Thumb is a Brooklyn and Baltimore-based graphic design office that was organized as a partnership in 2007. Thumb works on public, private, and self-initiated projects, usually in the areas of architecture, art, design, and culture. Partners Jessica Young and Luke Bulman both received Master of Architecture degrees from Rice University, in Houston, Texas, in 2002 and 1998 respectively.
Thumb is fond of fluorescent inks, microscopic art, live and immediate processes, color, Ebay, shape, very glossy paper, discs, surprises, diagrams, rainbow paper, awkward transitions...
Recent projects include:
MoMA PS1 Holding Pattern with Interboro Partners
We're excited to have another opportunity to work with Interboro Partners, this time on their winning proposal for the outdoor summer installation at MoMA PS1, Holding Pattern. We're developing a system of both permanent and temporary tags to mark the eclectic mix of furniture and objects that is being developed for the installation. These pieces are slated to be distributed into the surrounding community after the duration of the installation, but they will be "held for" the various recipients at PS1 until the event closes.
Bracket Goes Soft
We'll be working with editors Lola Sheppard and Neeraj Bhatia on the second issue of the InfraNet Lab and Archinect publication Bracket. Issue two, Bracket Goes Soft, will also be published by Actar and will investigate physical and virtual soft systems, as they pertain to infrastructure, ecologies, landscapes, environments, and networks.
Greatest Grid book and exhibition
In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Manhattan street grid, we'll be working with the Museum of the City of New York to produce a book and visual identity for the exhibition, titled Greatest Grid, that will open there in December 2011. The book and exhibition will present historical documents, photographs, and objects related to this incredible piece of urban infrastructure.
A/S/T Booksprint
In February of this year we participated in a Booksprint, hosted by Carnegie Mellon University's Studio for Creative Inquiry and organized by curator and artist Andrea Grover. During one week we worked with an incredible team of writers, including Andrea Grover, Regine DeBattey, Claire Evans, and Pablo Garcia, to complete a book that examines the relationship between art, science and technology. Now in it's final stages of editing and design, the book will become available as a print-on-demand publication this summer.
Ryan McGinness: Unpublished Books and Ryan McGinness: Black Holes
We have the pleasure to be working with artist Ryan McGinness for the second time on two different books. Unpublished Books is a compilation of four books, started years ago but never brought to fruition, examining diverse subjects such as subway graffiti, Pictionary drawings, corporate branding strategies, and a revisitation of Ryan's earlier Flatnessisgod. Black Holes is an in-depth look at the Black Holes body of work that Ryan has been working on since 2005.
306090-14 Making a Case
306090 is an annual publication, edited by Jonathan Solomon and Emily Abruzzo with a rotating cast of guest editors, that explores a wide variety of contemporary issues in architecture. We've been lucky to have been involved with the previous three volumes, and are now working on Volume 14, Making a Case. This volume focuses on projects for an American house conceived in response to a given crisis, such as energy, demographics, politics, economy, climate.