Food and Community at Glide Memorial
July 17, 2011
Glide Memorial is one of the most liberal church’s in the US and has a long history of providing innovative and comprehensive services to the poor and marginalized in the San Francisco community. Glide kicked off a new outreach program called Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds, sponsored by Safeway. This is a new program that teaches families in the Tenderloin about healthy eating.
The 5-week class is offered to about 10 families (kids included) and is taught by both Glide staff and Safeway. The class begins with a presentation by Glide about the basics of good nutrition and then moves into an interactive cooking lesson led by a chef from Safeway. Families are taught about ways to enhance nutritional value with different cooking styles as well as educating the families on new vegetable varieties such as russian kale. The goal is to show families how to make healthy, affordable and easy to prepare meals.
Safeway funded the construction of the new demonstration kitchen at Glide in addition to providing a chef and food from Safeway. Concreteworks was involved with the construction aspect of the project by donating hundreds of discontinued tile samples to create a mosaic wall that wraps around the base of the kitchen island. Concreteworks also made the kitchen countertops with our CW Sustainable Blend, high in recycled content.
Glide has another related program called Graze the Roof - a rooftop garden which featuring soil-less gardening vegetable systems, self watering containers, lightweight garden beds made from milk crates and worm composting system. If this new program is a success, families will soon be able to cook the food growing on site.
Dinner on the Farm in Winters, CA
October 14, 2010
Here are some photos from last Sunday’s ‘Dinner on the Farm’ hosted by the Center for Land-Based Learning. The event was held to raise money to purchase a wood-burning Nido Oven for their agricultral youth programs. Chef Matt Paul from Slow Club and Chef Matt Sigler from Flour + Water cooked an amazing dinner for about 70 people served outdoors on a table set between old growth olive trees. Food and drinks were donated by Free Spirit Farm, Crew Wine Company, Marr Cellars, Putah Creek Winery, Turkovich Family Winery, Yocha DeHe Farm and Ranch. The Center will soon be able to provide a new culinary experience for the students – being able to cook the food they harvest onsite with a wood-fired oven. The center already has an outdoor kitchen, which will soon be furnished with Concreteworks countertops. Scroll down to see the Center for Land-Based Learning Nido Oven concept sketch.
Community table
Center for Land-based Learning Nido Oven concept sketch by Concreteworks
Overlooking Free Spirit Farm
Seed starters
Free Spirit Broccoli
Toby Hastings of Free Spirit Farm, giving a farm tour.
Concreteworks has a new website. www.concreteworks.com
Nido at Montalvo
October 13, 2010
Montalvo Art Center is a private non-profit art center located on a 175 acre estate in Saratoga, CA with a historic villa, two theaters, art gallery, hiking trails, gardens and an artist in residency center. Its mission is to foster community engagement through the creation and presentation of multidisciplinary art. Every year the center invites 15 different artists to stay for 12 months to produce works and give performances to the public.
In addition to musicians, painters, actors, writers and architects, the center awards a culinary fellowship to an emerging chef with a strong interest in sustainable agriculture and cuisine. For a year, the resident is given a nurturing space to explore his or her culinary interests – while cooking for the other artists in residency five nights a week. Michelle Fuerst just finished her year-long residency as the culinary fellow, but before leaving, proposed that the center obtain a wood-burning oven – a cooking device which embodies the values of slow food. Cooking with a wood fire creates a type of ritual around cooking, highlighting the relationship between grower and chef while fostering direct community involvement around the meal, which is Montalvo’s mission. Michael Pollan said in a recent NY Times article, “a wood-burning oven is the center of social gravity.”
Concreteworks has been hired to fabricate a custom Nido Oven for Montalvo. Nido Ovens are composed of several parts, the inner shell being a predefined dimension made out of refractory concrete and the exterior shell is flexible in geometry and cladding. The oven for Montalvo will be slightly different than the classic Nido Oven pictured below, and the color is inspired by the stone wall. The oven will be installed this November.
Rock wall surrounding the outdoor eating area, color inspiration for the new oven.
Montalvo’s oven in progress
Outdoor seating area
Classic Nido Oven
Concreteworks has a new website. www.concreteworks.com
Locavore extends to Bay Area Sports Apparel
October 7, 2010
The SF Giants had a big win last Sunday, making it to the playoffs for the first time in 7 years. Tonight they are playing the Atlanta Braves. Got your shirts? Check out Mayberry Workshop, started by our very own Concreteworks Project Manager, Adam Mayberry and his brother Benjamin.
Mayberry Workshop makes original designs that play off the culture of the sports teams in the Bay Area. They currently have 12 different designs for sale on their website featuring different local teams – not just baseball. The most popular shirts right now are “Bay Area Die Hards” and “Big Time Timmy Jim,” a reference to star pitcher Tim Lincecum in an ESPN commercial. The shirts are printed locally at Free Gold Watch in San Francisco.
Born and raised in the Bay Area, Adam and Benjamin Mayberry started their small venture a few years ago out of their love for design and local sports teams. Designers by trade, they saw a need for good quality design in fan based apparel, AND the opportunity to make people aware of the freelance work they do in architecture and graphic design.
MW is gearing up for hockey season and will have women’s Sharks t-shirts in a couple weeks. Mayberry Workshop is also making new Concreteworks t-shirts.
If you want a shirt for tonight’s game, contact Adam. He will be at Concreteworks in Oakland from 9-5.
