Welcome back to the New Disruptors! Although regular episode production has ended, I will occasionally post new interviews when I find ideas for independent creative people that I haven’t encountered before or a particularly compelling individual or business. Right now, it may seem bleak, but we will all be in a state of reinvention over… Continue reading Consumption in the Age of Pandemic with Dan Frommer (Episode 114)
Picture Yourself on a Dress and Deliver with Jaimee Newberry (Episode 113)
Jaimee Newberry is the co-founder of Picture This Clothing. Draw a picture or take a picture and get it put on a dress or a T-shirt. It’s that simple — well, it’s that simple for the maker, which is what Jaimee is all about. She and her partner fell into the business through a tweet. Three years in,… Continue reading Picture Yourself on a Dress and Deliver with Jaimee Newberry (Episode 113)
Race to Answer the Call of the Wild with Pat Race and Marian Call (Episode 112)
Musician Marian Call appeared on New Disruptors back in October 2013. Her home was in Alaska, but she spent a lot of time away from it touring. With six more years under her belt, she’s trying to stick closer to her community in Juneau. One of the reasons? Her husband Pat Race, an illustrator, gallery owner, videographer,… Continue reading Race to Answer the Call of the Wild with Pat Race and Marian Call (Episode 112)
What’s Your Latest with CW&T: Che-Wei Wang and Taylor Levy (Episode 111)
CW&T is Che-Wei Wang and Taylor Levy. They combine art, technology, design, and manufacture into everyday objects that have nothing everyday about them, as well as unique expressions of industrial design that can’t be compared with anything else. In this episode, we talk about one of their latest endeavors, Time Since Launch, a single-use launch clock… Continue reading What’s Your Latest with CW&T: Che-Wei Wang and Taylor Levy (Episode 111)
Grand Inventions: Weathering Time with Benn Bollay (Episode 110)
Benn Bollay remembers that he knew as a kid that his grandfather was an early researcher into weather forecasting. But it turns out that Eugene Bollay was one of the founders of the field of meteorology and television weathercasting! His g’pa even preceded Pat Sajak in a TV weatherman job. Benn tells us about his grandfather’s literal study… Continue reading Grand Inventions: Weathering Time with Benn Bollay (Episode 110)
Painting with Lasers: Dan Shapiro, Shell Meggersee, and Nick Taylor (Episode 109)
This episode is recorded live at Glowforge, makers of a 2D laser cutter—but it’s not a sponsored episode and we don’t talk about the hardware much at all. Instead, it’s conversation about what people are trying to make and how to get started as a creator. I talk with Glowforge founder (and my friend) Dan Shapiro,… Continue reading Painting with Lasers: Dan Shapiro, Shell Meggersee, and Nick Taylor (Episode 109)
Living a Life in Letterpress: Live at Ada’s (Episode 108)
My love of letterpress printing is no secret, and in this episode, I speak to two designers who devote parts of their working lives to modern letterpress. This episode was taped live at Ada’s Technical Books and Café in Seattle on January 23. Printing didn’t change much from about 1450 to 1950. It became faster,… Continue reading Living a Life in Letterpress: Live at Ada’s (Episode 108)
Grand Inventions: A Towering Monument with Dave Hamilton (Episode 107)
Dave Hamilton’s grandfather invented the ubiquitous coin-operated binocular viewer you see at monuments and viewpoints worldwide, the Tower Optical Binoculars. Dave, an entrepreneur, writer, musician, and founder of The Mac Observer, joins host Glenn Fleishman to tell of days spent with his grandfather and his “Big Fish” stories that turned out entirely true. This episode is part… Continue reading Grand Inventions: A Towering Monument with Dave Hamilton (Episode 107)
Live Event January 23: The Life of a Letterpress Printer
The first live event of the renewed New Disruptors happens Jan. 23 at Ada’s Technical Books and Café in Seattle. I asked three local letterpress artists to talk about what it’s like to run a partial or full career in the 21st century using techniques and technology that dates back to the 15th to early… Continue reading Live Event January 23: The Life of a Letterpress Printer
What’s the Three One One in Two Oh One Eight, Walt Hickey? (Episode 106)
Walt Hickey is a data journalist who launched a newsletter for numeric nerds several months ago. He’s worked for Business Insider, FiveThirtyEight, and, currently, Insider (a sister company to BI), often writing about the intersection of culture and data: How we can understand movies, books, and social trends better through a filter of numbers, or how… Continue reading What’s the Three One One in Two Oh One Eight, Walt Hickey? (Episode 106)