prototypes, projects, etc…

Over the years, we've tried on a lot of hats—some fit perfectly while others were a bit more esoteric and experimental. This is where we showcase that mix of projects and prototypes.

We had a weekly column in Time Out New York called Tossed & Found, where we rescued and repurposed objects from the streets of New York. This lead to a catalog of objects we created called "Salvàge", including this Saarinen chair we painted (don't come for us, it was damaged!) then auctioned off at Housing Works.

We found this canoe on the side of the road and John decided to paint a blue willow motif on it. It then made it into the Portland Museum of Art Biennial. In maine you find a lot of sea glass, and old pottery shards washed up on the beach. The idea here is what if those shards were not from pottery being thrown in the water but pieces of the boats themselves?

The holiday windows for the grand opening of Anthropologie, Rockefeller Center. The two of us strung thousands upon thousands (upon thousands) of marshmallows in an unheated space after hours. The idea was to make it resemble a giant snowglobe. We had ventilation installed above the lines of marshmallows, which made them all gently flutter. The effect was pretty magical.

In 2009 we wrote a book filled with projects called Wary Meyers Tossed & Found, based on our column in Time Out New York

We carved our own version of Alice Cooper's “School's Out” album cover into some copies of Alvar Aalto stools then added a distressed Finnish. Very punny all around. These were part of our fortnitely Time Out New York column on repurposing.

A stool becomes even more visually arresting after years of being left outside in the Maine elements

A tableware manufacturer approached us to design some dinnerware. We came up with a stylized blue willow /flow blue pattern called “Pagodes des Arbres”. Unfortunately this was deemed too esoteric for the mainstream plate buying market but we love it anyway. Pictured are the dinner plate and the mug, John also drew a salad plate, soup bowl, tea cup, and saucer. None of the drawings were copied-and-pasted for the different patterns.

Our boob prints came about from our interest in graphic design and hard-edge painting.

some of John's paintings

We took on interior design for friends in nyc, armed with $2,000 (including profit!) and a wild sense of optimism. Vintage finds and pieces we designed or reimagined became our signature approach, turning constraints into creative magic. But honestly? Our favorite projects are always our own spaces—where we play artist, designer, and occasional magician. Pictured here is our first Portland apartment, featured in Domino Magazine.

Lisa Linhardt Jewelry store design, East Village, NYC. We created everything in this shop, made mostly from old Maine barn wood. The lighted, locking cases, the floor, the display stands, the counter, the door handle, the bench, etc. The hanging lights were made by screwing two plastic urn planters together and wiring them with retractile cord.

more examples of friends interiors and wall supergraphics we designed

Le French Dresser, another type-driven project with wooden hand cut drawer pulls to spell out the treasures inside.

We wanted to make a classic chippendale chair feel a little less stuffy so we made some wooden skeleton backs

For the VIA Agency, housed in a historic literary building in Portland, Maine, we created installations that blurred the line between art and storytelling—an exploding pen, a cascade of twisted books, floating letters, oversized busts of Shakespeare and Leonardo da Vinci (proudly presiding over the dining area). A playful homage to the building’s storied past.

( installations of books exploding through the basement wall, and “twisted tales” on the entryway walls.

We sculpted two towering 5-foot busts of Leonardo da Vinci and William Shakespeare, carved from styrofoam and meticulously paper-mâchéd with pages from old books—an ode to the building’s former life as a library. Arts and letters icons, reimagined as striking, story-filled sculptures.

…which we created in our driveway for a very long time.

Giant fiberglass crumpled paper ball in the conference room. This represents the creation and editing of ideas. The pen and flowing ink in the entryway lets you know you’ve just entered a creative space, where the ink is flowing!

floating typography installation using some of our favorite typefaces

at the fabricators

Linda’s side gig (and obsession) is making and collecting jewelry, pictured in Vanity Fair’s gift guide is The Tree Ring, a resin 3D printed & polished modernist cocktail ring set with an agate cylinder.