Design — CHALLENGES — DANKO

Creative Monster

Posts in Design

Skeletal Damage Atlas

Skeletal Damage Atlas

“…[You’re] never a failure until [you] refuse to get back up.”

- Evel Knievel

Design, Fuck It ListDANKOMay 23, 2023skeleton, skeletal, damage, map, atlas, anatomy, anatomical, body, bone, broken, fracture, break, clavicle, rib, olecranon, tibia, fibula, calcaneus, phalanx, ouch, accident prone, bones, patella, patellae, cranium, nasal bone, painComment

Kaxalot: Part I

Kaxalot: Part I

Alongside earning our boating licenses, Evgeny and I conceived an idea to find, purchase, acquire, fix up, customize, christen, brand, berth and then sail our own boat. Realizing a mutual dream of freedom, adventure, creativity and fun, this whim slowly became a reality.

Fuck It List, Travel, Sailing, DIY, Design, TypographyDANKOJanuary 13, 2023boat, boating, yacht, sail, sailing, adventure, kaxalot Comment

L'INGORDIGIA

L'INGORDIGIA

Wandering through a random ancient alleyway in Florence in 2015, I discovered a very large piece of street art. After five years, I finally uncovered the original artist(s) and collaborated with them to digitize this black and white paste-up and turn it into a massive chenille back-patch.

Fuck It List, Language, Travel, Typography, DIY, Design, ArtDANKONovember 26, 2020guerilla, spam, guerilla spam, Florence, Italy, alley, street art, graffiti, monster, creative monster, L'Ingordigia, greed, serpect, serpent, beast, tree, treefingers, grapes, italian, teeth, mouth, eat, dolphin, nude, art, copyright, portfolio, vector, vectorize, illustration, paste up, paste-up, posterComment

The Creative Monster: A Memoir (Preparation)

The Creative Monster: A Memoir (Preparation)

For almost twenty years, I have been compiling thoughts, entries, doodles, photos, art, conversations, stories, dreams, rants, events, travels, anecdotes, advice, observations and commentary about everything in my life. After transcribing more than 1000 pages, I’m now shaping this work into a formative memoir, separated into four (or five?) books.

DIY, Fuck It List, Language, Public Speaking, Travel, DesignDANKOJune 17, 2019memoir, memoirs, writing, life, book of life, #bookoflife, autobiography, ego, book, author, biography, creative monsterComment

WeWork Creator Awards 2018 Application Video: DANKOMADE

WeWork Creator Awards 2018 Application Video: DANKOMADE

I compiled a 90-second video about DANKOMADE as part of a 2018 WeWork Creator Awards application.

Design, DIY, Fuck It List, Furniture, Sculpture, Public SpeakingDANKOSeptember 26, 2018wework, Wood, West Berlin, award, Danko, dankomade, DANKOMADE, furniture, build, make, maker, create, creator, Berlin, berlin, funding, application, small business, sustainable, upcycle, upcycled, salvaged, DIY, metal, steel, glass, leather, welding, stone, brass, iron, lighting, furnishing, antiques, antique, concrete, junk, craft, craftsmanComment

DANKO Identity evolution

First conceived sometime in 2006, this is the history of my professional brand and how its identity has evolved considerably over the last twelve years.

Design, DIYDANKOAugust 24, 2018Danko, logo, brand, design, identity design, logo design, creative monster, creative, visual designer, style, D, professional, typography, graphic design, graphicComment

Sloth Emoji

Earlier this month, I was curious about what emoji's were proposed and approved for Unicode approval this year... and realized that there was no sloth included. Naturally, I opted to address this, and created my own set of Sloth Emoji.

Design, DIY, Fuck It List, LanguageDANKOMarch 5, 2018sloth, #sloth, three-toed sloth, three toed sloth, emoji, sloth emoji, sloth icon, sloth face, sloth love, slothy Comment

The Bar Cart

The Bar Cart

This simple structure has since become a revered addition to our living room, and gladly accepts, stores and dispenses almost all of our household hooch.

DIY, Design, Sculpture, FurnitureDANKOJanuary 6, 2017fancypants, frame, drunk, Danko, make, wiskey, nakedjuice, rum, vodka, ikea, whiskey, thick, black, party, alcohol, carafe, DIY, antique, shaker, bar, drink, hooch, German, gatsby, solid, ikeahack, bottle, pipe, copper, scotch, wine, cocktail, masculine, bar cart, wax, bitters, sturdy, boozeporn, booze, wood, wooden Comment

The Berlin Wall Costume

The Berlin Wall Costume

A symbol of both oppression and freedom, The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, unifying East and West Berlin. Monuments and memorials draw hundreds of thousands each year to view the remains of this solemn reminder, whose message has become even more important as the Western political atmosphere echoes it's affects. Clever Halloween costume satire was, thus, inevitable.

Fuck It List, DIY, Design, SculptureDANKONovember 2, 2016Berlin WallDIY, berlin, berlin wall, the berlin wall, costume, styrofoam, wall, politics, halloween, halloween2016, halloween 2016, germany, communism, hasselhoff, freedom, memorial, effigy, #berlin, eisern, mitte, kreuzberg, East Berlin, West Berlin, DDR, The Wall, Parody, sarcasmComment

The Monster Easel

The Monster Easel

One day in May, I decided that I should resume painting. I visited some art shops in Berlin; it seemed to me that all of the models I found were either too flimsy or lacked panache. Thus, I took reference photos and began to plan and construct my own extra large, customized, rolling, adjustable, stable art easel.

