Hi everyone! My name is Lindsey Sage and while I am an interior designer by trade, it is my passion to engage and collaborate with the design community that led me to become a business developer for TangramStudio - a team of talented industrial designers and engineers that can transform office design ideas and concepts into real office interiors solutions. Hi everyone! My name is Lindsey Sage and while I am an interior designer by trade, it is my passion to engage and collaborate with the design community that led me to become a business developer for TangramStudio - a team of talented industrial designers and engineers that can transform office design ideas and concepts into real office interiors solutions. The party everyone talks about but never knows what to call…was the best event for the group yet! Some call it Young Downtown Los Angeles, others No Networking Allowed Event, and only the brave call it 2 Jews and a Blonde Dude…whatever it’s called brought in over 600 guests to the Penthouse Suite of the AT&T Center last night!
Justin Weiss, Azzi Kashani, and Mitch Carricart make up the threesome people call “2 Jews and a Blonde Dude" - a group of friends that were sick of stuffy networking events where the one goal is to get business cards of prospective clients or partners. They started having these events about a year and a half ago and it’s grown into the sensational event it was last night!
This event brings out Los Angeles’ finest from businesses like Northrop Grumman to organizations like the Weingart Association. Tangram sponsored the event with office furnishings from Steelcase and Coalesse…but the hottest part of the design came from a last minute inspiration from our commercial flooring division. Fred McGinn from Tangram Fabricators came through with some sexy red carpet tiles that were strategically placed throughout the space. What a hit!
The chairs were full, the music was pumping and the drinks were flowing. It may have been “No Networking Allowed” but when hundreds of people are crammed up against the bar to get a drink…you get to know each other pretty well! If you’re interested in attending the next event please contact me and I’ll get you on the list!
Justin Weiss, Azzi Kashani, and Mitch Carricart make up the threesome people call “2 Jews and a Blonde Dude" - a group of friends that were sick of stuffy networking events where the one goal is to get business cards of prospective clients or partners. They started having these events about a year and a half ago and it’s grown into the sensational event it was last night!
This event brings out Los Angeles’ finest from businesses like Northrop Grumman to organizations like the Weingart Association. Tangram sponsored the event with office furnishings from Steelcase and Coalesse…but the hottest part of the design came from a last minute inspiration from our commercial flooring division. Fred McGinn from Tangram Fabricators came through with some sexy red carpet tiles that were strategically placed throughout the space. What a hit!
The chairs were full, the music was pumping and the drinks were flowing. It may have been “No Networking Allowed” but when hundreds of people are crammed up against the bar to get a drink…you get to know each other pretty well! If you’re interested in attending the next event please contact me and I’ll get you on the list!
Every year on the Tuesday of NeoCon, Tangram hosts an amazing dinner at Socca in Chicago. Mitchel found this little diamond in the rough 6 years ago and it was love at first sight.
This year was our largest event yet, with almost 40 individuals from the commercial interior design community and Mitchel had dinner served family-style so we were able to get to know our neighbor really well! We enjoyed a great meal with our friends from Los Angeles…and my idol and mentor, Pam Light (HOK) was there with us which made it extra special for me!
Debra and I stopped by the Mannington Commercial showroom on the Tuesday after NeoCon, the office interiors event of the year, to see our Los Angeles designer friends compete to win a commercial flooring design competition…and both won!
Athena Abrol (WWCOT) won with her tx:style design named “Blue Matrix” and Laurel Peters-Harrison (AECOM) with her tx:style design named “Rainfall”. They will have a collection in Mannington’s 2010-2011 series! Way to go!
Athena Abrol (WWCOT) won with her tx:style design named “Blue Matrix” and Laurel Peters-Harrison (AECOM) with her tx:style design named “Rainfall”. They will have a collection in Mannington’s 2010-2011 series! Way to go!
On my recent trip to Neocon I was introduced to Sensitile - a Detroit, Michigan based manufacturer of innovative surface materials that dynamically respond to light.They had this really cool material call “Jali” - which was "inspired by traditional Indian stone screens" that I brought back to Charlotte to inspire her and our team on upcoming projects! It uses the daylight and ambient light to power movement around it to create this dazzling rippled affect!
