The Shop

I spend the majority of my life in my shop. Be it the basement when this all began, downtown at WILDERNESS with Dave and Goo, and back to the backyard these last six years. Your work shop is as important as anything else, and you gotta design it, just like you design a page.

DDC Backyard Shop

2018–Present

As these words go to print, we’ve been in the backyard six years. One of the best decisions in my life was building the shop. No more having to drive downtown in the morning. No more sketchy underground parking lots. No more mail getting messed with. Getting down there and getting back home just began to burn up too much precious time. I’m just a 10-step commute from GETTING DOWN TO WORK, and I love that part the most. Time saved! And readers of these, you should see me “sharing a piss” with the raccoons in between the shop and Tuff Shed No. 01! One cubic Aaron Draplin’s width. All by design! Backyard indecency! So many flushes saved!

The Building of the
DDC Backyard Shop

Spring 2017–Summer 2018

To date, the building of the DDC Backard Shop was one of the coolest undertakings in my life. A crusty, overlooked backyard that exploded into a maelstrom of activity overnight. Scheming it up, architecture, engineering, permitting, demolition, clearing it out, foundation, framing, electrical, roofing, drywall, plywood shelves, paint, carpet and moving the DDC mess all in. All awesome.

I’ll forever be thankful to Robby Hottois and Brandon Morris for building my little dream. I was privileged to watch and learn about each step along the way without the sweaty, unnecessary “Big Leaguing” contractors like to do. Robby brought me into the mix for each decision.

It wasn’t without its hiccups, but that’s how this stuff goes. Hell, it took five weeks for the damned city to come and “install” fences around the two Japanese maple trees I have in front of the house. I was quoted 6-8 months, but it was more like 14 months. And so be it.

I've enjoyed a “10-Step Commute” for the last six years, thankful for each time I enter and leave the DDC Backyard Shop. The lesson here is this: Design your life. Not only am I saving loot, but I am saving time. Can’t put a price on that shit in these fast times.

Moving Out of the
Old Shop Downtown

Summer 2018

This one really snuck up on me. What a fuckin’ undertaking. I couldn’t believe I had amassed that much stuff during my time on the fifth floor of the Olympic Mills building. I remember getting shot down so hard by Goo, Dave and Leigh when I said, “I’ll just move the stuff myself, little load by load.” Yeah, right. Ha. The prep and packing up alone worked me over. Had to get a moving truck going and a fleet of kick-ass bros to drag all the goods to the backyard. Dang. But it had to be that way. Flat files, shelves, desks, seating, tables and so much shit to fill all that stuff up. They did it in a day. Best $5000 I’ve ever had to begrudgingly part with.

Robby Hottois:

Builder, Buddy and Bad-Ass Dad

Robby Hottois and I go all the way back to 1993, when I met him in Bend, Oregon. We were fresh out from Michigan and had a scrubby, little place a couple block from downtown. At some point that winter, a dreadlocked Robby Hottois showed up on the scene, in his vintage VW mini bus, by way of LaGrande out in Eastern Oregon. We instantly shared a mutual love of the Flaming Lips and would shred each day, as well as some sporadic travel around the Northwest. We spent a good part of the spring of 1994 up on the hill, and then he moved on, and if my memory serves, up toward Seattle way? I know he spent a wild grip of time up there, and made his way back to Portland a decade ago.

We caught up in 2017 and got to talking about what a backyard shop project might look like. After some back and forth, some handshakes, time with an architect, time with an engineer and then a couple meaty down payments, Robby was off and running. His right hand man on the project was Brandon Henry, and all and all, the build took just about a year.

I love this backyard shop so much, and I love that it was built by an old friend, who’s gone on to do great things. Husband to Kim, dad to Jack and Leo. Hell yeah, Robby Hottois!!!

Moving-In Graphics,
and a Cautionary Tale

Of course, there were a series of graphics to accompany each phase of moving out of old shop at the Olympic Mills building, then moving in, culminating in a logo designed for the new shop. That lasted until some dog fart chimed in and said, “Butthole House”…which resonated with the populace who reads our shit. That was the end of that one.

Wilderness Office

March 2009–Summer 2018

After a good run in the basement from 2004 to 2009, it was time to try a new spot. Goo and Dave were working out of their homes, and were feeling the pinch and limitations of those scenarios.

So we checked out a couple spots around town and really dug the walk-through we had at Olympic Mills. Up on the fifth floor, with views north over the city and east with Mt. Hood popping up. They were still finishing the buildout, and we got in early enough to construct a little closet in the corner with its own light. We moved in that spring of 2008 for what turned out to be a cool decade in suite 540.

We called the place Wilderness Office. And FOR THE RECORD, you fucks, I came up with that one. As well as “The Golden West,” “October” and “Grayling”…as well as the short-lived “Meat Hammer.” It was fun to invent the place, shedding the orange and Futura Bold of the DDC. This was a whole new voice. A whole new set of possibilities.

New projects, community and strength in numbers. And, gambling. Fuckin’ Dave and I would roll dice to see who had to go get the mail or a sandwich over at Sheridan’s market. Degenerates!

The coolest part was that I got to be with buddies I looked up to since I first moved to Portland and started at Cinco Design. I mean, I quickly overtook David Nakamoto WELL BEFORE we started Wilderness, and that fact certainly is a stubborn thing.

Basement Shop

Summer 2004–Summer 2009

There was a bit of exodus from Cinco Design in 2004. I had just completed a two-year stint there and was going out on my own and back down into my basement to give it go. Things worked, and I enjoyed five years down there working on Coal Headwear, Union Binding Company and Snowboard Mag, as well as a million other projects.

One of the big selling points when I bought my house in 2004 was the basement. A place to work! Moved in and tricked the place out in a couple days. Just down the stairs to the basement and OFF AND RUNNING as the Draplin Design Co. No pants worn, ever.