Wrap-up

During senior project, I have worked at a company called Alpha Workshops.  Alpha is an amazing non-profit that trains people with HIV/AIDS in the decorative arts, giving them the skills and direction that they need to get back into the work force.  While Alpha is identified as a non-profit, it also doubles as a business because the people at Alpha create and sell product.  They produce an array of home furnishings from wallpapers to fabrics to lamps.

From day one I was put into work mode.  Every day there was a new project, new tragedy, and new success.  The people at Alpha had me answering the phones, getting samples, designing a road kit, and promoting Alpha itself.  Along the way, they kept reminding me that I was able to say no to the jobs they gave me, and also that if there was anything I wanted to do I could tell them.  I never turned down a job only because I hope to one day be involved with design in some way.  That said, I appreciated how caring Alpha was, understanding that I was there to help them and therefore making sure my time was spent how I wanted to spend it.

Since I designed the road kit, I memorized all the wallpapers, faux finishes, and color ways of all of Alpha’s products.  This made getting samples for prospective buyers extremely easy, plus it allowed me to do a lot more with Alpha.  I was able to identify what we were out of, as well as talk about our biggest seller (Horizon).  For the faux finishes, my personal favorite was the faux marble.  This marble was used on the floor of Gracie Mansion, a fact which some of the newer employees didn’t even know!

Then I promoted Alpha through social networking.  I expanded both their Facebook and Twitter fan base as well as promoted various events Alpha was having by utilizing Facebook’s tools.  Every year Alpha has a benefit, which includes an auction.  Part of my job was soliciting auction items as well as sending out the invitations.  I addressed, stuffed, sealed, and stamped 3,540 envelopes in addition to hand addressing 65 envelopes where we asked for donations.  I also asked for donations over the phone, but for some reason my nerves took over (this included, “Hi, I’m with Hannah” instead of “Hi, my name is Hannah and I’m with Alpha Workshops.”)  Luckily, the people on the phone were generally very nice and laughed with me.

The people that make up Alpha are incredibly welcoming.  Every day I was invited to lunch, was asked to sit with them at the table, and asked my opinion.  They always remembered my name and smiled at me when I came in the room.  One thing that I thought would pose as a problem, but later ended up being an asset, was my lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS.  It became an asset because they were willing to teach me about what living with HIV/AIDS was like and I was told on multiple occasions that they were so happy I was interested in expanding my knowledge.  I thought of myself as ignorant but they looked at it as the younger generation investing time in a cause that has changed their lives forever.

D&D Building

My mom is the graphic designer for many of the showrooms in the Decoration and Design building on 3rd avenue and 59th street.  Because of this, I know many of the designers that Alpha works for.  The Design community is so close knit and everybody is linked together somehow.  Tonight I am going to the showroom opening of Andrew Miller who buys and resells antiques.  I’m really excited because I can promote Alpha as well as meet other designers.  One particular designer, Eric Cohler graduated from Hobart William Smith (where I will be going next year) and I met him once before when I helped out with the Donghia Foundation’s scholarship competition where he was a judge.  I hope to meet him again because he was really nice and now that I know where I’m going I’d love to talk to him about it!  I’ll post tomorrow about my experience there.

2 weeks left!

I’m sorry I haven’t gotten to post recently!  The past week I have been addressing, stuffing, stamping, and sealing 3,540 envelopes.  Its definitely been hard work but I love it because I sit in a very central location in the office to do this so everybody comes over and talks to me when they need a break from their work.  I’ve heard such an array of stories.  One thing that I really appreciate about the people here at Alpha is that they are willing to educate you on their illness, which they actually refer to as a blood disorder.  I definitely approached the topic with hesitance because I didn’t want to seem ignorant or rude, but they encourage me to ask questions about it.  One of the main things I learned that changes the way I see HIV/AIDS is that HIV is based on a series of numbers.  The higher your number, the less contagious you are.  Once your number reaches zero, it means you have AIDS.

