Monday, January 25, 2010

More Dovetail work makes the papers


Above we see Cupcake Royale, a recent Dovetail commercial project, in a recent Seattle Times article by Tyrone Beason (image by Benjamin Benschneider / The Seattle Times) about the Pike/Pine business corridor in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Beason describes the tensions that can arise when a neighborhood emerges as an exciting and vibrant place, and the ways in which owners, developers, and business owners can try to maintain a healthy neighborhood once demand (and rents) increase. Here at Dovetail we are proud that the projects we've been involved with in the neighborhood (Cupcake Royale, Molly Moon's, Oddfellows Cafe, Nube Green, La Spiga, Quinn's Pub, and most recently Sitka and Spruce) are increasing the quality of the neighborhood and provide great places to come together over a nourishing meal, drink, or scoop.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Artisan Spotlight: Susan Zoccola

We've had the pleasure of working with Seattle artist Susan Zoccola on previous projects, and are excited to be working with her again. Susan works in a wide variety of scales, from tile design to colossal public art installations. In this residential remodel project, Susan has been commissioned to create an art wall (center of image above, in progress) to separate the stairs to the upper level. In front of the art wall will be a sunken pit filled with lead birdshot, and a sculpture by the owner's sister. Susan is creating a subtly nuanced texture on this feature element - let's have a closer look:
The texture is achieved by plastering small pieces of gauze to the wall, and then dripping wax as a final layer. Here we see Susan (top) working with her assistant Julia on the stair side of the same wall:
Stay tuned for more info on Susan and other artisans that we collaborate with!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Dovetail work makes the cover shot!

This past weekend's Seattle Times Pacific Northwest Sunday Magazine features a cover story about the central role that old buildings play in our cultural heritage, and the importance of preserving those buildings despite changing economic forces. At the bottom of the image we see Molly Moon's Ice Cream, a recently completed commercial tenant improvement project in Capitol Hill's historic Oddfellows Hall building. (In addition, Dovetail designed and installed the wooden building entry doors immediately to the right - they are more historically accurate replacements for aluminum doors from a previous remodel.) Below is a design drawing of the building facade for comparison with the photograph:


Here at Dovetail we're glad to have been part of the the important building preservation and adaptive reuse process in many of our commercial projects, including both locations of Molly Moon's Ice Cream, La Spiga, Quinn's, Essential Bakery, Via Tribunali, and the Oddfellows Cafe, also in the Oddfellows Building.