parham waddell | what’s new

Owing to the winter doldrums, I’ve been stoking a lifelong obsession with small sailing vessels, albeit through books, the internet, and visits to the Smithsonian. The focus of this particular love affair is the beautiful Melonseed Skiff. These lttle wonders are a modern adaptation of the duck hunting boats that plied the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays in the late 1800’s. Today, they are typically constructed of fiberglass, or wood sealed with fiberglass cloth and marine epoxy. The nicer builds are traditional lapstrake, with brass hardware and lots of other goodies. The Melonseed is a versatile design that sails in winds light or heavy, and is even rowable when a breeze is non-existent. The simple sprit sail and a pair of oars stow inside the boat, making a tidy trailering package. There might be one in the garage soon.

[Photo: Pete Roth’s Lapstrake Melonseed via A.A. Cozzi]

Hamburg, get ready to welcome a new collection of (mostly) Porsche memorabilia in April of 2008. PROTOTYP - Personen, Kraft, Wagen will be housed on two floors of an unidentified historic building, and will showcase classic coupes, one-off racers and a variety of photos and curiosities (including Ferdinand Porsche’s personal watercraft).

[Pictured, middle] A race-prepped Porsche 356A isn’t the most ecological means to get around a racecourse, but it’s hard to argue against it being the classiest, and probably the most fun. It’s interesting to discover that a 1948-1951 production Gmund 356/2 could manage 27-35 miles per gallon of petrol. Nonetheless, it’s fair to say that most automobiles of this type and vintage are rarely driven more than a few hundred miles a year. If that still isn’t green enough, there are options for those seeking the ultimate in emissions-free performance wrapped in a classic package. A few companies offer custom conversions, including World Class Exotics in Florida and Electro Automotive in Seattle. These folks can electrify most anything, even a classic Speedster or 356 coupe (for upwards of $30,000.) Quite a few electric Porsches (and replicas) already exist, such as this torquey 550 Spyder repro built by Peter Ohler and Thunder Ranch.

Speaking of Porsche, the 1900 System Lohner-Porsche is credited with being the world’s first hybrid gas-electric vehicle. In this early iteration of the ultimate greenie status symbol, a Daimler and Panhard engine powered wheel-mounted electric motors (that’s right, wheel mounted!) The carriage itself could reach 35 miles per hour. Impressive, and represents a perfect example of regressive technological applications to solve new (old?) problems.

2.14.08 Update: A very nice 1958 356 outlaw similar to the racer above is available for purchase from Emory Motorsports in Oregon. The cabriolet’s asking price is $70,000 firm. *Disclaimer - we have no affiliation with Emory, but note that they tend to have some very nice track Porsches.

7.29.08 Update: Now that the museum is open, lots of great photos are emerging. Noteworthy images live at CarDomainBlog, Schiffbruch’s Flickr, and Manli’s Lange Nacht der Museum HH 08.

It’s sometimes easy to forget humanity’s first mode of transportation - the lowly foot. When it comes to shodding these humble appendages, it’s hard to do much better than with hand-crafted shoes. Unfortunately, the skilled cobbler is a rare and dying breed. This is true even in Florence, of Italy’s most renowned centers for shoemaking. However, all is not lost when one ventures down the narrow Via de’ Federighi to find brilliant yet understated creations inside Il Micio.

The proprietor is one Hidetaka Fukaya, a Japanese-born craftsman who relocated to Florence in 1998. Though Fukaya-san’s store is small and might easily be missed, his passion and creativity have drawn a loyal following. One of his more notable creations is a men’s brogue hewn from rare Russian reindeer hide that was salvaged from the wreck of the Danish Brigantine Metta Catherina, a ship that sank off the coast of Plymouth, England on December 10, 1786. The hides were rescued from the frigid depths in 1973, and promptly found their way into the hands of a few leatherworkers. Aside from their age, the hides are interesting in that they were tanned with willow and curried with birch oil. This is uncommon today, where toxic compounds have almost completely supplanted natural vegetable tanning. Fukaya is one of the few masters forming footwear from this leather, and devotes himself to honoring his materials.

