With a brand new apartment on Wall Street, she’s elected to explore the possibilities of a more modern space. Toward that end, Sharon commissioned People of Resource to create new custom furniture for her home, but also to modify some existing vintage pieces. We’re excited about this approach because it aligns very nicely with our own predilection toward mixing new and old.

Depicted above (photograph kindly made by Sharon herself) is the first piece of this project: a vintage marble coffee table for which we turned some new walnut legs. Forthcoming will be a solid walnut dining room table, six dining chairs, and another carefully modified vintage piece: a magazine rack from the home of Sharon’s grandmother.

Deviant gave us an opportunity this week to revisit this territory.

The Challenge: Deviant needed a way to thank an executive at a certain well-known Atlanta-based beverage company for his partnership on a number of endeavors.

After a quick interview and some research, we proposed a modern, custom, break-out waterfall table with a laser-etched dedication. “Sounds perfect,” Deviant told us. “One problem: security at the company is tight: you can’t bring furniture in.”

To further complicate things, Deviant wanted the table to be a surprise gift. We had to install the table and get in and out of the company HQ while the recipient was to be in an hour-and-a-half long meeting.

Meh.

So, to overcome all of this, we designed the table for rapid installation and discreet transportation – utilizing the language of heavy duty portfolio cases, the table packs up to look like something a hopeful design job applicant would carry around for, oh, you know, an entry-level packaging job.

Using this excuse, we made it past security, installed the table, took some Polaroids, and made it out before the intended recipient got back to his office.

Now we’re just trying to figure out if we can get away with adding the term ‘mercenary’ somewhere on our resumes.

Our work encompasses industrial design, interior architecture, photography, film, art direction, graphic design, and interactive design. This transdisciplinary approach creates a rich, energetic studio environment and helps us to see the gamut of possibilities in a new light.

Our purpose is to work alongside our clients to dissolve their creative problems. Our commitment to doing our best possible work builds trust and reputation, transcending disciplines and categories. We are change agents and our propulsive positive attitude brings out the best in the people we work with. We share a desire to collaborate with companies, individuals, and institutions who are interested in making things better.

Located in a renovated telephone factory on the Eastside of Atlanta, People of Resource is a lean office, able to offer stronger results and accelerated schedules at highly competitive rates.

We work side-by-side with our clients to envision, research, design, prototype, and deploy experiences, products, and services.

These solutions can take the form of:

-Strategy
-Workshops
-Art Direction
-Branding
-Graphic Design for Print and Web
-Interactive Design
-Photography
-Filmmaking
-Product Design
-Furniture Design
-Interior Architecture for Offices, Retailers, and Restaurants

Our Clients

We are humbled to work with an ambitious and diverse group of leaders. Our client list includes:

-Savannah College of Art and Design
-Georgia Institute of Technology
-Malcolm Fontier
-Deviant Ventures
-Jonathan Adler
-The Jones Group
-Modern Atlanta
-Info Retail
-Armchair
-SEEDR
-Coca-Cola
-Fossil

David’s work has garnered numerous design awards and recognition from blogs, publications, and design institutions. His firms have served a wide range of clients, from giants like Coca-Cola and Fossil Inc. to innovative start-ups like the Center for the Visually Impaired and No Brakes Atlanta.

The Jones Group, one of Atlanta’s leading advertising agencies, brought together a team of professionals to completely overhaul their offices. Led by interior designer Caryn Grossman, the team consisted of lighting designer Christopher Moulder, artist Michi, contractor Shane Benefield, and People of Resource. Our contribution was the design and fabrication of all the workstations, along with breakout and conference tables.

Solution

The primary material used is Kirei board, a compressed ply board material created from reclaimed sorghum straw. We utilized Kirei along with 3-Form Chroma, powder coated steel, and formaldehyde-free MDF.

Features of the designs include integrated power routing in the table tops, under-table computer mounts, and magnetic whiteboard partitions.

Results

Upon delivery and installation, the space immediately appeared more cohesive and efficient, with the interaction of Kirei board and antique brick taking on a romantic undertone. This project won People of Resource a 2009 Atlanta Downtown Design Excellence Award.

