We recently met with the lovely Rachel Rector at her studio to talk about her handmade lingerie.

Duplex: Are you from Portland?
Rachel Rector: I’m from Florida
D: What brought you to Portland?
RR: I graduated in FL and I wanted to move. I kind of took a risk coming out here; I’d never been before and I’ve been here almost 3 years.
D: What is your background? Did you sew?
RR: No, I started learning to sew only 4 years ago. Before moving here I stopped in Indianapolis to visit my dad and get to know his family. I had a free place to live. Thrifting there is insane, so I had started a vintage Etsy shop and learned to sew. I came out here and decided Etsy was not going to work for me because everyone has their vintage store you know?
D: Yeah that’s true. It is very saturated out here.
RR: It’s hard to thrift out here. So I started working at Lille Boutique for a couple of years. I learned what I could from there and now I am doing this!
D: Do you wear your own lingerie everyday?
RR: Not everyday, I have quite a collection from buying everything I could from Lille, but I try to wear it because I am fit testing it. It is still really new, I don’t feel ready for it to be out in the market yet until I am sure it is going to hold up. So I am trying to figure that out, seeing if I need to take this in or change this about it and I want my friends to be doing the same thing.
D: When do you think you will be prepared to put it on the market?
RR: I think in the next couple months.
D: Wow that is exciting!
Read More «Rachel Rector Lingerie SS ’13»

From now until April 25th, make some time to head over to the White Box Gallery to check out the TEDx Portland WHAT IF? exhibition. Located in the U of O Stag building on NW First Avenue, this is the second collaboration between TEDx and White Box to raise money for CHAP (Children’s Healing Art Project) here in Portland. Local artists worked with curators Tomas Valladares and Molly Georgetta to put on an incredible show.

Gardenista
Read More «Floating Houses»

A few months ago Josh bought a plastic bag full of various expired 35mm film for $10. I recently started using them, but it will be a few years until we actually run out. Reaching into the bag is sort of exciting and the pressure is off since I have no idea if my film is even going to turn out. Here’s a few to start with. You can see the rest here.

All Photos by Jessica Breedlove

San Francisco lost one of its treasures over the weekend. Carlos Villa was a artist, teacher and mentor to countless students in his 43 years at the San Francisco Art Institute. I was lucky enough to be his painting TA during my last year of grad school and was always amazed by his insight and generosity. He was an incredible creator, activist, and as most have commented in their refection of Villa, truly a beautiful spirit.

See more of Carlos’s work here