Check out this event. These guys make great custom shoes right here in LA and are also behind the GUILD show in Las Vegas, one of the best run shows to check out premium brands. Ask for Jason and tell him I sent you. It’s worth a couple of beers to me so make sure you go…

Established in 2001, Skram Furniture designs and fabricates modern furnishings for residential, commercial, and hospitality markets. Featuring the designs of Jacob Marks, Skram furniture is dedicated to redefining American craft in the context of modern design.

Known for extraordinary workmanship and spare but approachable design, Skram Furniture is functionally-tuned and well-suited to a range of environments.  Their products are intended for an audience that values the company’s commitment to authentic materials, innovative design, and sustainable practices.

Skram is based in Hillsborough, North Carolina, a colonial town in the state’s Piedmont region.  Their 17,000 square foot main manufacturing facility—located in a former cotton mill—is organized to permit the efficient manufacture of its products.  Most of Skram’s existing collection can be modified in material, scale, or configuration to accommodate specific needs. The company welcomes requests for original custom designs.

Skram’s designs are available for viewing and purchase at Fiveten Studio in Oakland.

IN another awkward offering, FORD&CHING principal Willard Ford welcomes all to STRONG SPORTS MMA. Space is very limited (you’ll understand when you see the place). Fees are reasonable and the environment is nothing less than revolutionalry for an MMA gym: friendly, clean, fun. Make it down…you won’t regret it. Open classes Tuesday and Thursday at 730PM and Saturday at 200PM for the “Technique Exchange.” All hours key-in for advanced levels. Mike, Willard, and Kengo will be there to help you out.

Here’s an article that appeared in ANGELENO about the gym:

The things you do for friends…

When you receive a wedding invitation out of the blue from a friend you haven’t seen in five years and haven’t spoken to in at least two, it’s curious, to say the least.  My dear friend, Lorri Jones, left San Francisco and the web that she wove here for over 10 years to blaze some new territory (or old) by heading back to her hometown of Mocksville, NC.  This was an event I was NOT going to miss.  I was bound for NC to visit an old friend and some new ones at Skram Furniture (but that’s another story).

I’m not sure if she was surprised, but I think she was genuinely happy to have four misfits from her previous life in California there to share her day.  We hadn’t all been together since Lorri left, so we were expecting a reunion!

Mocksville’s a small town in a dry county about 50 miles west of Winston Salem and according to the latest census data, has a population of 4,178.  I probably don’t need to say too much more.

While Lorri was whisked off to her honeymoon, the reception at the Family Life Center left the four of us with something to be desired and we were in search of a better backdrop for our reunion.  We jumped in our cars and headed back toward Greensboro and landed at a place called the Sagebrush Steakhouse and then went to a local Applebee’s.  We were desperate.

Enter Marty McKinney.

After a mini-tour of some local Greensboro spots, we headed ‘Elsewhere’ for a party/fundraiser celebrating Andy Warhol.

artist collaborative / living museum

The story behind Elsewhere begins in 1939, when Joe and Sylvia Gray began selling furniture imports at 606 and 608 South Elm Street in downtown Greensboro, NC. Following WWII, the business made multiple transformations, from Surplus Store to catalog company, mending used army goods and selling them to Boy Scout troops across the country. After Joe’s unexpected death in 1955, Sylvia began to stock surplus fabric, clothing, and eventually general thrift items such as toys, books, housewares, and knick-knacks, and for the next 40 years, added to the increasingly unmanageable mass stored in boxes and piles throughout the three-story building.  We took a tour of the attic which hints at what the seemingly chaotic heap looked like at Sylvia’s death in 1997.

Sylvia’s grandson , George Scheer, was inspired by the potential for these “found objects” as artistic resource and went on to recruit fellow artists and friends to begin excavating Sylvia’s old store in May 2003..  The reorganization of Sylvia’s collection took form and local support increased.  Today the space houses an artist-residency program and living museum created by a collaborating community of artists where the rule is “…nothing comes in and nothing goes out.”

Upon entering we were each handed our Warhol glasses.

Marty got a little greedy

She looked like she "belonged" there.

