Sandwiches

SIGNS THAT OUR NEIGHBORHOODS DON'T SUCK: FAIRMONT ELEMENTARY SLOW FOOD GARDEN

Fall is here. It's unmistakable, unavoidable. So embrace it. How? Swing by the Fairmont Youth Farmers' Market, at 520 West 3rd in Baker (one of our not-sucky neighborhoods, thank you very much), and enjoy the harvest. The produce comes from the simple and lovely slow food garden behind the school on the north side of 2nd. Fairmont is a dual immersion academy for grades K-6, with Spanish-speaking and English-speaking kids in bilingual classrooms, side-by-side. Seems smart, like the garden and the farmers' market. Almost (well, almost almost) makes us wish we were back in school, but that's probably just a symptom of our fall fever.

DESIGN GRAVEYARD: SHEEPADILLO

These guys are strange beasts, yes, but they've always had a certain charm to us. We've pitched the Sheepadillo to more than one client, hoping someone will eventually swing and connect. He's a bit Armadillo coffee table, a bit Sheep credenza, hence the goofy name. The idea came from our scant storage space around the shop. We inevitably stack works-in-progress. Put the top half of a chest of drawers or a sliding door entertainment cabinet on an Armadillo and you may just like what you see. We certainly did. Someone else will, one day, we're sure. If it's you, just call us and say the magic word: Sheepadillo.

ROADRUNNER SHOEFITI: DENVER, BROADWAY AND ELLSWORTH

We could have just as easily posted this in our Signs Our Neghborhoods Don't Suck series since it certainly is one of those. It's our neighborhood to be sure—just down Ellsworth from our shop, a short walk with the Cities X Design documentary crew a couple months back. And the South Broadway Christian Church is a handsome building with a handsome mission, reasonably and proudly claiming to welcome all. We've only ventured inside during the Denver Post UMS and the musicians and their music seemed more than welcome. Our shoefiti certainly look at home on the wire out front, especially with their calling card stenciled on the pavement down below.

ART BY ARTISTS WE KNOW: JASON THIELKE

Jason Thielke—4 panels from 400 Birds, 2007. 4 full panels at left, details center and right.

IS ELLE DECOR LIKELY TO PUBLISH THESE?

Highly unlikely, though we hate to prejudge. A perfectly nice man contacted us from Elle Decor—a glossy, fancy, home style magazine—asking for photos of our studio or showroom space to accompany a travel feature about Denver. Seems they were kind enough to mention DoubleButter in the article. So here's what we sent them. A little run-down and ramshackle? Sure, if you want to be that way. We see it as honest, rough, workmanlike. And it's a work in progress, so cut us some slack. If you want to come by, give a ring, bring some beverages, and watch out for the dog and the fool with the bb rifle.

ETHAN HAWKE

Millard Tillman sent us this pair of images earlier today—a camera-phone photo and it's inverted twin. Nice shot and, yes, mildly cheesy to just show the negative adjacent. But hey, Millard knows we have 976 pixels to fill, and he just had the one shot. What are you gonna do? In any case, the pair works in our eyes. Got us thinking (at least one of us, anyway) about the strange inversions in our own lives: something strange happens, then its sort of opposite happens, or its inverted twin. It's been that sort of summer and now early fall. All very vague, we know, but be on the lookout: it could happen to you. By the way, that's Dexter on the MIG, with his Ethan Hawke tribute gloves.

DESIGN GRAVEYARD: NIXON WATCHBOXES

We'll admit that there are more of these buried design ideas than we'd like, though some are dead for very good reason. This one is an exception to that last bit. It should have been built, should still be built. It was never actually pitched to the client since between the time we drew it up and the time we were to give it to them the project was killed. Blame the recession? Sure, retail was seriously reeling when we worked on this and it was meant to display Nixon watches (and their then soon-to-be-released headphone line) in retail shops. So yeah, we blame the bloody recession. Or is that Recession? Epic it seems now but we'll let history make the call.

HORSEHEAD CRATING INTERVIEW: DARNELL TILLMAN

So, at last we sat down to talk with Darnell Tillman, Clovis Tillman's younger and less abrasive brother (or so we had come to believe), half of the original Horsehead Crating Company crew. As with Clovis some months back, we hoped to find out more about the Tillman clan, especially now that they're coming out of the woodwork and chucking Roadrunner shoefiti on our behalf. No luck now as before. If you're looking to kill some time, a few of the semi-sensical bits of the chat are below.

DoubleButter: We've been working with you for a few months now. Seems like you might be a bit of a ladies' man?
Darnell Tillman: You asking me or telling me, Kessler?
DB: I'm asking you. Is that picture you gave us meant to encourage that idea? The idea of you as a playboy?
DT: That'd be like saying a photo of a sunset is meant to encourage the idea of a sunset. Don't make sense.
DB: Hah. What, you're saying your attractiveness to women is a force of nature?
DT: I'm saying that sunsets are beautiful. Why would you question beauty?
DB: Christ, please. And the chickens? What's with the chickens? You said you had a great idea for a new DoubleButter product having to do with chickens and we don't get shit out of you but the same recycled photos of chickens you gave us months ago. What the hell?
DT: You'd been paying attention, boys, you'd have figured it out by now. Maybe you a little slow, huh? You think you're pretty smart. You're not.
DB: What are you talking about? Paying attention to what?
DT: Something other than your own reflections. When was the last time you talked about something other than DoubleBubble? To me or anyone else?
DB: We're talking about chickens, dickhead.
DT: You are. I'm talking about something else.
DB: What is it with you guys? We hire you, buy your sad little company, and all we get is grief. Endlessly.
DT: You blame your grief on me?
DB: You're gonna get your ass whupped.
DT: Easy, Kessler. Be cool. Ask me another question.
DB: I'll try one: Why do you call Dexter "Kessler"?
DT: Why do I call who what?
DB: DEX-TER! KESS-LER!
DT: "KESSLER! KESSLER!" Calm down. What are you shouting at me?
DB: You call Dexter "KESSLER." Do you understand me? Clovis said your hearing was a little off. Are you fucking with me?
DT: You're not my type. Sorry.
DB: Can we get a straight answer out of you?
DT: Sure. Sorry.
DB: You were a big part of the design of our logo, mainly in developing the db hand sign and trying to get it out onto the street. Why that logo? Why a logo you can make with your hands?
DT: That's why: you make it with your hands. Your hands make you you. Your hands. The furniture you make with them. And it's a fun thing to do. It's a fun thing to get strangers to do. People should enjoy themselves. I always do.
DB: Is that what the shoefiti is really about? Having a laugh?
DT: What do you mean really about. Clovis told you what that was about.
DB: Come on, that bullshit about some Tillman family tradition?
DT: No bullshit, Kessler. All true. But yeah, of course it's fun. What's the point of doing it if it's not fun? What's the point of anything? Love and laughter, boys. That's all there is.