Modern Appealing Clothing store – which sells apparel produced in San Francisco – and Piccino, an Italian restaurant and coffee bar that creates meals from locally-grown food.  Hatch started the business in Dogpatch because she wanted to be part of the neighborhood’s “newness.”  It’s a “vibrant, frontier-like place,” she said.

 The Workshop Residence, which is a for-profit business, hopes to promote cross-pollination among craftspeople, artists, and designers, with residencies that increase awareness of the creative community.  So far residents have been internationally-recognized artists and designers, but the enterprise will be inviting emerging artists as residents too.  Residents are encouraged to collaborate with the Bay Area’s artistic, academic, and craft communities.

We provide “the space, tools and, collaboration to make new products,” Weeks Earp said.   The goods made are practical items people can use in their everyday lives, such as jewelry or a bowl.  The Workshop Residence’s summer resident, Dirk Van Saene, designed two cup and saucer sets.  Martha Davis, who began her project last fall, created several prototypes of women’s shoes.  One design featured an adjustable-height heel.  The other had a heel crafted from a pine cone.  

Leslie Ceramics, a Berkeley business, worked with Van Saene to create a custom tint for the cup and saucer sets, which resulted in a new glaze color for the firm.  An Oakland ceramist produced 200 small-size and 200 large-size sets.  

Products created through The Workshop Residence are sold to the public at its Dogpatch warehouse, through local retailers, and online.  Proceeds are split 50-50 between the artist and The Workshop Residence.  Prices tend to be significantly less than other similar works of art.

The Workshop Residence has hosted three residents since it renovated its space last August.  It expects to host about eight each year.   The length of each residency largely depends on the artist.  “We are flexible,” Weeks Earp said.  “It can be as short as two weeks, if the idea has been conceived and prototyping can be achieved in two weeks…and we want the process to be participatory too, between the shop, the designer, and the public.  When people stop at the shop, they will be able to buy items and see designers at work.”

The Workshop Residence is located at 833 22nd Street, www.theworkshopresidence.com.

 

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