#reclaimnouns

[ctsommerville]

Why reclaimed materials?

I wrote this for Second Life Studios a while back.

We exist to design purposefully built spaces with repurposed materials.

Why repurposed materials? We believe they have a compelling narrative. When we tear down a barn, we see history. Doors, loft, ladders, and floorboards have all seen a hundred years of service. We also see future.

That barn in Seneca we tore down a few months ago had outlived its usefulness as barn, but the materials still had life in them. Oak, walnut, and pine are resilient.

After days of crowbars, chainsaws, pliers, and planers, that wood is ready to be made into a beautiful space again. Not just by plunking down a couple beams in the middle of a room, but by strategically researching and designing a space so that it’s not only beautiful, but architecturally sound.

And it’s not just beautiful because of the color or grain, although both are gorgeous. It’s not just beautiful because of the inspired design or unique elements, although both are true of our work. It’s beautiful because it’s a second life. Second chances speak to us and our longing for redemption. Reclaiming those materials isn’t just about what’s trendy, it’s about pointing to something in our souls that longs for renewal.

We hope to point to that longing for reclamation in everything we put out. That’s why our name is Second Life Studios.

[secondlifestudios]

We Love Design, Part 2

See the previous part here.

What childhood didn’t include LEGO and paper airplanes?

Andy Thacker, one of our designers, got his start in design at a young age. “I used to play with LEGO and I was obessed with making paper airplanes. I only cared about how cool they looked, not whether or not they could fly. I spent way more time making the planes then trying to fly them.”

Thus, a designer was born.

Andy received an architecture degree from K-State many years later. “I’ve always enjoyed drawing, but mostly just machines and buildings and guitars. I went into architecture because people would say, ‘Hey, you can draw, you should be an architect.’ It just ended up sticking.”

In school, he looked toward architects like Carlo Scarpa. “I wasn’t designing the way everyone else was and I thought I was doing it wrong. Then I had a professor say, ‘This isn’t wrong, look at Carlo.’ He was fascinated with little details and blowing them up.”

His biggest influence, though, was Peter Zumthor. “His book Thinking Architecture is all about viewing spaces through experience and memory. He writes about his grandmother’s kitchen door and how it felt to walk through it.

“When I design, I try to pull from memories like that. Certain spaces in my life like my old bedroom or a coffee shop create feelings and emotions that I want to evoke. I love that idea that we have certain memories that we associate with home, safety, and love.”

When designing the Tiny House, Andy pulled memories from New York. “I watched someone’s apartment when I lived in New York City. It was one of those old brownstones and he was renovating it to be all open. The light flooded in in layers and everything was white. I tried to design the sawtooth skylights in the tiny house to mimic that playful quality of light.”

“The first time I walked into the finished tiny house I said, ‘Yeah, this is exactly how that felt.’”

Memory and emotion are a huge part of what we do at Second Life Studios. We’re not out to make the flashiest most avant-garde thing you’ve ever seen. We know aesthetics matter, whether you realize it consciously or not. 

Aesthetics do a lot for our memories and emotional health. If you walk into a place that feels right, chances are someone really put thought to it. And since we exist to reclaim people, places, and things, that’s why we love design. We believe all nouns deserve purpose.

[secondlifestudios]

#reclaimnouns

We show you what we're building all the time. Now we want to see what you're up to.

Post a photo of something you've built and tag us in it (along with the hashtag ‪#‎reclaimnouns‬) for a chance to win a stylish Second Life Studios shop hat!