I can't wait to apply this to one of our custom office furniture solutions!
Tangram Fabricators, the commercial flooring division of Tangram, and Mohawk sponsored a soiree at The Annual Blues Festival in Grant Park on the Sunday before NeoCon - the commercial interior design and office furnishings event of the year!
Even the rain couldn’t dampen the Tangram powerhouse of Jessa Finnegan (Tangram Fabricators) and Paula Christiansen, (Tangram Architectural Solutions) and of course, yours truly. We all may have needed to huddle under umbrellas to keep our manes from turning to mops, but we were jamming to some amazing blues tunes! We also had the rockstars from Los Angeles with us including Laurence Cartledge (Rottet Studio), Pam Juba (HOK) and our friends from AECOM, Tom, Meredith, Bruce, and Chris!
The heart of Blues still lives in Chicago and we had a blast experiencing it…so much that we even went to a Blues Bar outside of town again on Tuesday night.
Even the rain couldn’t dampen the Tangram powerhouse of Jessa Finnegan (Tangram Fabricators) and Paula Christiansen, (Tangram Architectural Solutions) and of course, yours truly. We all may have needed to huddle under umbrellas to keep our manes from turning to mops, but we were jamming to some amazing blues tunes! We also had the rockstars from Los Angeles with us including Laurence Cartledge (Rottet Studio), Pam Juba (HOK) and our friends from AECOM, Tom, Meredith, Bruce, and Chris!
The heart of Blues still lives in Chicago and we had a blast experiencing it…so much that we even went to a Blues Bar outside of town again on Tuesday night.
Mitchel had this great idea a few months ago to get our employees to take a break from the busy world of office furnishings and have a Rock Band competition internally for our office. Like all of Mitchel’s “Great Ideas” I’m thinking…”what am I getting myself into?!”
So having no idea on how to play the game, what equipment we needed, or how to make a competition out of a game that is designed to compete individually…we scheduled the event for April! We got people from all the departments within the company involved!
I appeared in the most ridiculous costume rockin’ my hot pink vinyl boots…oh yeah- and that hair! I figured…I might as well go over the top…if I can’t play the game why not look like I should be IN the game, right?! We opened with an update on how Studio is doing, navigated through our new website, and talked about some of the custom office furniture projects we’re working on!
Everyone joined in for a go at the game and it left everyone laughing by the end of the night…or maybe they were laughing at my superstar costume?!
Rock on!
So having no idea on how to play the game, what equipment we needed, or how to make a competition out of a game that is designed to compete individually…we scheduled the event for April! We got people from all the departments within the company involved!
I appeared in the most ridiculous costume rockin’ my hot pink vinyl boots…oh yeah- and that hair! I figured…I might as well go over the top…if I can’t play the game why not look like I should be IN the game, right?! We opened with an update on how Studio is doing, navigated through our new website, and talked about some of the custom office furniture projects we’re working on!
Everyone joined in for a go at the game and it left everyone laughing by the end of the night…or maybe they were laughing at my superstar costume?!
Rock on!
We finally have a fantastic website that displays what we are all about! Tangram Studio has done so much over the past years on the design and engineering side of our business that the old website wasn’t reflecting all the great work that had been done!We NOW have images of completed work, work in progress, and even our conceptual office design ideas! Find out how truly talented our Team is and be sure to read about our environmental mission, including how we focus on using sustainable office furniture in every project! You are sure to find our Approach like no other…our meticulous attention to detail and passion for innovation stand us apart from our competition!
We’re excited to display our work on this fabulously visual website with the same integrity as our work is designed and engineered!
Enjoy!
What does IIDA’s Haute Couture Rockstar Event have in common with commercial interior design and architecture? It takes some pretty talented people to build band costumes out of commercial fabrics and materials…on top of their daily careers!The designs displayed at this year’s event were UNBELIEVEABLE! We sponsored Taylor Architects with their “Girl Band” theme and rocked the Spice Girls!
