Puuuulp : A One-Womxn Studio Practice that Makes it All (Small, Medium, and Large - as well as Custom)
Follow @wip.ish on IG for accompanying images (Fig. 224 - 255).
Pulp is defined as a soft, wet, shapeless mass of material - most commonly referring to the inner flesh of fruit, but Puuulp is a Los Angeles based studio practice run by Jesse Hammer.
I first started following @jessehammer on IG as a result of a post about a terrazzo workshop at UCLA taught by Erin Besler (Fig. 224). @beslerandsons’s original post led me to @jessehammer’s profile and her own terrazzo WIPs (Fig. 225), and I was instantly mesmerized by the process of making terrazzo - mostly because I’d never seen it made. I actually didn’t even think we could make terrazzo ourselves - good terrazzo, anyway - and @jessehammer’s material and color combinations were particularly compelling… they were just so fun. I’ve been a fan of her work ever since.
Over the last few years of following her, it feels like it’s been quite often that my obsessive scrolling has been halted at a post containing a striped ladder (Fig. 226), a daisy cutout (Fig. 227), a material concoction that looks like something I could eat (Fig. 228), or some other delightful artifact I can’t quite decipher but simultaneously can’t stop looking at (Fig. 229). At some point, @jessehammer was even making actual jello designs. Now knowing her and her work a little bit better, this is actually not so surprising considering some of her material studies (Fig. 230) directly reference it (JELLO!) as a kind of serious precedent (Fig. 231).
I guess I had just never come across someone who began to use our representational skills to make real tangible things, and @jessehammer was doing just that. But more than that, I think @jessehammer was and continues to make work that begins to reach new audiences via its materiality and it's references. Case in point : When I recently showed my mom one of @jessehammer’s terrazzo pieces (Fig. 232), she responded saying it reminded her of the colorful broken glass jello (Fig. 233) my Tia Marthis would greet us with when we would visit family in Mexico City. The clarity of concept from designer to potential user was shocking to me as someone who too often references things that aren’t recognizable to anyone other than ourselves as architects.
It’s only recently, though, that @jessehammer has turned this passion for making into a business in the form of her studio practice and online store @puuuulp. Almost a year ago now, @jessehammer decided it was time to rent out a space where she could begin to physically make things outside of her LA apartment. Her conventional architecture office job kept her busy most days, but @jessehammer felt like the act of physically using her hands to make material things was sorely missing. This newly acquired space in DTLA, then, was perfect : The corner of a large warehouse shared in part with design studio @bluepocketstudio gave @jessehammer access to be as messy as she wanted - as well as woodshop access - potentials for a shared workspace I was not aware of!
Personally, I was kind of (and continue to be) in awe of @jessehammer - I mean the thing she is now doing is a version of what I hope to see myself doing at some point. I was in awe of her move to find and rent a space to work in (Fig. 234). I was in awe of the insane objects that were coming out of the space (Fig. 235). But I was also in awe of her branding that somehow made @puuuulp feel… real - like really real (Fig. 236 - 237).
@jessehammer says websites tend to do that - make things feel suddenly real, that is - but @jessehammer’s real guiding star was good friend and artist Isa Beniston, aka @gentilthrills (Fig. 238), who helped Jesse strategize how to turn @puuuulp into a creative business. @gentlethrills’ tips were relatively simple - ones she seemed to follow in her own creative business :
@gentlethrills’ work ranges from airbrushed deserts (Fig. 239), beaded purses (Fig. 240), and everything in between. Most recently though, @gentlethrills has created a hand-drawn tarot deck : What started off as 78 original (relatively large) paintings (Fig. 241 - 242) she made herself over many months ended up as a manufactured pocket-size product. @jessehammer turned my attention to this particular item amongst all of @gentlethrill’s multitude of creations because it encompassed so many ideas she is currently pursuing to integrate into @puuuulp.
