My role
Designed, prototyped, and CNC-carved a plywood wall installation.
Context
Rochester’s two nicknames explored through shared graphic forms.
Status
Completed installation combines handmade and digital fabrication.
Rochester has two nicknames that sound identical out loud: the Flour City and the Flower City. You only know which one someone means by what they bring to it. To me that was the city in miniature: one place that keeps splitting into two sides.
I made this installation to put the CNC router I’d just built to work, turning a graphic idea into a physical one. It went through a full design process, from drawings to prototypes to production. The pieces are carved from plywood, the same parts in equal number, each similar and each a little different, like the people on both sides of town. Handmade and digital techniques together make one whole.
It’s part of what I call my Civic Pride Campaign: simple messages and shapes about Rochester, made affordable and interesting enough to live with at home or at work. Seen every day, they build a bond with the whole city, not just your side of it. The more you love your home, the harder it is to watch it fail.
Process.
