by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Storytelling | Jul 28, 2015
Design explorations, teaching and creativity We know what we know by virtue of where we have been, and what we recall of that pathway. As designers and creatives, everything comes from journey. It’s where we’ve been and where we’re going. There are symbols that are...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Storytelling | Apr 22, 2014
When you draw a letter, what happens? A drawing is a drawing out; draw a letter, the string of story unspools and it’s something more. A letter is a map, an anciently originated succession of markings, a thought cartography, a seared, scarred, scratched, penned,...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Storytelling | Sep 26, 2013
The journey out, and the journey back; looking forward to where you’ve been. I was rowing, and as I pull ahead, off the beach and into the choppy slipstream of the salted sea channel, out to the open oceans, I saw that I was rowing away from where I had been,...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts | Sep 19, 2013
The metaphor of the Rod, the Ring, the Line, the Circle. I think symbolically: when I try to find the answer to a problem, I draw it out. And for me, it’s that: “drawing it out.” Like a string, a line, a movement. A dance. The idea of a stroke having...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Storytelling | Apr 26, 2013
Drawing People [in] with Flowers, the Flow of Story in the Craft of Rendering Ideas In my beginnings, I drew flowers — and sold them as art pieces and gifts; then, at Christmas, I did groupings of flowers, silkscreened and signed in limited editions of...
by Tim Girvin | Brands, Concepts, Storytelling | Mar 22, 2013
Brand, story, object and ritual. The art of the axe, chopping wood, arranging wood, starting fires, it holds a string of stories for many. Being in Portland, a proverbial city of the Axe, has built a culture around the axe. The axe is a splitting adze, a blade that...
by Tim Girvin | Artists, Brands, Concepts, Cool People, Storytelling | Aug 1, 2011
L E A D E R S H I P M A G N E T I S M In the modeling of a group of people, there is invariably a “power pole.” Working with people, I look for that energized place of energy. Who’s there? In the clustering of people, there is the layering of the...
by Tim Girvin | Designers, Interior Design, Places, Storytelling | Jul 18, 2011
(Girvin) Himalayan mountain protective talisman THE TALISMANIC STRING Coming into the office in Seattle, on one wall there is a string of talismans; they’re arranged — as a threading, running from the front of the office, the opening door, to the entry...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, Interior Design | Dec 31, 2010
Exploring symbolic design strategies in the making of place: experiencing deeper meaning in architecture The granary, the watchtower, the guiding light — metaphors of transition for 2010>2011 Over 40 years of working as a designer, I’ve been thinking about...
by Tim Girvin | Concepts, General | Dec 15, 2010
What lies beneath: the nature of the x, the cross road, the crossing guard, the mark of the x and the magic of the nexus. Girvin imagery | screen or site shot from handheld The symbolic allegory of the x mark. When I was in Bali, I was surprised by the...