Hasta La Ideas

Core77’s Hand-Eye Supply Curiosity Club is thrilled to present Half Iron Design’s Matthew Reineck, industrial designer and fabricator of finely-crafted crafted guitars and ukeleles!

Tonight’s talk starts at 6 at the Hand-Eye Supply store in Portland, OR. Come early and check out our space or check in with us online for the live broadcast!

Matthew Reineck
Half Iron Design: “Building from the Basement”
Hand-Eye Supply
23 NW 4th Ave
Portland, OR 97209
Tuesday, April 30th, 6pm PST

I plan to speak about my current work and how to build musical instruments on a small scale, at very high quality and with limited space and resources. I’ll talk not only about building wood products, but about taking full advantage of what’s around you and where you live to keep the creative spirit alive. I’ve lived in one bedroom apartments, shared spaces, houses and in each I’ve been able to build and craft goods from prints, to textiles, to musical instruments. I’ll share my experiences and knowledge to help people build no matter where they are in life.

Late in high school, seeking alternatives for creativity outside of the school environment, Matt began woodworking with his grandfather. The instant passion that was formed lead to the discovery of industrial design and to a degree from The Ohio State University. Upon graduation, Matt moved west to Seattle and built his first basement guitar in 2002. Rather quickly that turned into a career and Matt has worked for music companies Dusty Strings, First Act Inc. and at music video game producer Harmonix as an industrial designer. More than ten years later, a constant in Matt’s life has been building, no matter the living situation or resources at hand. Half Iron Design was started in late 2012 with an emphasis on building electric guitars and ukuleles. But in the basement, anything can be built.

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