We worked for 8 weeks on designing vinyl masterpieces, choreographing our routine, but more importantly…getting to know each other! I found out that Vicky Goodchild from Taylor grew up close to me in Michigan and went to Kendall College of Art and Design only a couple years before me!
Opening up with “Wannabe”…the crowd sang! We rolled from one song to the next, dancing and singing, Spice Up Your Life!! We rocked out that night and had a blast…would have made the Spice Girls proud!
Behind every custom office furniture project we work on in OUR business…there are rockstars making it all happen!
Thanks Taylor Architects for a great experience!
When we first met the architects, we were driving through Venice looking for the right house when Charlotte saw an Orange House with their address on it...she knew this was going to be a fantastic project! Inspired by the Orange House she met with the team and learned that the client didn't have the office design layout to support traditional cubicles.
Their collaboration led to a vision - "if we used curved corners the client can increase their station count by 20%". The mission was to get as close to walls and meet code clearances by creating 18" radius corners.
This was the pinnacle of the office space design challenge for Studio: "How do we engineer curved corners?"
Manufactured wood drums have the 18" corner we need and they are really attractive - but really pricy!
To keep within budget we decided that steel was going to be the best option, until...we calculated that the weight of using 1/8" steel skins was prohibitive to the building - workstations weighing 700 lbs. are as heavy as a Bison! Plan C - ALUMINUM...it's true, 3rd time is a charm! We achieved the look and radius we needed and the workstation weighed 50% less.
We then ventured out to create prototypes for curved corners for 42" high skins with our local metal vendor. They decided that we could get a more accurate curve by bump forming. Bump forming? We thought this meant getting Mitchel to jump up and down on a pogo stick to form the 18" radius...but when that didn't work we realized it meant to use a break press that hits the panel every 1/8" causing it to slightly bend. After you hit each panel 52 times you achieve the 18" radius!
Once the prototype was built, we applied an interior felt panel treatment that functions as an acoustical tack board with a cleat that aligns the panels.
THE CLIENT LOVED IT!
Their collaboration led to a vision - "if we used curved corners the client can increase their station count by 20%". The mission was to get as close to walls and meet code clearances by creating 18" radius corners.
This was the pinnacle of the office space design challenge for Studio: "How do we engineer curved corners?"
Manufactured wood drums have the 18" corner we need and they are really attractive - but really pricy!
To keep within budget we decided that steel was going to be the best option, until...we calculated that the weight of using 1/8" steel skins was prohibitive to the building - workstations weighing 700 lbs. are as heavy as a Bison! Plan C - ALUMINUM...it's true, 3rd time is a charm! We achieved the look and radius we needed and the workstation weighed 50% less.
We then ventured out to create prototypes for curved corners for 42" high skins with our local metal vendor. They decided that we could get a more accurate curve by bump forming. Bump forming? We thought this meant getting Mitchel to jump up and down on a pogo stick to form the 18" radius...but when that didn't work we realized it meant to use a break press that hits the panel every 1/8" causing it to slightly bend. After you hit each panel 52 times you achieve the 18" radius!
Once the prototype was built, we applied an interior felt panel treatment that functions as an acoustical tack board with a cleat that aligns the panels. THE CLIENT LOVED IT!
What appears to be a simple aluminum exterior skin is actually a highly engineered series of brackets and cleats that hold the exterior panels together in a neat and concealed style...creating the Voluptuous Metal Skin!
Now that's a sexy workstation!
450 Engineering Drawings
8 Vendors
Product in Production
Stay Tuned for Installation Photos!
450 Engineering Drawings
8 Vendors
Product in Production
Stay Tuned for Installation Photos!
Out in front of The Palm, cool wind in our hairThe crisp smell of Los Angeles, rising up in the air.
Mitchel being Mitchel, me on the phone while Debra's grabbing ice
Who knew at that point anything would turn out so fabulously nice.
Off to LA Live we went, checking out a pimped out suite
Frantically setting up...the crowd getting back we're trying to beat!
Justin Weiss fluently speaking on LA's past, present and future
While having a glass of wine, there isn't much it can't cure!
Passing buildings left and right, wondering...
