In Case of Emergency...

...Break Plastic. So reads the plastic cube on the New American Coffee Table. This piece is designed for the family of today, who wishes to reflect high status and wealth (via gold leaf on the frame), enjoy superlative comfort and kitsch with the turquoise and green shag fur tabletop upholstery.

The cube contains supplies for common family emergencies:
1 guide to Psychopharmacology
3 bottles of antidepressants
1 bottle of tranquilizers
1 squid egg-beater
1 pipe-cleaner choker with 'help' computer key pendant
1 guide to couples and family therapy
1 'Bell Jar' by Sylvia Plath
1 R2D2 action figure
1 American Idol clapping squirt gun

The case can be opened by authorized user to customize contents.

Seating by PFI

I think she likes the cushions - they're waterproof.


What? You never realized that you need a Transformer hiding in your armchair? Or pockets? Just think, a place to stick all the remote controls, toys, maybe a snack, or an extra cold one?



Armchair dressed in the suits of one professional San Diego woman.

Palmer Fishman Industries at 16th and Market

Palmer Fishman Industries held an exclusive market for the resident's of Father Joe's Villages' beautiful new apartment building at 16th and Market, downtown San Diego. The price? Exercise your creativity! Seek inventive solutions, even if all you have to work with is trash. She looks like a satisfied customer.




We had a rush on the chalk-board table and the children's books. These two sisters took the table home, with dad's help. "Maybe they'll stop drawing on the walls," he said, hopefully.


Palmer Fishman Industries staff installed the throne next to Mission Bay in late afternoon, in time for the sunset.

Palmer Fishman Industries at Art Around Adams

Palmer Fishman Industries, the artist collaborative made up of Otto Castillo and Jessica Hirst, presented Palmer Fishman's Recycled Lounge at the Art Around Adams Festival held in San Diego on June 6, 2009. The artists installed the equivalent of a living room with two seating areas on the ball field in front of the main stage. All of the pieces were reconstructions of discards left on the curb, mostly around Pacific Beach. Castillo and Hirst have become known for their imaginative transformations of everyday and found objects, with past projects including a jewelry collection made from bottle caps, corks, seeds and other ephemera, all in collaboration with dump-dwellers in Managua. The motto of Palmer Fishman Industries, "so much more than just trash," is just this side of twee cheekiness, appropriating the cadence of corporate shininess while attempting to subvert its mercantile motives.

Visitors to the Lounge were invited to choose from a variety of seating options, including a LaZBoy loveseat stripped down to its skeleton, then polished and painted a shiny red, with somewhat disconcerting cushions made of clear vinyl stuffed with bubble wrap. The coffee table was a celebration of kitsch, its surface upholstered with turquoise longhair fake fur, and a centerpiece titled "In Case of Emergency Break Plastic". Inside one could see a copy of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, a bottle of antidepressants, an R2D2 figure, and magnetic refrigerator letters spelling out "Om".

Palmer Fishman Industries crosses boundaries of design, installation, sculpture, participatory durational performance, and good taste. Not all of their experiments yielded attractive or indeed fully functional results, but their interactions with visitors were worthy of documentation and study. Several people spoke about loneliness, depression, and frustration with work, within five minutes of sitting down. Instead of prescribing pills, Palmer Fishman Industries offered one-word talismans in keeping with their re-use, transform philosophy: plastic bottle caps inlaid with computer keys reading "Shift...." "Home..." "Control..." and "Option". By removing these words from their daily context, the artists recapture alternative meanings, and in so doing challenge viewers (or clients?) to renew their perceptual possibilities.

Mason Beatriz, critic at large

Plantain Sofa

I designed this sofa and had it fabricated using traditional mimbre, or twisted plantain leaf, techniques. The sofa took a team of about 5 men two weeks to make, from wooden frame to twisting leaves into ropes to weaving it all together. My design was a departure from the norm, with its Dr. Seussian curves and deep seat. Since we had no soft furniture in the house, I wanted 1 piece that could serve as a sofa, day-bed lounger and guest bed.

Nicology Furniture

My partner and I decided not to buy furniture. We ate on the floor, sat on the floor, worked on the floor....luckily he already had a bed before we made this decision. Bit by bit we collected pieces of junk and assembled what you see here.

The coffee table is supported by decorative concrete blocks that are often used in place of glass windows. I had three triangles cut from one piece of glass. Aluminum cans (dog food) support the glass in this photo, but on other occasions I used glass bottles, each with a plastic dinosaur or soldier inside. I also tried yellow and red Imperial beer cans from Costa Rica. This table is also fun because the user can reconfigure the structure entirely by re-arranging the blocks, glass, and supports. Heck, you can even replace the concrete blocks with something else you fancy, like paint cans or plant pots or wooden hippos.



The Lamina Lamp is made from a long piece of metal lamina, used in construction, a car wheel, and a small glass lampshade.


We had seen large cable spool tables before, but I found the smaller ones more useful, especially once we added wheels.

That's my bag

Handbags made from vinyl movie posters. I tried a clutch, a small handbag, a mini-messenger, and a shoulder bag. While people really liked them I did not move forward with production because these posters and billboard banners were already being reused as shades over bike-taxis, tarps over loads on trucks, and, yes, shelter.

The four bags are hanging on a headboard I made from an old supermarket sign.