In particular, @jessehammer was interested in @gentlethrills’ use of manufactured packaging (Fig. 243), which I would have never really thought about, but once she pointed it out, I couldn’t unsee it… From the box itself, plastered in black and white astrological signs, to the tape sealing it, reading “Break the Seal!” and “Your Future Awaits!” - the process of opening @gentlethrills’ package (Fig. 244) was really a designed experience. But that wasn’t all : Once opened, a nostalgic-filling, tiny little, neon-colored sword, attached by a note reading “You may need this,” (Fig. 245) allowed you to open the tarot deck itself (Fig. 246), surrounded by black and white confetti. I mean… the whole thing is just… delightful. It would be impossible not to crack a smile at such curiously curated packaging.
@puuuulp, then, is made up of a range of products that range from small to large. Smaller, affordable products (Fig. 247) are generally easier to make, as opposed to significantly larger ones that are much more expensive (Fig. 248). It makes a lot of sense when you think about it : People will generally purchase the smaller products, and while the same amount of customers won’t invest in the larger ones, it doesn’t take that many of them to make a significant profit off of them. And then there are custom jobs (Fig. 249), which make up a lot of @puuuulp, where friend of friends often reach out for custom work, probably in response to @jessehammer’s invitation to do so :
Hello - tiny table here! The altar is live! In case you don’t know, I love to make custom pieces of all scales and uses. If you are yearning for something specific, I would love to make your juicy dreams come true. Email in bio! (Fig. 250)
Beyond business strategy, though, @puuuulp’s home goods of all scales are incredibly inventive : @puuuulp combines outsourced mill-work with hardware and electronics (Fig. 251). @puuuulp takes old, broken, and discarded furniture and makes them new again (Fig. 252). @puuuulp uses representational model-making to hand-make real objects with both color and texture (Fig. 253).
@jessehammer and I both commiserated about shared frustrations in architecture, but I think @jessehammer put it perfectly when she said she always loves to “come home to architecture.” A quick look through both @puuuulp and @jessehammer’s IG does reveal a slight sway away from it in an eclectic source of precedents we don’t typically see in architecture, ranging from virtual reality-like paintings of Rute Merk (Fig. 254), Italian furniture design (Fig. 255), Ettore Sottsass products (Fig. 256), colorful sea slugs (also known as nudibranch) (Fig. 257) , and interiors (Fig. 258) - like the green bathroom in The Shining I still have both dreams and nightmares about. At one point in our conversation, Miranda July came up as a source of inspiration. I admit, I couldn’t initially see the relevance. Miranda July is a director, writer, and artist, but @jessehammer described Miranda as “unable to be categorized,” which I loved. In a lot of ways, I think @puuulp is similarly difficult to categorize because @jessehammer is pulling from ideas all over the place - did I mention her “Candle for Pyrophobics” (Fig.251) is inspired by Nickelodeon’s 90’s show: Are You Afraid of the Dark?! I’m a fan, @jessehammer.. I’m a fan.
No two @puuuulp products are alike - seriously - but they all definitely belong in the same category of weird (Fig. 259) authored by one and only @jessehammer - and I can’t wait to continue to see @puuuulp pop up in places other than my IG feed (Fig. 260).
Follow @wip.ish on IG for accompanying images (Fig. 224 - 260). On that note, I also want to know what, where, and how you make! DM or email me at wip.ishhh@gmail.com with unsolicited WIP images or #wip posts with an optional caption and IG handle to be featured on the WIP-ish IG:
I’ve recently accidentally found the world of rug tufting. A quick look through the hashtag will mesmerize you - I promise. More specifically, I’ve been taken aback by @victoriaroseadrian’s work (Fig. 261). It’s like - three dimensional drawings - in fact, she shapes her work (post tufting) with sheep shearers (Fig. 262). But what is tufting? Well, there’s a manual version of tufting that involved a sharp tool the punches yarn in and out of canvas, but @victoriaroseadrian’s work is done with a tufting gun (Fig. 263). I kind of want one for Christmas now…