Hasta La Ideas

Tonight, Core77 welcomes Kurt Mottweiler, Portland-based camera designer and builder to our bi-weekly creative speaker series: The Hand-Eye Supply Curiosity Club hosted 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! Read our Q+A with Kurt here!

Tuesday, April 19th
6PM PST
Hand-Eye Supply
23 NW 4th Ave
Portland, OR, 97209

“Making Traditional Cameras—Crafting a Path With Technology”

In recognition of Portland’s month of photo activities and the resurgence of interest in alternative and historic photographic techniques, Kurt Mottweiler will present some of his original designs for medium and large format cameras while exploring a collection of details about design and fabrication techniques used in his process. He will provide examples of camera design as well as associated examples of luminaire design and a recent venture into the world of timekeeping.

Kurt Mottweiler likes to blur the lines between craftsmanship and technology. As a maker and as a student of both traditional crafts and industrial design, he attempts to find balance between the utility and beauty of mechanical objects while acknowledging the value of both traditional manual skill and contemporary manufacturing technology in creating those objects.

Raised by an autodidact father with a passion for photography, Kurt grew up watching his father engaged in the business of selling and racing Porsches. When his father switched from Porsches to motorcycles, Kurt took on the role of both selling and racing and thus continued his immersion in the aesthetics of and the interaction with mechanical objects. So it seems fitting that one of his passions is the design and creation of traditional, film-based cameras that range from the simplest, lensless, wooden cameras to fully computer-controlled, rotating panoramic cameras.

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