urban dog stick

The Urban Dog Stick by Paul Gort. (Shown in walnut. Contact for other options.) For the dog lover who has (almost) everything.



















Listed in the Canadian Design Resource. A commentary on the appalling lack of good sticks in the inner city. As Gort puts it "would you let your best friend chew on something he found just lying on the ground"?

refined pallet

When you live in an isolated northern community, the search for art and design inspiration more often than not involves trips Outside and many an hour online. It's a rare treat when something fresh and innovative appears close to home - in this case, a few metres from my house.

For several years now Paul Gort has been working away in his studio outside of Whitehorse with a mission to bring modern design and quality craftmanship to the cabins and suburban boxes of the north. In a town where a place called The Country House is considered high style and The Brick the height of contemporary, Gort Fine Woodworking has had its work cut out for it.

This winter, in conjunction with the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, audiences south of 60 will have a chance to view a new Gort original making its debut at the Canadian Craft Federation's exhibition "Unity and Diversity", a celebration of the best of Canadian fine craft. If you're in the area next February, stop by the Vancouver Art Gallery and check it out.

"Pallet Table" is from Gort's new line of studio furniture pieces aimed at reclaiming the concept of fine craft by taking the temporary and cobbled together forms and vessels so beloved by do-it-yourselfers and reforming them into objects of enduring and unique beauty.

"The Pallet Table reintroduces audiences to the ubiquitous shipping pallet. Found in alleyways and dumpsters across the land, the lowly pallet is seen primarily as a vessel for transporting goods or by do-it-yourselfers as a source of crude material to be reused for makeshift purposes. My reinterpretation stays true to the familiar form but is finely rendered using solid black walnut and traditional hand-crafted joinery as a direct challenge to our perceptions of quality and longevity."

To check out more of Gort's designs visit him online.

baby, it's scary outside

Forget the cold, baby it's downright scary out there and designer Tristan Zimmerman ain't about to let us forget it. In these troubled times, there's no excuse to forgo any good fear-based opportunity, least of all in our home furnishings. These "park planters" fit the bill nicely.





























For the extra vigilant who prefer to be kept constantly informed about exactly how afraid to be in a given day, Paul Gort's home version of the security meter is a must-have. Tastefully designed to discreetly complement any decor, you need never worry again about being caught inappropriately fearful or less.
























and so concludes the second installment in my "7th commandment" sunday fireside series.