Today we’re having a chat with Darin Montgomery of urbancase, to find out how his company came to be and to take a look at some of their work, from the design of a shelf to the interior design of an entire restaurant. Without further ado…

Sidebar in Walnut

How did your company get its start? What led you here?
I had a sculpture studio in South Seattle and was building custom furniture on a limited basis when I met a couple of cool guys who had a design/build firm across the alley. We immediately hit it off and started collaborating. It was a particularly interesting time in Seattle because quite a few restaurants and coffee shops were opening and we were able to work on a number of cool projects. The experience pushed me further towards designing functional objects and the idea of a furniture studio grew from there.

Subway Cushion

I’m inspired by thoughtful design (of any type) and a simple life.

1.2 Chair

What’s your favorite material to work with at the moment? We’ve been experimenting with Corian recently and have been having great success. But…walnut usually makes its way into the mix.

How does your team work together? What does each one of you bring to the table? One of us will generally come up with an idea or concept and throw it out for consideration. We’re comfortable sharing ideas without fear of sounding ridiculous even if something doesn’t come directly from it. And we’re honest and direct in our opinions. We each have different skills and backgrounds that seem to complement each other, but I believe it’s what we don’t bring to the table that is most important…ego.

Tell me a story about one of these pieces of yours that we sell. We were setting up at ICFF and I received a phone call from a gentlemen who, after he identified himself, I recognized because we shipped a Ledge to him the week before we left.

The conversation went like this:

Customer: I have a crate from urbancase sitting in my office and I have no idea what it is.
Me: It’s the walnut Ledge you ordered. We shipped it last week and sent the                           tracking number to your office.
Customer: What the @#%+ is a Ledge!?
Me: It’s our wall mounted desk.
Customer: I own a textile company, what do I want with a wall mounted desk.
Me: You’re asking the wrong guy…I didn’t order it.
Customer: (Laughter)…I guess you’re right.

We spoke later and had another good laugh. Someone in his office ordered the Ledge for display and a photo shoot and he wasn’t aware of it.

urbancase Ledge – Walnut

You’re also a design firm; please share a few portfolio shots from your projects with us! 1) Tilikum Place Cafe in Seattle. This used to be a print shop. Worked with the chef/owner on a full interior design:

2) All City Coffee – Seattle. A collaboration with Steve Withycombe on interior fixtures:

3) Residential railing – Seattle. Collaboration with NY based architect Mallory Shure:

Thanks so much to Darin for taking the time to share a little of his history and his work with us today! Personally, I would love to see a new, ridiculously sleek wine rack named Frankenrack that would redeem him from his early failure with glue.

See all urbancase products

Loving this wall from Flickr member kitschcafe (Drew, a graphic designer and blogger from Cincinnati). It shows you you can unify a group of items through color, and enliven up a piece that might be junk. Love the combination, love that red-orange, love the reflection, love the chairs. Thanks for sharing Drew!

Drew also has an etsy shop. In fact, I’ve bought from him before and the product and service was superb – I highly recommend stopping by for some browsing!

Show off your favorite spaces in our Fresh New Spaces Group.

A few weeks back on Facebook I wrote something like “Storage Wars. Pawn Shops. Exterminators. South Beach Tow. Kate Gosselin. I think it’s safe to say there are too many TV channels.” Well, I have to take back what I said about Storage Wars. As a big part of my rockin’ Friday night last weekend, I happened to catch a marathon on A&E, and it’s so addictive, I can see how the characters on it are addicted to the allure of someone’s abandoned storage locker full of junk. Basically, when someone abandons a storage locker, it’s put up for auction. Collectors and people who own consignment and thrift shops bid on the contents. They are only allowed a peek inside. While flashlights are allowed, going inside the locker or opening boxes is prohibited. The show follows a hilarious crew of characters who try to outbid each other, each with their own instincts about what a box or garbage bag inside may mean. By far, the coolest dude on the show, maybe on the planet, is Barry:

He’s a collector who will buy a locker in search of one cool thing. If it turns out to be guitars (he sees a guitar pick and a Bob Marley poster on a locker floor and senses instruments may be hiding under a sectional sofa), he calls up a buddy to help him figure out the value. The buddy just happens to be in Aerosmith. Barry is a combination of a slick Michael Douglas character and Jack Nicholson and your own father. He’s charming, he has a bunch of crazy cool cars, and I suspect he may be a bit of a hoarder, but perhaps a very organized hoarder.

