Jake Ryder
Originally from Boise, Idaho, I grew up skateboarding and snowboarding and have always had a fascination with the chaotic way human interaction altered the appearance of objects. Working in skate shops I learned to tell a lot about what type of skater someone was by the marks on the bottom of their board. Each one tells a different story. I enjoy reconstructing these pieced into a playful storyboard of human activity and breathing new life into them as furniture.
Moving away from Boise I spent 10 years living and working in Seattle, Washington where I attended the University of Washington and graduated with an art degree focusing on large-scale sculpture and graphic design. Recently, I relocated to Portland, Oregon to live in the heart of an environmentally conscious and progressive city. This ties into my experimentation with a wide variety of recycled materials and sporting goods to construct a visually striking furniture line that’s both colorful and comfortable. There is a constant push in all of my work to use recycled materials and eliminate waste wherever possible.
Last year I played a strong part in the organization and event coordination of the Within Our Reach conference on the Willamette River Initiative. This event brought forth the reality that simply living in a progressive city wasn't enough. Getting your hands directly involved in improving our surroundings is the critical method to inciting positive change. I've welcomed this opportunity with a foray back into my fine art roots and the creation of a new sculpture for the Ripple Effect.