Design, DIY, Fuck It List, Furniture, ArtDANKOOctober 14, 2016Danko Creativeeasel, paint, painting, artist, wood, custom, DIY, solvent, shelf, adjustable, monster, creative, build, joint, brush Comment

CUSTOM RECLAIMED PIPE & BOARD WARDROBE

CUSTOM RECLAIMED PIPE & BOARD WARDROBE

'Reclaimed,' 'found,' 'repurposed,' 'recycled,' 'salvaged' or just plain 'stolen,' some of my favourite furnishings have been made with shit I've either found or lifted from various places. It was this scavenger craftsman impulse that lead me to imagine and eventually construct a customized pipe and board open wardrobe.

DIY, Design, Fuck It List, FurnitureDANKOSeptember 7, 2016closet, pipe, board, berlin, construction, metal, wood, carpenter, carpentry, build, make, #make, pine, aluminum, scaffold, clasp, LED lighting, custom, reclaimed, salvaged, found, reno, creativity, furnish, furniture, wardrobe, walk-in closet, shelf, shelves, clothes, copper, black, spraypaint, stain, DIY, bolt, Germany, Berlin, Table, Wardrobe, Pine, Wood, skull, bones, ivy, plant, indoor, living room, bedroom, armoir, bolts, structure, scaffolding Comments

Sloth Costume

Sloth Costume

I've been entertaining the concept of a man-sized sloth costume for about five years... and, on the best night of 2015, I finally realized it.

DIY, Fuck It List, DesignDANKONovember 4, 2015sloth, three-toed sloth, three toed sloth, animal, costume, sloth costume, three-toed sloth costume, three toed sloth costume, diy, make, hair, fur, fuax fur, nails, claws, sclera, contact, beast, halloween, dressup, cosplay, favourite animal, favorite animal, inspiration, costume design, costumes, faux fur, slothsuit, dankosloth, slothman, man, custom, makeup, #make, #sloth, #costume, #halloween, halloween 2015, fauxfur, ewok, sasquatch, wookiee, fuzz, fuzzy, idea, texture, contact lenses, black sclera, claw, bradypus Comments

HALLOWEEN 2015: COSTUME SNEAK PEEK

HALLOWEEN 2015: COSTUME SNEAK PEEK

I've been entertaining the concept of a man-sized sloth costume for about five years, and this year, I'm finally going to realise it.

SCHIFFER

SCHIFFER

Earlier this year, I bought a new bicycle from a man in Kreuzberg over E-bay Kleinanzeigen here in Berlin. A beaten up old men's three-speed German Veteran model, the black frame remained solid, and the 28" diameter wheels and elevated seat suited my own dimensions. It was dirty, dented, and it rattled, but I knew we'd get along.

DIY, DesignDANKOSeptember 21, 2015bike, bicycle, Claudia, Schiffer, Claudia Schiffer, Model, DIY, Do it yourself, spraypaint, paint, black, black on black, black on black on black, vinyl, signature, D, scheiß drauf, kreuzberg, Berlin, Kleinanzeigen, German, Modular, refurbish, repair, fix, fancy, purdy, facelift, overhaul, renoComment

COLDER THAN MARS

Earlier last week, my social media feed was flooded with stories about how the climate in all of Canada was colder than that of the planet Mars. Of course, this phenomenon was ripe for a design/branding idea.

DesignDANKOJanuary 12, 2015DANKOcanada, cold, colder than Mars, Mars, freezing, weather, ice, snow, climate, winter, North, brand, designComment

ROBOBRO

ROBOBRO

This holiday season, one of my gifts was a very personal and original illustration.

DesignDANKODecember 27, 2014robot, robo, robobro, illustration, ink, red, black, white, incredible, sean, EKG, electrocardiograph, heart, blood, dilated cardiomyopathy, cardioComment

Lycanthrope & Jackalope Costumes

Lycanthrope & Jackalope Costumes

This year, after considering various concepts and ideas, Cor and I decided to go as Mythological Taxidermy: Cor as the beloved Jackalope (a jack rabbit with antlers), and me as a Lycanthrope (a shapeshifter; in this case, a sort of werewolf-troll-ogre-man-thing).

DIY, Design, TypographyDANKONovember 5, 2014hallowe'en, halloween, costume, costume design, cardboard, old, face, paint, metal, typography, DIY, Germany, bust, vintage, myth, mythological, taxidermy, mythological taxidermy, plaque, dead, werewolf, ulfwaren, rabbit, horns, ram, antler, antlers, horn, acryclic, makeup, contact, hair, wolf, wolfman, beast, do-it-yourself, costumes, win, 2014, troll, ogre, thing, man, Fenrir, Fenrisulfr, wolpertinger Comments

MAKE

MAKE

In September, Cor came up with the idea of creating a sort of vision wall focused on the concept of stuff to make. During the development of the concept, the idea to create large 3D letters arose, and using math, cardboard, tape, glue, scissors and my favourite typefaces, I ran with it.

DIY, Art, Design, Sculpture, TypographyDANKOOctober 16, 2014Das Baumhaustypography, cardboard, letter, paint, font, museo, akzidenz grotesque, make, diyComment