Marlon Darbeau

DISH OUT

2011-09-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Extensions of you...
For the act of serving yourself and or others.

DISH OUT is a set of salad servers. One set has long handles the
other short handles that fit neatly in your hands.

This new work was shown in the Dominican Republic at
Design Caribbean, September 1-4, 2011.

Material- Stainless Steel and Mahogany.

photo by Damian Libert.

Peera... more than a place to sit

2010-11-07T22:41:00.000-08:00

Peera is a reinterpretation of the familiar.

You can sit on it, carry things in it... maybe tools,
drinks or whatever you desire.

This project further investigates the idea of convergence, the utilization of different modes of making.

It is a culmination of many moments where a Designer engages with an Architect to design and build...not a building but the architecture of a small object. Collaborating with Sean Leonard over the last year has brought up questions of multiplicity...the nature of Alice Yard forces one to consider improvisation and demands a thing to have many purposes (a series of simple metal chairs is used for seating today, tomorrow they are shelves for displaying items).

Ideas about rethinking and remaking the familiar, challenging the way we see ourselves and the things we have grown up with. Christopher Cozier has appropriated the peera bench in a series he titles "little gestures", while he sees it for its symbolic value, this object for me is a design investigation.

Peera,Christopher Cozier, Draconian Switch, Town, Alice Yard is part of the Global Africa Project currently on show at the Museum of Arts and Design NY.
November 17th 2010 - May 15th 2011

Peera Prototype

2010-11-07T21:04:00.000-08:00

Photo by Damian Libert

Looking at You

2010-10-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

There is much to see and I am not talking about coconut trees swaying in the breeze.

Think about your world, what really catches your eye. Look, look and look again, cause somewhere there…

Lies A Beautiful Idea.

How Time Tells

2010-10-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

My father, grandfather and great uncle all opened workshops specializing in metal, wood and steel respectively. The impact this has had on me has only become evident in the last ten years.
I admit, I never wanted to do dirty work.

These influences have pushed me to think and work beyond the printed page.

To get my hands dirty.

photo by Damian Libert

Playing a Part

2010-10-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

When I think of work, design work, that is. I think about the convergence of parts, beyond the parts of a thing are the contributions made by people.

It can be a question
It can be a suggestion
It can be an action
It can be a feeling

Objects carry with them... all of these things.

My Dad Makes Mailboxes

2010-10-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a new project for sometime now, it's all coming along pretty fine.

Really can't wait to share it we you all, actually I began this post thinking I would put a peek of it up then I thought maybe I should wait, maybe it might be premature.

It has been so exciting working with various people, all of whom having giving selflessly to the project.

One great moment was while working one night at my Dad's workshop, he came outside to see how things were going. He realized I needed his help to get the angle on a component right, which was really hard for me to do alone on the metal bender... And that was the first time we, should I say... made something together, funny, I never imagined that moment.

Soon I can offer you guys a seat.

THOSE LITTLE BENCHES...

2010-09-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

Sit on it, stand on it, put it in another and carry it around. Turn one over and it can be another, even a table you may discover.

Erotic 2010artweek

2010-07-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

Erotic 2010artweek logo. Designed by Marlon Darbeau

Erotic 2010artweek Post Card. Designed by Marlon Darbeau

Erotic 2010artweek 2010 Spoken Word flyer
Erotic 2010artweek 2010 "to the poles" flyer

touch here for more info about erotic 2010artweek

JAZZ on the beach

2010-04-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

It finally became a reality.

I have been working on a proposed set design for Mount Irvine Bay Hotel And Golf Club- JAZZ ON THE BEACH 2010 for about 3 months and this weekend things materialized.

Last year I noticed people stayed far away from the stage as there wasn't any shaded area close enough. Working with the idea "SHADE"... this lead to the design of a canopy that felt like the sky came closer. It was both aesthetically appropriate and functional as this year people actually got to lay or sit in the shade near the stage.