Il Micio di Hidetaka Fukaya
Via de’ Federighi, 6r
Negozio T 055 212295

[images via The Sartorialist & Mestiera della Moda]

Back on the 10th. See you then.

Add these to the wishlist. Beautiful wood and stainless steel bicycle fenders, handcrafted by Ezra Caldwell in NYC. We don’t carry these, but it would be nice. Alas, maybe a set of Yohei pinstripes will miraculously show up under the tree in a few weeks. Maybe even affixed to a custom Moyer, which I would enjoy forever and a day.

Fast Boy Fenders

Artist & builder Uula Jero handcrafted these beautiful bikes from salvaged components in his Finnish workshop. VeloTribute - A collection of amazing machinery paying homage to classic cycling.

Gallery Grappo

[via empire collective]

Thanksgiving isn’t even here yet, but everyone else is already in the Christmas spirit so we figured ‘Why not?’ And yep, those letters are really rooftops. Of real buildings. See for yourself. Unfortunately, they’re not yet covered in acres of solar panels. Or vegetated roofs with pretty flowers and tasty vegetables.

Lartigue’s Winter Pictures

by Elizabeth Foch
Flammarion, 2003
hardcover

$26. [3 available] ReOrder.

Jacques Henri Lartigue photographs of winter play at the French Alps resorts of Saint Moritz, Chamonix, and Megève. Features skating, skiing, ice hockey, bobsledding, curling, and general snowy merriment in the winter of 1913.

Lartigue is perhaps best known for his historic photo of Rène Croquet’s #6 Theophile Schneider racer. The car was captured as if leaning-forward-at-speed during the XIII Grand Prix de l’A.C.F. July 12, 1913 at Amiens, France. For those concerned, Croquet finished 10th, almost 2 hours behind the first place Peugeot EX3 of Georges Boillot.

Mucho apologies for the site being so slow lately, but more on that later. Nevertheless, folks like k. cooper over at hoping for happy accidents help to keep this fledgling enterprise on it toes. Her blog has long been (in internet time, at least) a source of inspiration, and I’m pretty sure I visit almost every day. If you’re looking for simple, aesthetically pleasing design of all types, check her out. (And be sure to see the links, the many, many links.) I’m glad she found the recent entry on the School House Museum worthy of inclusion. Thanks for the mention k.

As for parham waddell, sorry for the lack of updates. My day-job as a renewable energy & sustainability consultant (read: poor civil servant trying to change the world) is a constant strain on my mental faculties. Fortunately, it’s extremely rewarding, not to mention the dramatic public shift in consciousness is taking place before our eyes. With each mention of going green on Sundance or Oprah, in your favorite magazine, or at the local car dealership, the workload increases every so slightly. I’m trying to find a way to tie this all in with the mission of this little webshop, which is obvious on your computer monitor, but much more difficult in practice. But as they say, patience is a virtue, so stay tuned. You haven’t been forgotten.

-emil

[sneakpeek image via designsponge]

The Christian Home School

wood, brick, glass, iron, steel
1932
Isle of Wight County, Virginia

It’s high time we’ve added more diverse topics because, you know, there’s a lot of cool stuff in the world. First stop…this post. The plan is to highlight some of the architecture, historic sites, interesting people, and general miscellany encountered on our trips. A leisurely weekend drive on the roads winding through these forgotten places slows the mind, and helps to put into context earlier days when good design was simple, personalized, and extremely local. It also doesn’t hurt that life moves a good bit slower alongside these narrow lanes. Thus, the roads and buildings and pace provide the perfect setting to air out the sometimes temperamental but always enjoyable classic modes of transport.

Buildings such as The Christian Home School are simple yet elegant, and served to educate the minds that would later grow into the talented folks that engineered the technical marvels we love. Every now and then, it helps to remember how these folks lived, learned and worked on the path to creating the design icons of our past. Of course, this particular building is not for sale but it would make a nice shop, or general multipurpose building. The aesthetic is basic and functionally beautiful. There are large windows to allow natural light, plenty of room for solar shingles, and a raised foundation to facilitate cooling. It is historic in origin but still very capable of serving a legitimate function in modern times. Ironically enough, many of today’s product manufacturers had humble beginnings in small structures similar to this one. The School House Museum