Actual Blog = Construction Blog

Hello readers, I've decided to make a few changes to the blog!

I will be using the blog more as a personal sketchbook and disconnecting it from www.actualsf.com. The new name is 'construction' (because that's what it feels like sometimes), and the new URL is blog.joshjakus.com.

So I hope you will keep following my work. If you would like to keep up with Actual, please become a fan at www.facebook.com/actualsf.

Cheers,
Josh

Style Details

My new laptop bags are not radical, just very useful and - I hope - very nice. So everything needs to fall into place: material color, strap color, closure, labeling, seams. I like the label placement, just above the velcro inside the top flap. But the label should be larger and be separate from the velcro...

Organizing Details

Sometimes a certain detail is so compelling that it can organize the design of an entire object. The curve of a folded piece of felt is one of those details. I'm working on laptop bags and totes. This curve will define the construction technique I use for the entire line.

Reality Shot

Here's what my sewing area looks like after spending a day solving a very small but very difficult production problem. I'm an organized person, but I tend to make a mess while I'm working. I clean it up when I'm done, only to start a new mess the next day.

Faux Computers

These wooden blanks represent different laptop and tablet sizes. I'm designing a utilitarian laptop bag and these pieces will help me get the size (and access) exactly right.

Designing Again

There are odd shaped pieces of felt being cut and scraps of paper on the floor. That can mean only one thing: I'm designing again!

A New Catalog: A Narrative of What We Do

Over the past months, we have been working on creating a narrative about who we are and what we do. This work has come together in a new catalog that will be shared with anyone who is curious about us. Articulating our design process and business practices has also provided us with a unique point of reflection, almost a self-study in preparation for the upcoming year.

We invite you to peruse the catalog yourself.