The editor of Top Estate magazine from the Ukraine is Lubov Franchuk., a sharp and professional editor of one of the leading life style magazine in the region. He just sent us a copy of the latest edition which features a wide selection of highly creative architecture and design from far flung places. The Miriello Grafico office is in between a spread on the Bordello Bar from London and Al Rostamani’s latest real estate mega development in Dubai.  Rich visuals throughout, and absolutely no idea what the stories might be about.

Share in the confusion at Top Estate’s website : http://www.top-estate.com.ua

Scheduling a major party on the first day of the stock market’s downturn and the Vice Presidential debates might seem like its own form of social-suicide. Instead, the opening party of The Logan building was exactly what the masses needed. A place to meet, share, commune and understand that we are all in this together. And quite possibly, the innovation and problem-solving skills of the creative community may be more essential to the national dialogue than ever.

Ron Miriello toasted the crowd, “Our shared abilities of creativity and collaboration are fast becoming a new and important currency-type. As the financial markets waver and the myopic drive for individual wealth is paused, there’s an opportunity for the creative mindset and their unique abilities of invention, collaboration and informed risk-taking. The unique abilities of the people in this room are needed at a time like this.”

The celebration brought over 300 designers, architects, politicos, writers, artists and business people together to enjoy an evening in the creative beachhead neighborhood of Barrio Logan. The hosts – Miriello Grafico and LJG Partners – invited friends, clients and community members to a celebration – and celebrate they did. The Barrio restaurant, The Guild, managed the food and Temecula Valley ConVis organized the wines, all offerings from Temecula Valley. The Barrio Logan spokesperson Rachael Ortiz, arts tagger Crol, and the Mariachi Juvenil helped first-time visitors better understand the rich culture and history of the neighborhood. San Diego architects were plentiful, including the designer of The Logan, Jonathan Segal, who created a space where people obviously love to linger, share and invent.

Watch the party video on YouTube created by Jeff Durkin.                                                                        Find incriminating party pictures on Flickr.

The question was how to create a cool chronicle of Miriello Grafico creative design that was simple, dramatic and easy to update. The Miriello Grafico entry lounge needed a treatment and got one lately with a system made from throw-away key rings and cutout circles of images we’ve either created or collected over time. Press sheets, posters, collected Hatch Show prints, CROP magazine images, packaging proofs, pictures of Johnny Depp, Josh Higgins Casbah posters, photos proof sheets, Dennis Garcia AIGA posters, they all got carved up and took on a new life as a circle graphic in the MG Lounge.

There’s a sense of satisfaction and connection when you find a designer has created a simple, uncomplicated solution to a problem you’ve been trying to solve. Mia Cullin, an architect and designer from Sweden, has created a very cool system of interlocking Tyvek paper shapes. These diecut paper flakes can be connected to form a sheet of semi-transparent divider screens, which is just what we created with them to subdivide the open studio area at Miriello Grafico. The product is new and only available currently at SuiteNY in New York City, www.suiteny.com. Take at look at the Mia Cullin website too: http://www.miacullin.com/. IKEA can’t be far behind on making their own version of Mia’s original.

The Barrio Logan section of San Diego is know as the city’s working waterfront community and it’s also know for the Chicano Park murals under the Coronado Bridge, http://www.chicanoparksandiego.com/murals/index.html

When we moved the Miriello Grafico offices to The Barrio was wanted to support the local traditional and asked two local taggers Crol+Werk to tag our roll-up door and our bathroom walls. The mural tradition lives on and The Logan has become more of a landmark and symbol of the neighborhood’s evolution because of the color and vitality of these two guys. You can see their work at http://crolvswerc.com/index.html

While I was in an Catholic church vestments shop in the heat of the Rome summer last year, the proprietor asked me if I needed help. I said ” Yes, I must have that fan.” Sitting on top of an old wooden wardrobe filled with what looked like a selection of a bishops Sunday-mass finest vestments, was an evenly oscillating mint green Marelli desk fan. I could not take my eyes off of it. It looked like it was traveling at 60 mph standing still. It was aerodynamic, overbuilt, elegant and bullet proof, all at the same time. I overpaid the gentleman for it (it’s been in that exact spot since the 50’s he insisted) and I hand- lugged it back to San Diego. It inspires and cools me everyday now. I love it when a designer’s commitment from generations past can challenge you every day in the present.

As we brainstormed the layout of our new office building, The Logan, our architect, Jonathan Segal said to me, “I’ll create the building as a blank canvas, you guys paint the canvas and make it your own.” Over a years time, we collected discarded channel-letters from sign makers throughout So. California. A piece of Jack-In-The-Box and Nextel signs from LA, old 40’s dry cleaners script and some Hooter’s letters from a sign maker in the desert near Indio, CA. Each letter was locked together into a new form and new purpose to create a kind of kid’s toy box of old letters. It has became our new office entry icon. Curiously, when we finished placing the last letter-form, there wasn’t one letter left unused.