Roots Atlanta provides an encouraging and challenging support system to enable young people to flourish from the inside out. The heart of this organization and its desire to serve in a meaningful way attracted the People of Resource to run alongside its pursuits and actions.

After creating an identity and web site for Roots Atlanta, we approached them with a program of fun and interactive custom furnishings. When the unexpected difficulties that come with every start-up effort appeared, the time and budget demands tightened significantly.

Solution

We responded to the situation by calling on local organizations for donated materials, and using some clever design details to deliver an exciting, modern, and functional space.

With the help of the local school system surplus and Mohawk carpets, we were able to obtain old art tables, work tables, chairs, and carpet tiles.

We fabricated a shelving system out of a single piece of reclaimed walnut to showcase the best children’s books. By retrofitting affordable Ikea shelving with a mason jar storage system, craft supplies became easy to find and organize. We also utilized extra legs from school desks to make a maple reading table and a twelve-foot, solid, heart-pine bench.

Results

The space is now brimming with fun and excitement. Just from walking in, kids can feel the energy and intent of Roots’ energetic founder, Nicki Keys.

Luckie Food Lounge is the restaurant debut of visionary club entrepreneur Mike Boles, the developer and former owner of Atlanta’s Compound night club. Benefitting from an ideal Centennial Hill location that brings in locals and visitors alike, the enormous eatery features a fantastic world of the latest technology and clever new service industry twists.

While Creative Director at thing farm, David VanArsdale, along with thing farm Designer and Operations Director, David Ringholz, designed and fabricated custom interior furnishings and lighting for the sushi bar area of Luckie. The initial vision for sushi bar seating entailed multiple tables and a continuous overhead box light. This brief, though it accommodated some of the needs of use, failed to answer some of the more exciting questions related to community, privacy, and interaction.

Solution

Understanding the context of the space, the design team approached the volume as a sedate oasis in an otherwise intense dining and entertainment experience. The alternative plan that emerged consisted of a single, unified bamboo table and multiple overhead lighting pieces.

This approach fueled a reconsideration of the entire sushi bar area on the owner’s side and resulted in their request for the design of a flowing bamboo ceiling that interacts with the structural steel used in the building.

With our clients’ approval and full confidence, we produced our proposed twenty-foot bamboo communal dining table along with twenty-nine custom light fixtures.

Each ‘Luckie Blossom’ light pendant was designed, machined, and hand-assembled in-house from aluminum, delrin, and silicone. The pendants actively respond to movements in the space below. As people move beneath the blossoms, they magically open up to welcome and bathe guests in a soft glow produced by halogen bulbs resting in tubes of microscopic glass bubbles.

Results

The resulting sushi-bar area succeeds in allowing the refined, industrial aesthetic of the surrounding restaurant to cross-fade with the organic glow of the massive tropical fish tanks behind the sushi bar.

This project was honored with the 2007 Atlanta Downtown Design Excellence Award for interior space design.

David Daniels is an Atlanta-based architect with an extensive portfolio that includes restaurant interiors, private residences, and modern live-work spaces. With experience at nationally-recognized firms like Cooper Carry and Ai Group under his belt, David approached us ready to accelerate his private practice.

People of Resource’s relationship with David goes back – we’ve designed and fabricated furniture for a variety of his interior architecture projects. This history allowed People of Resource the luxury of already being familiar with David’s distinct style. The longevity of our relationship with David is something we take great pleasure in.

Solution

David’s work features distinctive contemporary forms. We approached the identity for David Daniels Design particularly inspired by his local residential projects. We elected to represent this work through a form that resides in the area between two- and three-dimensionality.

By developing an architecture based on project type, creating project pages that focus on imagery, and highlighting his best work through a rolling feature page, we established the breadth and variety of his portfolio.

Results

We created a clean environment that allows David’s work to be viewed at a high resolution, highlighting the striking character and precise details of his spaces and exteriors. The identity we created for David aligns with the aesthetics and quality of his architecture to reinforce his brand and build awareness of his practice in the marketplace.

A PDF Booklet we created about the project is available for download in the sidebar of this post.