{"id":38511,"date":"2015-07-21T06:00:26","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T10:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uncommongoods.pro\/?p=38511"},"modified":"2018-01-04T11:00:26","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T16:00:26","slug":"round-up-the-kindling-and-light-up-the-campfire-candle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/2015\/round-up-the-kindling-and-light-up-the-campfire-candle\/","title":{"rendered":"Round Up the Kindling and Light Up the Campfire Candle"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Portland designer Joe Gibson<\/a> finds inspiration at the nexus of the pristine natural world and practical modern design:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the remarkable natural beauty that surrounds us, combined with the creative culture of Portland, that drives my design aesthetic.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"IMG_5379\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Joe is the main creative force behind Revolution Design House<\/a>, a small maker-space in Portland, Oregon, where he and his business partner Dylan craft handmade home furniture and accessories. It\u2019s easy to see his nature-meets-modern-design mantra manifest in some of his most popular designs \u2013 first with the runaway success of his Boxcar Planter<\/a>, and most recently with the way cool Campfire Candle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"PicMonkey<\/a><\/p>\n

He refers to his innovation of the candle as a \u201chappy accident\u201d \u2013 probably along the same lines as the first Homo erectus<\/em><\/a> to innovate the campfire campfire<\/em> . It was after the Boxcar Planter<\/a> process that Joe honed in on his design philosophy \u2013 \u201cexploration and investigation with no expectations\u201d \u2013 but the spark was truly lit after Joe tinkered with X-ACTO knife and geometric shapes\u00a0during an intensive 3-hour workshop on 3D form\u00a0he and Dylan teach through Oregon College of Art and Craft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"PicMonkey<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of the workshop is to let go of expectations and to begin manipulating the shapes into more unique objects, not by pre-determining the shape but by responding to what is right in front of them,\u201d Joe says. He assembled a simple form almost on impulse and took it home to contemplate what it could be. \u201cA candle seemed be a natural fit since the forms I were\u00a0making were hollow cavities,\u201d says Joe. It was later that night \u2013 over a few beers with his team \u2013 that his wintertime longing for a camping trip spontaneously inspired the campfire candle.<\/p>\n

\"Joe<\/p>\n

Joe perfected the design to be \u201can amalgam of a long-established, traditional candle-making process with a modern design twist;\u201d he uses old-school techniques alongside a sleek, geometric form.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly assumed it was going to be an easy, no-brainer. I was wrong! Candles seem really simple, but the science of the wax and wick are tricky. Candle making is truly an equal ratio of science and art; everything matters, from the size of the wick to the shape of the candle and everything in between.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite having some serious metal and woodworking experience under his belt, working with wax initially went a bit against the grain for Joe: \u201cI knew very little in traditional candle making, so I did quite a bit of research and tons of prototyping.\u201d To melt the wax for the candles, Gibson jury-rigged some slow-cookers, which he still uses to this day. The wax is poured into two-piece silicon molds and cooled.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3473\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This process is called \u2018gravity casting\u2019 \u2013 \u201cthe concept is rather straightforward, and surprisingly, we’ve been able to manufacture quite a lot of candles here in our shop.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IMG_5320\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s likely that Portland, Oregon will continue to kindle the flame of Gibson’s creativity for some time. He\u00a0moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2004 to attend Oregon College of Art and Craft, where he graduated with a double major in Wood and Metals: “My plan was to move back to San Diego once I finished with school, but after a year of being here I knew the Pacific Northwest was the place for me. The creative energy and natural beauty were just too strong, and after five years of school, I jumped right into being a full-time maker.”<\/p>\n

\"Joe<\/p>\n

“Portland in general is a great place for creative folks to do their ‘thing.’ It nurtures craft in every aspect. We pride ourselves on craft brew to craft bikes and even the craft of sea salt!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Maybe you don’t live in an area with easy access to grounds for tents and trails, or maybe you’re just trying to stave off the compulsion to get a fire going and roast marshmallows on your living room floor; either way, Gibson’s candle serves as a beacon of the great outdoors, the Pacific, Northwest, and the creative community of Portland no matter where you light the wick.<\/p>\n

\"blogcta-campfirecandle\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Portland designer Joe Gibson finds inspiration at the nexus of the pristine natural world and practical modern design.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":38585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[743],"tags":[967,37],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/170"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38511"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38635,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38511\/revisions\/38635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}