The canopy was made up of varying sizes of two tone blue fabric disks with holes in them allowing air and light to penetrate. The complete form above created beautiful shadows on the sand surface. It was really cool to see people move with the shadows as time passed... and to add a nice touch I placed one large yellow disk in the sea of blue.

A few blue fabric disks were mounted on bamboo poles like umbrellas lining the shore, seeing them dance to the breeze was really amazing.

Special thanks to my wife Melissa for her unending support, Sean Leonard for his creative advice, Sam for his sewing production, Sure Signs and Darren Pierre for installation support.

Thanks to Mount Irvine Bay Hotel and Golf Club and York Structures Limited for the on site technical support.

see more here

FROM ME

2010-03-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

I share ideas with people, they either verbally respond or play with something I make and then I think about what they said or did... I go oooooooooor there it is, that's what I've been looking for.

My ideas come from people.
Because what I make is for them anyway.

ON STAGE

2010-02-24T11:11:00.000-08:00

This was an exciting project!

As a designer at CMB advertising I designed a furniture set made from STAG cases.
The beauty in this is not only brand context, as they could have easily used generic sofas, instead they saw how powerful it would be to translate how people adapt the beer cases as seating when they lime.

(next post I'll show details of how they were made)

New Work- SWITCH

2009-12-30T14:33:00.000-08:00

eMAG Rockstone & Bootheel online NOW

2009-11-16T13:40:00.000-08:00

Produced by Richard Rawlins, Draconian Switch publisher/designer, the limited 5 issue monthly ROCKSTONE & BOOTHEEL eMAGAZINE for the exhibit runs from November 2009 til March 2010 . Look out for a new issue by the 14th of every month.

This is a multimedia Adobe Acrobat pdf. Please view using Adobe Acrobat Reader or you'll miss out on the fun. Thanks...

DOWNLOAD IT HERE

We Bought It.

2009-11-12T10:44:00.000-08:00

Attention

We Bought It.

2009-11-10T06:24:00.001-08:00

Hat of Heart.

We Bought It.

2009-11-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

Untitled

MAD: museum of arts and design highlights "Critical Space" film

2009-11-05T14:01:00.000-08:00

"One of the highlights of the conference was a conversation submitted by Christopher Cozier, artist/ writer in Trinidad, in which he and publisher Richard Rawlins discussed the “creative possibilities” in the Caribbean as well as the “collaborative networks, off- and online, that are evolving around Alice Yard and its partners.” Cozier is co-curator and “instigator” of the Alice Yard space and blogspot with architect Sean Leonard, writer /editor Nicholas Laughlin, and musician Sheldon Holder." Read it all here.

12 NOTES

2009-10-20T13:44:00.001-07:00

When I blogged the 12 the band album design I noted the installation 'The Private Public'. You would have seen pictures of people peeping in the boxes. So here it is a couple of my notes that informed the design of the album Streets & Avenues. see more

photos- rodell warner

SOMETHING IN THE MAKING

2009-10-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

WE DON'T PLAY GAMES NO MORE
http://www.marlondarbeau.com/

COCO-Contemporary Choreographers' Collective

2009-10-08T07:18:00.000-07:00

Identity created for COCO-Contemporary Choreographers' Collective.

12 theband album Streets & Avenues

2009-10-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

I designed the packaging for 12's new album Streets & Avenues. The package is in itself an instrument that can be played by it's holder. Creating something that moved, something you can play with, was both intuitive and intentional, it changes the expectations of an object like an album package.

The album design attempts to deliver on lyrics from the album, lines like 'expand your heart & mind', 'may your snakes turn to ladders' and 'trying to find the avenues cause your pigeon hole life won't do'. Even the album title's mark is drawn from the street signs from Barataria, the place where Sheldon Holder grew up and still lives. The CD illustration is a play on snakes & ladders a game most of us grew up playing, its a game about vices & virtues.