Who might need custom office furniture this fine night?
'Round the corner, best french dip at Cole's (who knew)
Or if you're feeling extra feisty, go through the secret door to tip a few.
Rabbit, Buffalo, Rattlesnake...
How many exotic sausages can Wurstkuche make?
At the end of the day...who has the best time?
TangramStudio of course...
On top of creating sustainable office furniture,
they share their stories with a rhyme!
Do you have a tale to tell or favorite spot in Los Angeles? Share them with us in the comments below!
WOW, what a fantastic place Pasadena is to have a drink and laugh with friends!!
Debra Haas (Tangram) and Marci Loftin (Corporate Contractors) put together "Mrs. Robinson's Night Out" and it was evident that this group needed a night off. We all needed a break from the world of office furnishings and commercial interior design, so amongst some of the best in the industry we toasted with a glass of wine at Bodega Wine Bar!
After blinding Michele Sterling (Leo A Daly) by utilizing my fabulous photography skills, I ended up with a great picture of all of us...thanks for being a trooper Michelle!
When you work hard, you must play hard as well - so as the night started with wine, cheese and tasty pizzas, it ended with dancing to the best music from the '90s! You know once 'Hotstepper' (by the Lyrical Gangster himself, Ini Kamoze) hits the speakers it's time to dance!
Although I haven't had the pleasure of working with any of these great guys and gals yet on a custom office furniture project yet, we all have a common design bond and I look forward to collaborating with them in the future!
I would love to hear how you maintain your work/life balance in the comments below!
Debra Haas (Tangram) and Marci Loftin (Corporate Contractors) put together "Mrs. Robinson's Night Out" and it was evident that this group needed a night off. We all needed a break from the world of office furnishings and commercial interior design, so amongst some of the best in the industry we toasted with a glass of wine at Bodega Wine Bar!
After blinding Michele Sterling (Leo A Daly) by utilizing my fabulous photography skills, I ended up with a great picture of all of us...thanks for being a trooper Michelle!
Although I haven't had the pleasure of working with any of these great guys and gals yet on a custom office furniture project yet, we all have a common design bond and I look forward to collaborating with them in the future!
I would love to hear how you maintain your work/life balance in the comments below!
Coalesse recently hosted an event at the Steelcase WorkLife Center in Santa Monica to introduce their new indoor/outdoor furniture collection - EMU.The showroom came alive with fantastic office furnishings, sensational steel drums and phenomenal photography. Even the screaming fire alarm couldn't put out this party's flame! And to top off the evening you could even take home Pinkberry!
I was so inspired I couldn't resist throwing the photographer my best Zoolander "Blue Steel" impression!
As an active member of Upward Gravity, I attended Community Day at Environmental Charter High School and spent a couple of hours touring their campus and learning about what and how they learn. I was truly inspired!The dedication the students have to the environment and education is nothing less than progressive; it was truly amazing! There were debates on technology (on whether it is bad for the environment), presentations on topics such as quality of life, what progress means, how to make the American Dream sustainable and senior theses on a newscast about our individual impact on the environment. Some of the students have even given presentations to community leaders in Los Angeles about what needs to be done locally to make a difference.
During my visit, I met many supporters of ECHS, one of which was Jayni Chase, founder of The Center for Environmental Education (and wife of actor Chevy Chase). The CEE was started in 1988 "acting on the belief that positive environmental change must begin with the education of our children." Jayni's commitment and dedication to this belief is immediately evident. I also had the pleasure of meeting Sara Laimon, Director of the Green Ambassadors, the outreach program of ECHS that, "empowers youth to be agents of change in their communities and world." ECHS is making strides that ranked them in the top 3% of public high schools by U.S. News & World Report and have earned them an EPA Environmental Award.
Upward Gravity and ECHS have started a partnership which will enable student involvement in the creation of solutions to environmental and sustainable challenges through design competitions. We have already stimulated prompt involvement with the Art and Algebra teachers by offering them materials and supplies (provided by TangramStudio) to engage the tie between these subjects and their relation to commercial interior design, office furnishings and their effects on the environment.
ECHS is the school of the future...
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