Unique LA Spring Show Day 2

For day two we thought it would be fun to switch it up and rearrange the booth a bit. A lot of overthinking goes into booth display, so it's hard to say which one was more effective, but I personally liked having all the shirts in one spot and all the prints in one spot. However, I really can't pick a favorite.

Unique LA Day 1

Here's the set up I had for day one at Unique LA.











I'd write more about it, but I'm still exhausted from the busy weekend. The show was four days ago and I still haven't recovered. In fact, there were so many awesome vendors to check out I'm still suffering from visual overstimulation.

New Collaboration Coffee Table With Aaron Gomez

Aaron Gomez and Jeff Claassen Collaboration Coffee Table
Handmade, awesomely unique and totally one of a kind.
$1,200



Ipe wood and FSC certified ply handmade table with original painting and epoxy resin finish. Total production, 30 hours.

Aaron Gomez has been creating masterful woodwork furniture for more than 12 years. He uses FSC certified sustainably produced wood, promoting reforestation projects wherein for every tree harvested, another is planted and grown to maturity. No old-growth trees are used in this process. This table is made from Ipe, a beautiful deep-grain patterned high density wood of the iron wood family. Very strong but also very difficult to manipulate and work by hand. Aaron produced this table over a period of more than 20 hours.

Jeff Claassen has been painting professionally for 12 years. His painting process includes: spray paint, acrylic paints and india ink on wood; under an epoxy resin coating, for a protective, glass-like finish. Jeff produced this painting directly on Aaron Gomez's finished tabletop over a period of ten hours.







To see more of Aaron's work please visit www.craftslo.com.
To see more of Jeff's work please visit www.jeffclaassen.com.

Join the Claassen Gallery Group!

Hello folks! Some of you have noticed that facebook has changed the whole "fan page" feature. In my opinion fan pages have been reduced to the equivalent of a status update. The option to send a message to all "Fans" has been eliminated which is part of what made fan pages so great. Well, enough of the ranting and onto new adventures.

FACEBOOK GROUPS! The Claassen Gallery started a group page to replace their fan page. PLEASE join The Claassen Gallery Group to keep informed on what's going on with all things Claassen! Please spread the word by sharing this link. All of your continued support is much appreciated!

Jeff

click here to join - Claassen Gallery Facebook Group

Staying At The Stay

I finally hooked my phone up to twitter so I can promote Unique LA in real time during set up and as the event progresses throughout the day. My computer time the last couple of weeks has been limited quite a bit as I've been preparing for this event so I've taken to using twitter a lot more. And fancy me, I even set up a twitpic account! If twitter's your thing you can follow me at twitter.com/jeffclaassen.

So, today consisted of going to bed at 4:30am after a long night of packing and taking inventory on all the goodies I'm displaying at Unique. I woke up at 9:09am and was on the freeway heading south to Los Angeles at 10:45am. We went straight to the venue and set up. Seeing all the booths was super exciting. I am still in awe at how many vendors take their booth so seriously. It's awesome. I've been to shows in the past where people throw a table cloth over their table and that's it. At Unique though, the vendors aren't messing around! I feel honored to be included. Ok, more about the show later. Today was strictly set up and tomorrow it's open to the public. Come by and check it out! I'm booth 231. For directions and whatnot visit uniquela.com.

For tonight's excitement we're staying at...get ready for it, Stay. This place is awesome! I'm in the lobby right now as I'm typing and am totally stoked. Rooms are $25-$65. And check out how awesome this place is.

















Did I mention the room I'm staying in has a hand chair. I feel like Buster in Arrested Development.

Late Night Production!

Making tons of tote bags for the Unique LA show this weekend. I've also been making a ton of other stuff. I finally printed some shirts too! It's probably been a year or more since I printed shirts, so thanks to Unique I made the time to print some. I'll try to post some photos later today.





Come say hi to me at Booth 231 this weekend at Unique LA! I'll have lots of goodies for you.

Unique LA Spring Show 2010

Los Angeles, Here I Come!