Concreteworks has a new website, check it out. www.concreteworks.com
Concreteworks at Columbia University
May 6, 2010
Mark Rogero is back in Oakland after lecturing at Columbia University. Keith Kaseman, architect and professor in the Architecture, Planning and Preservation Department, asked Mark to be a guest lecturer for the seminar + workshop he’s teaching this semester called ‘Concrete Obsessions.’ Students have been required to cast one form per week researching process, investigating finishes, textures, dimensional properties, concrete mixes, behaviors and utility of concrete casting….all captured on the class blog. It was a great opportunity for students to get feedback on their semester long projects. Mark also had a chance to discuss our most recent work and experiments, as well as the day-to-day activities that take place in our Oakland studio.
Mark and Keith have worked together on several projects including the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.
Visit our website. www.concreteworks.com
Visit our website. www.concreteworks.com
Food & Wine at Scribe Winery
January 6, 2010
Food and Wine Magazine hosted an editorial photo shoot at Scribe Winery in Sonoma on Tuesday, kicking off the new year with a party drawing Bay Area foodies, designers, farmers, musicians and wine industry folks. Scribe wine was served on the outdoor patio as well as delicious wood fired pizzas cooked open air by Chris Kronner of Bar Tartine and Nico Monday of Chez Panisse in the first ever Nido Oven, a concrete wood-burning oven fabricated by Concreteworks. The atmosphere at Scribe Winery is both breathtaking and fascinating. The property has a 100-year old Spanish Revival Hacienda, one of the oldest vineyards in California and is surrounded by preserved wilderness. Located on Napa Road, the Hacienda overlooks the vineyards below and the mountain ridge above. This harmonious balance between wild and cultivated is owner, Andrew Mariani’s vision for the future of Scribe. Currently work is being done to restore the vineyards to a thriving ecosystem and the land to it’s natural slope. Aidlin Darling Design has been hired to restore the Hacienda as well as build a new tasting room and production facility with a light footprint. For more information about upcoming food and wine events at Scribe Winery featuring our Wood Burning Oven, subscribe to our newsletter: requests@concreteworks.com.
Bocanova
November 27, 2009
New on the block. Bocanova Restaurant is the most recent addition to Oakland’s Jack London Square District. This waterfront eatery is open for lunch and dinner serving exciting Pan-American flavors that honor the mostly Latino kitchen staff, lead by Chef/Owner Rick Hackett. Have a cocktail or a round of tapas at the bar and test out our contribution to the restaurant. The bartops were a unique project for us, mixing two colors of concrete to create a graphic texture in a finish we call archipelago. Meredith the owner, loves the bar and it’s warm surface, “Concrete isn’t stone cold.”
Check out more photos of the Concrete bartop at Bocanova on our website.
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Concreteworks at SOEX
September 23, 2009
We are excited to announce our partnership with SOEX. Southern Exposure , the nearly 35 year community arts organization is well underway on the construction of their new home at Alabama Street in the Mission District of San Francisco. In collaboration with SOEX architect Rick Johnson and Executive Director Courtney Fink we designed and fabricated a custom bathroom sink for the new gallery. The official SOEX Public Grand Opening + Block Party + Bellwether Opening will be October 17th. Check out the details here and enjoy the artful sink.
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Film : Rome Food Movie
June 17, 2009
Coming soon : Rome Food Movie. My good friend Zach Shapiro along with Robert Libetti are creating a short film about the Rome Sustainable Food Project, illustrating how Chef Mona Talbot, Sous Chef Chris Boswell and their staff connect the products of local farmers to the kitchen, feeding the people working and residing at the American Academy in Rome. The Academy awards the prestigious Rome Prize to a selected group of artists and scholars invited to Rome to pursue their creative goals in an atmosphere conducive to artistic innovation and progressive scholarship. Zach is back in New York editing after shooting for 6 weeks on location at the Academy and at the small organic farms outside Rome. Knowing Zach’s passion for food, where it comes from , how it’s prepared , how it’s consumed and how it relates to our health and well being, this film will be a creative window into the lives of the people who make the Rome Sustainable Food Project a success. If you’re a foodie and interested in supporting this exciting project, Zach has created a very clever, convenient and affordable fund raising structure to meet the cost needs which is based on 333 people each donating $33 . Each contributor will receive a DVD of the movie- what a deal! Check out this 3 minute, made with a point and shoot camera, video snippet that was the inspiration to make the film. In Zach’s own words, ” I am inspired to share this experience by making a documentary that will demonstrate how farm, kitchen and consumer are bound together by the cycle of life. “ Donate here.
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Visiting Baker Lane Vineyards
June 16, 2009
I recently had the opportunity to visit with Stephen Singer at Baker Lane Vineyards in Sebastapol , CA. Stephen and his wife built a stunning modern house in the midst of their working 15 acre farm where they grow olives, and produce Syrah and Pinot Noir . The house, designed by SKA Architects and built by Fairweather Associates, includes Concreteworks fabricated kitchen countertops. We also provided the countertops next to the pizza oven in the outdoor kitchen as well as the Jenner Lounges out by the pool overlooking the vineyards. Touring the farm is truly a special experience. Kicking through the dirt and hearing the stories of the history of the property and the trials of farm life reminded me of a tour I had of a rural farm outside of Torino in Northern Italy. Seeing their meticulous approach to crafting the property including the many solar solutions, erosion management systems, selection of recycled and sustainable materials and organic farming practices was inspiring. The property is also the home of Stephen Singer ,Olio, a olive oil importing venture Stephen started over 10 years ago.
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