Portland rundown

I was away most of the week, in Portland, OR. I was there for The Kitchen Conference, where I learned some interesting things, met some really nice people, and had a very fine time. A few of the interesting brands in attendance included Method (which comes up in Buying In); gDiapers (7/23/06 Consumed subject) and Yolo Colorhouse. Big thanks to my gracious hosts there, and I may have more to say later about some of the topics that got me thinking while I was there, but in the meantime, check out host Maxwell PR’s blog, FreeThink.

I hadn’t been in Portland – a city I like quite a bit – in a few years. And I did manage to do a few other things and see some other folks outside the conference.

For instance, I got a chance to check out John Jay’s Studio J space in Portland’s Chinatown section. Mr. Jay is executive creative director and partner in Weiden + Kennedy; Studio J is his own creative consultancy, basically devoted to projects he’s interested in – it’s a little hard to characterize neatly because these are fairly diverse.

More on that and other Portland highlights for those interested, after the jump.

So for instance he and his wife are working on a line of soaps using crushed pearl and other shmancy ingredients, and worked with Don Tankersley Construction and Allied Works Architecture on a new home in Portland’s West Hills that looked pretty amazing.

Also in the studio he had up some work by a photographer whose name I wrote down as Bruce Wolf.

I may have that spelled wrong and will correct if so. The images were incredibly strikes shots of squirrels and birds and other animals who had been killed by the photographer’s cat. (Again, if I’m off on the details, will fix.) Sounds gross but they were really visually engaging, and I kept getting closer and closer to stare at these things that I would have looked away from in real life. Pretty intriguing. (Engrossing?) My snapshot above doesn’t do the work justice, I’m afraid.

Anyway we also had a really nice chat. Mr. Jay is a smart fellow, and always full of surprises.

I also got to pay a quick visit to the Blue Sky Gallery (where E is having a show in July), and really enjoyed the photographs of snow and ice by Lisa Robinson. Nearby was the Museum of Contemporary Craft, so I figured I may as well check that out. Turned out to be a great place, and I really enjoyed the downstairs show, “Framing: The Art of Jewelry.”

I made it across the river to visit Office, pretty cool little store, and drove out to see one of the retail locations of the much-hyped apparel brand Nau.

Finally, I enjoyed some good grub at ¡Oba! (thx ¡Carr!); Bijou Cafe; and Voodoo Doughnut, which I was very curious to visit and was, in fact, awesome.

Those were some of my personal highlights this time around. There was was an awful lot more I wanted to do, but the clock ran out. Next time.