I've been making things like crazy over here in preparation for Unique LA. If you're in or around Los Angeles this weekend please come by and check out this awesome event.

Taken from the Unique LA site:

The 2nd Annual UNIQUE LA Spring Show hits April 24-25!
The largest independent design show in the country, attendees get the rare chance to meet and shop directly from over 300 hand-selected designers and artists. The exciting two-day shopping event makes it easy for you to buy local and support LA's economy, discover great design and deals, join in community, and have a blast! Over 95% of the products at the show are proudly made right here in the USA!

On top of shopping the wide variety of offerings, the event boasts many exciting Extras & Amenities, including free workshops, an eco lounge, and two cafes featuring some of LA's best restaurants and gourmet food trucks. Plan to spend the day with us!

When: April 24th & 25th, 11am - 6pm both days
Where: California Market Center's Penthouse (110 East 9th Street - Map It)
Cost: $10 at the door or in advance (kids 12 and under are free).

Your admission includes:
- Free drinks & a hosted bar (IZZE, Honest Tea, water, beer, UNIQUE cocktails)
- Unlimited re-entry for both days
- Your very own collectible tote bag, exclusive to each show… The Spring tote is designed by LA graphic designer Keith Scharwath! Sweet.
- Free eco workshops and cool handmade activities all weekend, brought to you by Your Daily Thread and Quayside Publishing
- Family/Kids creativity zone and seating area
- Access to giveaways and door prizes all weekend long
- Souvenir copy of the Vendor Directory + Mini Magazine

Please visit uniquela.com for more info.

Get Me Some Marshmallows!

I wonder what it means when your first thought upon seeing your toaster oven on fire is "Where's my camera? I've got to document this." as opposed to, "FIRE!" and rushing to get water.

Vacation - New Painting

I'm super stoked on these black and white pieces I've been working on, so I thought it would be fun to make a smaller version. Here ya go!


"Vacation"
5" x 5.5", signed on the back
$75, plus shipping.

For more info and to purchase click here.

Thanks for looking!

Flipping Is Badass!

A few months ago my friend Pat made a short film with Jordan Rabe doing flips off of a bunch of stuff. He used my gallery as one of the locations. Check it out!

Pat is an awesome film maker. See more of his stuff at http://vimeo.com/patricklawler.
Jordan not only flips like a mofo, he also plays bass for From The Top. Check his band out at http://www.myspace.com/fttpop.

Late Night Factory

It's a late night factory over here! All of these pieces are awaiting the resin coating. I decided to start mounting all the cookbook pages on wood. I've done a couple by request in the past and I really liked how they turned out. Anyway, the resin coating takes 2-3 days to fully harden, so these pieces should be available to purchase by the end of the week. I might hold onto them for Unique LA, which is coming up soon, but if I can't fight the temptation you'll see all these new cookbook pages on etsy.

That's it for now. Sweet Dreams!

A Confession

I normally am not possessed with the urge to punch sixty-eight year old dudes in the face, but if you are tapping your fingers extremely loud on the counter at the post office at 9am annoying everybody while showing off that your sweater vest matches your beret than I just might. Also, there is something to be said about your decision to leave the house wearing socks and Birkenstocks at the same time.

Crazy Elephants!

I just got some of these awesome shirts in the gallery! I have med, lrg, and xl for men. For women I have sml, med, and lrg. I just put them on the rack an hour ago and already sold one, so if you want in on this crazy elephant action act fast.

If you're not in SLO, don't worry, I have them available online at claassengallery.bigcartel.com.
They are made by MNKR Clothing and are $28 each.

SCORE!

My life is now complete! What this was doing at Von's I have no idea, but it's mine now. On my nightly trip to the grocery store to pick up Gatorade and frozen pizza I decided to look at the DVD section and to my surprise "Delirious" was front and center. Right then and there I cancelled all the plans I had for the night so I could rush home, lay in bed and laugh my ass off. And that is exactly what I did.

Caught In The Moment, New Painting

"Caught In The Moment"
5" x 5.5" - acrylic and india ink on wood, signed on the back.

$75, plus shipping.

To purchase please visit my etsy shop.