As part of the launch of 12's album, Architect Sean Leonard and I collaborated on an installation titled 'The Private Public', the installation featured 17 organs, each with a drawing that informed the final design for the album packaging. People really enjoyed taking a peep through the pigeon holes.

see more here

Alice Yard New Identity

2009-09-28T12:41:00.001-07:00

This is truly a combination mark, as it is a convergence of many significant elements.
The green 'BOX' (floor plan of actual gallery space) which formed part of the previous identity,the new word mark which is designed using the new typeface 'Alice SC' which I designed.

For those of you who are familiar with the yard, you would know that when you enter the gate the space starts small and opens up wider towards the annex, that actually determined the scale between 'Alice' and 'YARD' in the word mark.

Another interesting thing I discovered while doing research, the angle of the west & east walls of the property is 11.94 degrees and that's actually the angle the word mark is set. The mark is used in two variations, word mark only or combination mark.

The new typeface was used in three new posters designed to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Alice YARD. As part of the staging of the event Architect Sean Leonard designed and installed a truly magnificent white ramp. The typeface was installed on the ramp so as you walked up you read from A-Z allcaps and A-Z lowercase.

Many thanks to Sean Leonard, Christopher Cozier and Nicholas Laughlin

free+three

2009-09-08T11:29:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic week!
Alice Yard celebrates 3 yrs with free+three.
I had the pleasure of designing three posters for this event.
Rodell Warner made it one of the most beautiful poster projects I've done thus far with the bad ass photography he did.

free+three posters here

FROM ME

2009-08-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

CONVERGENCE
I have begun to understand the relation all things have to my work. My ability to interpret the things i see and touch around me. Owning a car has highlighted how different things looked from when i took the bus. This has certainly impacted on my visual language and how it can be used, the bus work seems different from the car work. It is not that one is better than the other, but the difference. What is significant is what i see and how it is translated into the work i do, how they can be applied to a design problem or how they can create design problems. Post, poles, lights, concrete, wood, things moving fast or slow, things static, loud noises, underlying sounds, street signs business signs, all makes and models of cars, streets, drains, people, the further we stand back, they all converge.

FROM ME

2009-07-30T07:23:00.000-07:00

Thumbnails

2009-07-29T08:49:00.001-07:00

this is the way i work all the time... every single project starts like this, i really do enjoy the play between my intents & intuitive response to problems, some might say you don't have to spend so much time or make so many ideas, although i will admit some notes are just variations of others or a combination of many, but that's the thing... this way allows me to find what i don't know to surprise myself and hopefully others...

so i hope this will always be the way i work cause this makes me, me.

CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE SO YOU CAN LOOK INSIDE

Are Ideas Taxable 15%

2009-07-28T09:07:00.003-07:00

I have always kept sketch books, but in the last 3years I began to make cover art for each book. This one asked ARE IDEAS TAXABLE 15% VAT?

FROM (Lawrence Weiner)

2009-07-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

"ART IS OF THE MOMENT
DESIGN IS OF THE MOMENT"

Exhibition- Playful Things ( EroticArt Week09- Alice Yard)

2009-07-08T09:00:00.001-07:00

This was a challenging project, since I have never created work that dealt with eroticism and have yet to have any great understanding of it.
I honestly wanted to express a sense of desire, play and the power of suggestion, the things we think about doing. This idea in its early stages were to be panels with the images, but at some stage I figured that it not only didn't express the way i want to make work but also had no real impact. A vehicle was needed to carry the idea and that's where the pillows came in. It took it to the bedroom to the idea of touch and comfort, the idea of rest and sleep of privacy and intimacy. I see a connection between thoughts of sensuality, sex and intimacy with the images on the pillows placed together like ' a three petal floating flower ' . Much of this work was about the hidden intention, the tongue you see is actually an elbow, the buttocks are knees and this is the kind of personal play that I wanted to express. In installing the work i locked the box as if saying to the viewer, you are peeping in on a private moment.

Special thanks to Melissa Darbeau for making these objects possible
Damian Libert and Richard Rawlins for their photo documentation
EroticArt Week09 team for OPENing the space.

