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 Sanctuary 143 nomadic artist collective opened their Reinventing The Wheel artist installation at Miriello Grafico’s Logan warehouse to over 700 people. “It felt more like New York than San Diego”, “I’ve never seen so many people into an art event in San Diego before”, and “I was blown away to find this level of energy, and in Barrio Logan of all places.”–were some of the comments coming out of the din.

Several artists and bikesmiths, including Ron Miriello of Miriello Grafico, contributed to the show pieces, all based loosely on the theme of reinventing- rethinking- the wheel. Velo Cult of South Park San Diego had 100 night-riding bicycle members arrive in mass to swarm the show and further expand the eclectic crowd of artists, designers, politicos, media, kids, dogs and hipsters.

Sanctuary 143 is an artist group, masterfully driven by Sean and Stacy Kelley and Jeff Faeth, with an approach to arts events founded on low egos, true collaboration and hard work. You can see photos of the Reinventing The Wheel event on Flickr.

Learn more about Sanctuary 143 and their next event  at : http://www.sanctuary143.com/category/events/

Finding a new creative use for  everyday, throw-away objects has a special satisfaction for both the maker and the viewer. Each get a slightly new perspective on things we see everyday. Re-purposed works send an interesting message that art is always surrounding - as long as we’re wearing the right pair of glasses.

These hanging mobile sculptures, made by Ron Miriello, are made from highway barricade sign and used zinc printers plates, cut with a CNC laser and then bent into three dimensional forms. This series was part of the Sanctuary 143 Reinventing The Wheel exhibition and are now installed in the offices of Miriello Grafico.

Jeff Durkin and Steve Godwin of Bread Truck Films have been cobbling together street wise independent films for a few years now. They use a low-budget “run and gun” style of film-making that has become their signature. Together with taggers Crol+Werc they’ve been shooting a Barrio Logan based film called Mixed Message which is being cut together this month.

Crow+Werc, Bread Truck Films and Miriello Grafico were into a film that would use the Barrio Logan neighborhood and it’s creative community as the backdrop and reflect on the positive and powerful creative side of urban street life. We’ll add a YouTube link here once it’s ready to preview.

Here are a few shots by Jeff during the shooting and tagging at Miriello Grafico and The Logan.

Every summer the Barrio Logan district celebrates the culture of the community at a festival in Chicano Park, under the Coronado Bridge in San Diego. This years festival was focused on the famous park murals and their upcoming renovation as historical landmarks. Victor Ochoa spoke about the mural history and the Cesar Chavez movement that will be forever connected to the Barrio. And the low riders were there in force to show off their rides. The colors, dramatic customizations and over-the-top detailing makes these fantasy sculptures a massive inspiration.

Below are some captures from the April event. For even more photos go to:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?page=2&q=miriello+barrio&z=t

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.

http://www.sdbj.com/industry_article.asp?aID=58814902.03541602.1552525.69532802.4750832.434&aID2=119416

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