I really wish I didn’t have to leave in 2 weeks, but I know I can come back any time and feel welcome.  I don’t work on Fridays and last Friday I came in to get some papers and everybody said “HI HANNAH!!” as if they hadn’t seen me in years and then they gave me a piece of cake.  I think I can work with that!!

I’m beginning to think about my presentation and I’ve realized that there is no way to explain how welcoming and wonderful Alpha has been to me.

Just a quick update!

I just wanted to quickly say how happy I am to be at Alpha.  It is such a great community and everybody is extremely nice.  The offices are in a building with 17 floors, Alpha being on 4 of them (14th, 13th, 12th, and 3rd).  This morning I took my apple and made my rounds around each floor running up and down the stairs.  I said “hi” to everybody and everybody smiled, remembered my name, and told me what they were doing as well as asking me about myself.  I felt like Eloise at the Plaza, running from floor to floor with everybody recognizing me and making me feel welcome in their workspace.

In lieu of Eloise, I absooooolutely positively love my job at Alpha.

Did I sound like her???

Albrecht Durer

Chapter 4 of Secret Lives:  Albrecht Durer

Albrecht Durer is a German artist who was best known for his sales man persona, the only reason you know his art is because of the way he could sell what he was doing.  Albrecht is considered the first business man of the art world, designing pieces for mass production and allowing people of all classes to afford art in their homes, specifically his.

His most famous engraving is called Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513)

Durer is an artist that clearly history has kept rediscovering and finding new ways to appreciate him.  Other artists in this book make their name with that one painting that floored everybody, yet Durer’s ways of thinking are the reason he is in this book.

What Durer did that was so ingenious for his time is made things that the public would appreciate.  He found out what the public was interested in, created it, printed it, and then hired three salesmen to go around Italy and promote his work.  In 1495 when he was 24 he became a large part of the Nuremberg thinking set and quickly became friends with many humanist scholars.  They described his work as “one of the liberal arts rather than a mere craft.”

High Tech Toilet

Provided that you haven’t used up your 20 views for the New York Times wesbite for the month of April, you absolutely need to check out this new toilet design.  It has everything you don’t need and didn’t realize you wanted, until you read about it.

The High-Tech Toilet by Kohler is a $6,390 toilet.  It comes with eco-friendly flushes, dryer, foot warmer, and sound system.  The toilet has some weird features though, like a stainless-steel cleansing wand (for what exactly?!) and the sensory system is ridiculous.  The lid automatically lifts up when you arrive and the sound system starts, a deodorizer comes on, (provided your put your feet in the appropriate place) the toilet makes your feet warm, and if you’re a man you can hit a button with your foot and the seat rises as well.  This is all pretty awesome, but it sounds more like a really versatile La-Z-Boy chair so if you buy this, expect a long line for your bathroom.

The Mona Lisa

So now part 2 of the Leonardo da Vinci post, focusing on the Mona Lisa.

Contrary to popular belief, the Mona Lisa is not a man.  I personally never saw it but I recall hearing people spreading rumors about her.  She was a Florentine housewife, Madonna Lisa Gherardini.

This painting has taken time to become so amazing and about 350 years after it was painted was it truly appreciated.  It began in the hands of the king of France, Francis I, once Leonardo died where it was not put on display.  Then after the French Revolution, Napoleon briefly had it hanging in his bedroom at the Tuileries Palace.  Then in 1804, the work was hung in the Louvre, a portion of the palace which was converted to the gallery.  However, the Mona Lisa had competition considering that works by Michelangelo and Raphael’s work was far more popular in the museum.

The Mona Lisa became noted around the mid-nineteenth century by French Symbolist poets purely by accident.  French Symbolist poets were enthralled by femme fatales, “women believed to be as devouring as they were beautiful.”  and somehow, the Mona Lisa found herself in this grouping.

Once the French public became aware of how astounding the Mona Lisa was, it was stolen.  The theft drew international attention in 1911 until 1913 when (clearly unintelligent) Vincenzo Peruggia, former Louvre employee, called an art dealer from Florence and offered to sell him the Mona Lisa that he stole two years prior.  From there, the rest is history.