Irritant

2009-07-07T12:27:00.001-07:00

IRRITANT PILLOWS
(part of Enroute... of Bridges & Barriers)

Explores the comfort and the coziness of escapism,
and the inherent and inescapable value of denial.

IRRITANTS
Annoying or distracting - discomforting to the body (public)

ORANGE
A warning. A state of readiness.

Photo by Rodell Warner

Tomorrow Broken

2009-06-17T06:40:00.001-07:00

This is an idea about providing
About broken security
About class

Designer Interviews by Adele Todd

2009-05-11T06:16:00.000-07:00

Q. Let us talk about your latest work and work backward. You just exhibited some work that was quite exciting…

A: Yes , I participated in ‘NEXT’, the first annual group exhibition featuring what’s new + what’s next in innovative furniture and related accessories, lighting and body adornments at BECA gallery, New Orleans. It was quite exciting particularly just coming off of my debut show ‘En Route… Of Bridges and Barriers‘ last December at Alice Yard. The work I had on show is called VERB, it is a multi-functional furniture/sclupture, the thing is this happened so organically I wish all work could be like this.

Humps Ahead limited edition t-shirts

2009-05-05T05:28:00.001-07:00

As part of my exhibition En Route ... OF BRIDGES AND BARRIERS i designed a series of pictograms based on the traffic symbol for HUMPS AHEAD, these were stuck to a make shift wall like 'BILLS' we see on our city walls. Each pictogram dealt with a specific issue that Trinidad & Tobago is faced with i.e. the BUMPS in the road that slow our development ( Death, The Police, Traffic, Bandits, Teenage Pregnancy, Inflation and Floods).
These were also translated to limited edition prints on t-shirts.

Irritant Cushion Packaging

2009-05-05T05:01:00.001-07:00

I designed this packaging from the bags the cushion stuffing were bought in. By simply placing a paper holder designed based on the sharp deviation left symbol (used as part of the En Route project) at the mouth of the bag, a plain plastic bag was transformed into a desirable item.

Jazz on the beach 09 Poster

2009-04-20T06:54:00.001-07:00

Poster designed for the Mount Irvine Bay Hotel & Golf Club Jazz on the beach 09

12 theband (promotional packaging)

2009-04-16T13:40:00.001-07:00

At the end of 2008, I was asked by Architect Sean Leonard of CO-RD and Alice Yard and Artist Christopher Cozier to design the cover and packaging for the new 12 theband album (STREETS & AVENUES).

Shown above is the promotional packaging the band distributed while performing at the Canadian Music Festival.

VERB - a mutifunctional Sculpture/Furniture

2009-01-27T05:10:00.000-08:00

From 5th- 28th February 2009 my new work VERB will go on show at BECA gallery New Orleans, LA. as part of 'NEXT' a Leading Edge Contemporary Art + Design Group Exhibition | Featuring what’s NEW + what’s NEXT in one-of-a-kind and limited edition highly innovative furniture and related accessories, lighting and body adornments. http://www.becagallery.com/gallery/16357/Upcoming%20Exhibition:%20NEXT

For those of you who can recall, I posted this work on this blog on November 7th 2008. In that post, the work was titled Identity as Object an exploration of my identity (see header) as a tangible thing. Between that time and now things have evolved resulting in amazing outcomes some intentional others by intuition.

VERB allows its user to manipulate the form of the object like a set or a prop- to choreograph space.

As the VERB transitions in form it trans-forms in functionality- from stable, balanced objects like a table, a lamp, bench, sculpture, or bookcase, to dynamic locomotive forms that perambulate, rock or spin.

Special thanks to Christopher Cozier, Dave Williams, Damian Libert, Rodell Warner, Terry Smith and David Burke. If it wasn't for you guys non of this would be possible.

