For the second installment of A Day in the Life we’re jumping from Brooklyn all the way over to the West Coast to meet up with Sam Huff of Hecklewood. I’ve known Sammy for a number of years and his spunk and talent never cease to inspire me. When asked if he would participate in a day in the life, he mentioned he might go a little over the top. And that’s just the angle I was hoping for.
Just to give you a little background, Sam started Hecklewood out of his garage and has grown the business to a full fledged storefront that carries a number of local brands, all of which follow a similar design philosophy. Among the brands is brainchild, Tanner Goods, a line of leather bags, belts and accessories that are designed, cut, sewn and branded in the Northwest, often by Sam and TG partner, Mark. And for you New Yorkers, and those willing to travel, Tanner Goods is attending their first ever Pop Up Flea hosted by Michael Williams of A Continuous Lean. I know I’ll be there, hopefully I’ll see you too. Thanks to Sam for putting together a great day in the life. Hopefully it inspires you. So, without further delay. Here’s Sam and his day around Portland, OR.
SAM HUFF
Partner and Creative Director – Hecklewood and Tanner Goods
PDX, OR
7:14 AM Up and at ‘em.
7:19 AM Guayaki Yerbe Mate in my cup, perusing NYT mobile on my phone.
7:43 AM Out the door, hoofing it from my house in SE Portland to our storefront in Old Town / Chinatown with my dog Motley. The 3.5 mile jaunt allows me to get my mind in order for the day, and walk off the whiskey from last night’s Content Show at the Ace Hotel. I opt for the Elvis Costello station on Pandora.
9:05 AM Arrive at the shop, dive into my inbox and catch up on 3 days worth of correspondence.
9:32 AM Hit the La Jarochita food cart with my friend Meghan for my morning sustenance. I order the chorizo breakfast burrito with extra green chiles, she gets the huevos rancheros. We leave extremely satisfied and extremely full.
10:09 AM Meet up with one of my partners in crime, Mark, to start load-out from the previous night’s Content Show. We’ve got 2 hours to take down our Tanner Goods installation in room 206. With only 1 elevator and 29 other designers in the same boat, it makes for a hectic couple hours. No damage to our room, so we’re all good.
12:12 PM Back at the shop, we start putting our product and props back in order on the floor. We recently celebrated our 1 year anniversary in our new space and had an oversized backdrop printed for our photo booth. It gets a new home behind our front desk.
12:47 PM I take a quick trip to one of my favorite antique shops around the corner, Hoodoo Antiques. It’s hard to escape this place without something new, and this time I score an old oxen harness converted into a mirror.
1:25 PM Said mirror takes it’s place in the shop. A perfect fit for our Cascadian-themed decor.
1:59 PM Trek back to food cart row for plate of Thai spicy basil with chicken, extra spicy. So good.
2:32 PM Join Mark in our production studio behind our storefront/gallery to help with the day’s belt orders. Terri Gross is interviewing some guy on NPR’s Fresh Air about how poisonous our drinking water is. I’m secretly hoping this doesn’t apply to Portlanders.
3:38 PM A good friend of mine, Miss Connie Wohn, pops in for a surprise field trip to the Portland Art Museum for the China Design Now exhibit. Connie knows absolutely everyone in town, and we get comped tickets. The exhibit is an interesting blend of graphic, industrial, and architectural design flourishing in China right now. My favorite is the scaled models of new urban housing. Much more modern than I was expecting.
4:42 PM Connie drops us off back at the shop. Mark and I have a half hour to kill before a meeting, so we grab at table at our favorite neighborhood joint Ping. They specialize in “Asian drinking food” aka insanely good skewers. We get a couple red potato skewers and and a pair of gulf prawn skewers. We wash it down with pints of Asahi, and it’s off to our meeting.
5:12 PM We head up to meet with our friends Jeremy, Fritz, and Mathew of Official Manufacturing Co. This is the kickoff meeting for our new Tanner Goods packaging, and the fellas do some test pressings on their vintage letterpress to show us some options. The look is perfect.
5:35 PM We continue our brainstorm session over beers. You know…to get the creative juices flowing.
6:12 PM I start the trek back home with Motley in tow. Or the other way around I guess. Neon Indian plays through my headphones.
7:33 PM A quick stop off at New Season’s for some wild coho salmon and salad fixings.
8:15 PM Salmon on the grill and this week’s This American Life playing on my speakers.
9:40 PM Pop the cover off the hot tub and submerge myself in 102 degree water. The best way to unwind from a long day!
10:29 PM A nightcap episode of Twin Peaks season 2. I’m fully addicted to this show, can’t believe it’s taken me this long to watch it. I contemplate if I’m more of an Agent Cooper or Deputy Hawk kind of guy.
11:30ish PM Lights out.