Approximately 8.3 million visitors go to the Louvre each year (according to numbers from 2006), all who see the Mona Lisa.  The Mona Lisa is now encased in bullet proof, climate controlled case.  Interestingly enough, the climate controlled aspect of the casing is absolutely key to the preservation of the Mona Lisa because Leonardo hated painting on wet plaster like many of the artists of his time.  Because of the fact that he used oils on dry surfaces, his paint cracks and peals.  Without the casing, the Mona Lisa would most likely chip away as time goes on.

Leonardo de Vinci

Chapter 3 (because chapter 2 was rather boring) of Secret Lives: Leonardo da Vinci

If anything, da Vinci’s name is probably one of the most widely known names in the art world because of his paintings, Mona Lisa (“La Gioconda”), and The Last Supper.  I admit an error I made though, he was never called “da Vinci” but rather Leonardo.  When signing documents he was “Leonardo ser Piero [son of Piero] da Vinci”.  Surnames were not popular for lower and middle class families so the “da” aspect of the last name actually says where you’re from.  For example, I would be “Hannah ser Dan da New York”.  I’m obviously not Dan’s son but you get the picture.

Leonardo had very bad ADD and therefore has very few “completed” works, even though Leonardo claims that “art is never finished, only abandoned.”  Maybe he was just making an excuse for himself, however there is no way to know.  In 1476, Leonardo was accused of being homosexual and fled to Milan in 1482.  Upon leaving Florence, he left behind half finished pieces as well as sculptures, and about 13,ooo pages of notes.

Two strange facts about Leonardo: 1.  He loved to design war machines, 2.  He was an excellent lute player.

In 1516, Leonardo went to France to become the king’s painter, but really just ended up being there to converse with the king and died shortly after in 1519 from a stroke.

The Mona Lisa deserves her own post.

The non-profit

This will sound silly, but I never fully understood how much dedication and time needs to be put into running a non-profit.  For the past day and a half I have been on a foundation website, reading hundreds of companies bios to see if they would donate to us for scholarships.

In addition, I have been answering the phones.  Mostly the calls are people wanting to see samples or who have questions about Alpha as a company.  Of course I am not experienced enough to answer these questions but I wish I was, hopefully by May 13th I will be.

This internship has made me respect Alpha even more than I already did.  Not only is this a non-profit, which organizes a great opportunity for people with HIV/AIDS, but they are also an interior design business with orders to fill.  So my day consists of trying to find donations, as well as organizing the show room in the front of the office.  Technically, Alpha has double the work of a company and non-profit.

Next week I will be going down to the work rooms and photographing them so you can more accurately understand how dedicated the designers are.  What they produce is stunning, all faux finishings.  I can’t wait to go downstairs!  I’ve been there a few times but I’m excited to watch them hand paint the wall paper and see how they create a wood grain or marble finish!

Jamie Drake

Yesterday I met Jamie Drake!  In the interior design world, Jamie Drake is a celebrity because he is able to make a room complex and simple at the same time.  Simple meaning it is easy to the untrained eye and complements itself.  Complex meaning that to somebody with experience, it is much more than just a room but rather a piece of art that you are walking into, with connections through astounding creativity.

Another reason why Drake is so admirable, he always seems to remember the non-profits linked to his profession.  For example, he did a favor for an architecture firm and the architect Jeffery Goodman.  Goodman asked Drake, “How can I thank you?”  and Drake responded, “Donate money to Alpha Workshops.”

It is people like Drake who challenge the constant assumption that designers are difficult to deal with.  I have never met somebody so respected in their field who was also so lovely to talk with.  He had questions for me about me and didn’t seem to care that I was just an intern.

Drake and Alpha have worked in collaboration multiple times, most notably in Gracie Mansion.  Drake has been Mayor Bloomberg’s designer for the past 20 years!

You’ve probably seen Jamie Drake’s face on the side of buses because he and two other designers partnered with Benjamin Moore paints.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to talk with him for a large amount of time but I was thrilled to have met a board member of Alpha as well as such a notable figure in the interior design world.