The only con in watching this show? The thought of how many bedbugs are probably in some of those lockers makes me itch. Especially when thrift store owners take upholstered furniture and bags of old clothes to sell in their stores. Ick.

When I was a kid, A&E stood for Arts and Entertainment, and its programming was heavy with the arts part. Along with Bravo, it was full of boring Shakespeare and stuff no kid wanted to watch. It’s so funny how reality television has taken over these channels and what their identities are now. A&E has gone from Opera to Gene Simmons in just a few decades. Go figure.

Have you watched this show? If so, who is your favorite character and what was your favorite treasure that they have found?

• images from A&E.com

New at DesignPublic.com this week: ModProducts, Sitting Bull, Pattern People for Hygge & West. Enjoy!

As summer nears its end, I’m wondering, which design books are you reading? I’ve had a few out all summer; a few that watching Million Dollar Decorators on Bravo inspired me to buy, a few I picked up at the Borders going out of business sale, and a few that just sort of came across my desktop and I impulse-bought, so I thought I’d share. We’d love to know which design tomes are inspiring you this summer; please share them with us in the comments section!

Here are the eight that I’ve had out for easy reference this summer.

Mary McDonald Interiors: The Allure of Style:  I absolutely loved Mary’s personality on the show, though they were not able to show very many of her big projects. You’ll need this book to check them out.

Summers in France: I absolutely fell in love with Kathryn Ireland on the show as well, wishing she was someone I had a weekly margarita date with. Her personality shows through in this fantastic book, where she shares her farmhouse in the French countryside. She also includes information about how to be a good guest (bring something back from the market when you go, rent your own car, don’t ask to borrow Kathryn’s laptop, and don’t throw cigarette butts in potted plants).

Bunny Williams’ Scrapbook for Living: I admit, I just judged this one by the cover, the fact that it involved Ms. Williams, and the fact that it was deeply discounted in the almost-wiped out design section at my neighborhood soon-to-be-empty Borders store.

Undecorate: The No-Rules Approach to Interior Design: Founder of DwellStudio, Christiane Lemieux, has been a friend of this site for a long time, and it’s been a ball to watch her success. Here, she explains her approach to design (there is no specific approach) and features all kinds of comfortable and stylish spaces that break all the usual rules.

Decorate: 1,000 Professional Design Ideas for Every Room in Your Home: We’ve also been following blogger Holly Becker since the very early days of her now extremely popular design blog, Decor8. It’s so much fun to hold a copy of her baby, this book, in your hands and wonder “how the hell did she come up with A THOUSAND ideas?!??!!” It’s also funny to have a book called “Decorate” right next to one called “Undecorate.”

The Happy Home Project: A Practical Guide to Adding Style and Substance to Your Home: I LOVE this book. It is one that truly inspires, not just through it’s beautiful images, but through the direct instructions and advice given by Jean Nayar. She also lives by example, having delved into all of the topics she discusses like the journalist she is, and applying their lessons to her own life.

50 Bauhaus Icons You Should Know: OK, another Borders bargain. I’m taking their word for it. One Bauhaus icon I’d like to forget? Those awful sweatbox Gropius dorms at Harvard. The worst! By the way, I just did a summer program at Harvard, I’m not trying to front like I am a Harvard grad. If you really must know, I applied there for grad school and was rejected. But I digress. This is just a good book to have to round out the serious design shelf.

The New Traditional: This book came out several years ago, but I am cheap and didn’t wind up getting it until I could score a used copy at a good price. It’s a nice one to have around because Darryl Carter’s work is a very good lesson in curating and editing. It makes me look at traditional items with fresh eyes.

Which design books are capturing your attention and inspiring you this summer? Please let us know in the comments section!