One of the gems.

a local

My favorite room in the house

I realize that I probably won’t be seeing Lorri for a long time and I miss her, but if Lorri invites me back again, you can bet I’ll be headed back to Elsewhere.

FORD&CHING and DWELL welcomed over 400 design pros and amateurs to the Kim Sing Theatre last Thursday to announce the new F&C website and new products from Skram, RS-Life, Samuel Moyer Furniture, and Andrew Riiska (FORD&CHING). Everyone seemed to love the food by celebrity chef Neal Fraser of Grace Restaurant, fully staffed bar by Izze (with help from Pearl Vodka) and beer from Nakhon. All photos courtesy of TIGERTIGER.

Calm before the storm.

Kim Sing Theatre detail.

Kimi Nagafuku's crew.

RSVP Only with Hannah and Jenni.

Mark Schlosser of Ludwig and compulsive high-fiver Aria Gannon of APR.

B A Design is new to the showroom floor.

Young designers Nick Sheridan, Bret Englander and Dan Wacholder from Cerno in Laguna Beach.

Samuel Moyer Furniture had their own little area.

Bird's eye view from the forbidden work area.

Admiring Andrew Riiska's Dragon Table.

BMX phenom Mike Ardelean (a.k.a. the lucky bastard dating one half of the TIGERTIGER girls).

Anxiously trying to get in.

Power couple.

Enjoying Nakhon...hey, how did that motherfucking Corona get in there?

Ricky and me.

Fatass and Sophie of Sophie Nova.

Tom Thayer and girlfriend enjoy the RS#2 from Spain's RS-Life...the latest offering from F&C.

Andrew Riiska is always happy to describe the countless hours put into each F&C table.

Devil is in the details.

Akemi Tanaka's Futaba still wows the people.

AIA's Will Wright sits with Marissa Gluck and Haily Zaki from de LaB.

Schloss with Miguel from De La Barracuda.

People.

Showing up with the same watch is not the same as showing up in the same dress. Ask Mark and Chris.

Nanrisa Lee, former Le Cheval hostess, moved from Oakland to LA just to be at F&C parties.

Ludwig creator Mike Dytri with Toyplane guy.

Maybe Mark's the high-five offender. With Eliel Ford, my boy.

Hana from TIGERTIGER caught in action.

Skram perfection!

Many thanks to Dwell for their support.

Eliel Ford on the RS#2

Samuel Moyer's live edge masterpiece.

Working the door.

Sausage King Joseph Pitruzzelli of Wustkuche with lovely girlfriend.

Kimi and friends.

Sam Moyer + Aria Gannon + Nakhon = Party.

Sam Moyer's latest and greatest.

Mr. and Mrs. Rick Klotz...I mean Stacy and Mike Dytri.

Inside filled up nicely.

Packet outdoor patio at FORD&CHING showroom.

Neal Fraser escaped the camera but none of his food survived.

Restrogen chairs by Anon Pairot getting hard use from USAID saint William Trigg and unknown reveler.

Guests relax on PAD's Clip Chaise.

DJ Alfred Hawkins's cool mix of rock, pop, and hip hop satisfied the crowd.

Skram's Wooddrop 14 on display with Jeff Kowatch.

Maurice Pendarvis of Vapors always comes over. He's one of the good guys.

A fine looking couple enjoying the PAD Clip Pool Chair.

Ernsdorf Design's Coronado Table is always a hit. It rolls.

I don't know these people.

Half of TIGERTIGER: Jenni.

Palm reading is...crazy.

Frank Trigg...my good friend and first wrestling coach.

Neopolitan Trigg.

More people I don't know.

Enjoying Izze with Pearl Vodka.

William "Billy the Welder" Patchen.

Are you ever embarrassed when you can't remember someone's name?

I think the second from left is Angelina Handayani, clothing designer from Danang.

Admiring the Tim Biscup prototype chair under Ango lighting of silkworm cocoons.

Old friend Jeff "Knockahoma" Nakamura and fiance.

Billy Kheel's Staple Remover about to eat people.

I’ve run out of clever things to write. Tune in for our 722 FIGUEROA party this Saturday. RSVP to cody@722figueroa.com.

Ramon Delgado of Material Environment with longtime Kim SIng fixture Kengo Ura.