Fine Print

 

[caption id="attachment_161" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="the tangled web of contracts leading up to the summit"][/caption]

 

i've been mired in legal mumbo jumbo for the past week looking over contracts making revisions, emailing my lawyer, revising spreadsheets--basically doing all the unglamorous tasks that go into making a project of this complexity happen. i spend hours mulling over the meaning of California Civil Codes that read like high school shakespearian english. but it must be done. american business is about the letter of the law and the potential minefield of contractual clauses that can make you stumble and sputter along the way.

for example, if you apply for health permits and decide to change equipment specs before closing out the permit--then its time to resubmit the permits!

the state budget crisis doesn't help either. government regulatory agencies are closing local offices statewide. the end result--i spent a day in sacramento filing paperwork. i could've just mailed, but with the current state of government i'm looking at 20+ day turnaround!

but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. tomorrow, i get my first tasting of the potential menu!

Design Progress

the past few days have shown rapid development of the brand identity and the design of the bar. below are new mood boards exploring typefaces. the inspiration is leaning towards olympic design aesthetics. in particular is the design work of otl aicher for the 72 olympics in munich.

my favorite of fonts choosen is the bauhaus font highlighted in blue. it's got clean lines and beautiful curves in the U and M letter forms that complement the space nicely, yet with an air of modernity to it (imagine me swirling a glass of wine while i say that).



on the interior design front, brent has redesigned the coffee counter of the bar to be a swooping curve. in the previous mock-up, the coffee counter / order stand was a hard diagonal line. this version is much better because the bags of coffee and tea are now centered with pastry displays on either-end. the 3 guys in the back simulate 2 cashiers and a barista setting when there's high demand for coffee.

in living color

while the space is being constructed, im working in parallel to get the branding and identity developed. i've tapped dave and dre my former partners in electric friends--a boutique design firm we formed years ago, but disbanded  as life took us in different directions. after sending them a short creative brief, we're off to our first step in the branding process: exploring colors and mood boards.

[caption id="attachment_140" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="imagery based on a utopian futurist society"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_139" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="colors bright but muted--like a 60's olympic poster, but left slightly faded by the sun"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_141" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="the vibe dre wants to exude is confidence, modernity, futurism, optimism and fun"][/caption]

April Fools

yesterday, i blasted on Facebook that Poleng was re-opening in Dec. sadly that's not the case. but if you can't laugh about it, then you haven't gotten over it--right? life moves-on so I wanted to share with you some 3D mock-ups of the space that were generated this week by brent-ski.

[caption id="attachment_124" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="arial perspective of the space. notice the coffee counter is diagonal--im expecting a long que..."][/caption]

 

in the snapshot above, you can see how brent has placed a lounge zone towards the end (right) of the space. he felt that this might be a dead zone since it's so far back. he also placed a communal table between the bar and the main seating area to "compress" the crowd and make an airy space more vibrant. unfortunately, that makes the space less modular for art shows and product launches so that probably won't go foward.

[caption id="attachment_125" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="queuing up for coffee & tea"][/caption]

 

in the example above, you get a better feel of the order counter. notice that there are 2 areas to place an order and a glass display to entice you to order pastries. the tiered areas are for bags of coffee and tea for home consumption. the glass containers at the top tier are for showcasing the loose leaf so you can see and smell the leaves before buying! the black board on the wall will be the menu.

[caption id="attachment_134" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Could this be a super long communal table?"][/caption]

instead of a series of 2-top tables or even a bunch of picnic style communal tables, brent is selling me on the idea of a really long table made of a cross section of a 18ft long walnut tree trunk pictured above. the trunk would be cut in smaller sections to allow people the walk btwn. im intrigued with the idea, but hesitant because i can't see it being modular. modular is the key word for an ever changing space like the summit. let's see what brent comes-up with in the next few weeks... lot's of details still need to be worked out, but it's all a work in progress to reach the summit.