En Route... Of Bridges and Barriers

2008-12-15T11:16:00.001-08:00

EN ROUTE ...of Bridges and Barriers at Alice Yard

2008-12-12T07:13:00.001-08:00

EN ROUTE POSTER SERIES

2008-12-02T08:50:00.001-08:00

EN ROUTE POSTER SERIES

2008-12-02T08:44:00.000-08:00

EN ROUTE POSTER SERIES

2008-12-02T08:42:00.001-08:00

EN ROUTE POSTER

2008-12-01T12:35:00.001-08:00

EN ROUTE
you are invited .

EN ROUTE ...of Bridges and Barriers

2008-12-01T04:56:00.000-08:00

I know I should have done this sooner, but i guess better late than never i.e making this post. Come December 10th i'll be mounting my first installation project at Alice Yard, I have been wanting to publicly mount a show for a couple of years now, the thing is I either didn't think the work I had was worth showing or lacked the confidence to show the stuff. This experience for me has been a wonderful one thus far, it has shown me how all things CONVERGE to create a new experience. All of my work & life experiences have seem to collide to make this body of work. I'm also greatful to a number of people (Rodell Warner, Dave Williams, Damian Libert, Mark White, Richard Rawlins, Tanya Williams, Anderson Mitchell, Darryn Boodan, Tracy Hutchings, Ayodhya Ouditt and so many more) who have in so many ways impacted upon me and the work either directly or indirectly.

A special thanks to my wife Melissa and my son Gyasi, I love you'll so much.

EN ROUTE...
Explores the comfort and the coziness of escapism, and the inherent and inescapable value of denial.

Identity as Object

2008-11-07T06:17:00.001-08:00

Identity as Object, originally uploaded by Marlon Darbeau.

Identity as object is an exploration of my symbol as a living object.

i.e. A dance between the intentional and intuitive.

I could of easily connected both blades to each other, but found more possibilities by having a central cube with slots that allowed the blades to be fixed in more than one configuration.
*see left study.

A cool thing was that when you placed the avatar on the ground in its legs configuration, with the help of the breeze it walked.

Chair(Untitled)

2008-11-06T13:06:00.001-08:00

Outdoorbench(for now aka ARROW)

2008-11-06T05:24:00.001-08:00

Outdoorbench(for now aka ARROW), originally uploaded by Marlon Darbeau.

This is one of my continued explorations in furniture design, i have so far produced two functioning pcs, a stool and a shelf.

I'll share photos of those with you in a bit.

*Project photographed by Rodell Warner

EN ROUTE (IRRITANTS)paperpillows

2008-11-06T05:03:00.001-08:00

EN ROUTE (IRRITANTS)paperpillows, originally uploaded by Marlon Darbeau.

Four IRRITANTS- The pillows are made from paper stitched together using staples and stuffed with shredded paper. I was wondering about shredding articles relative to each issue to stuff the pillows.

*Project Photographed by Rodell Warner

IRRITANTS

2008-11-03T12:19:00.001-08:00

IRRITANTS, originally uploaded by Marlon Darbeau.

These are some of the major isssues that seem to continually annoy the hell out of citizens.

What is amazing is how desensitize we have become with these issues.

In following stage of this work the comfort we have with these discomforts will be explored by using pillows as the irritant symbol.

Oil is SEXY

2008-10-22T14:29:00.001-07:00

Oil is SEXY, originally uploaded by Marlon Darbeau.

“Oil price people understand so you talk to people about oil price,” Enill said, before later adding, “Oil is sexy.”

Cautious Circumstances

2008-09-25T08:43:00.001-07:00

Cautious Circumstances, originally uploaded by Marlon Darbeau.

We are under construction and things are moving rapidly ahead. Plenty money is being spent, many people are benefiting at different levels and stages. We cautiously ask, are things being done ABOVE BOARD or UNDER THE TABLE?

Bright Lights Paper Planes

2008-09-22T14:42:00.001-07:00

Bright Lights Paper Planes, originally uploaded by Marlon Darbeau.

part of the series SOTS(Shape Of Things)

Are street lights installed for us to see more or just bright lights that blind us from seeing other intentions.

With Arms Wide Open

2008-09-19T14:53:00.001-07:00