Note: I assume anyone reading this, is familiar with analogue drafting components …
It was 1994, I was a designer living in New York City. Drafting was part of what I did as a designer, I was good at it, still am. I drew, with pencil on a parallel straight edge. Mechanically, it works with thin steel cables and small pulleys, on a horizontal drafting surface.
At the time, I was involved with a ‘design engineer’ project, requiring pulleys. Those same pulleys became part of Drawall. Drawing on a horizontal surface has its limitations and is messy. I wanted to draw at a larger scale, on a wall, where the messiness falls away and back grounds ‘stay clean’.
Idea, increase the size of the straight edge ‘mechanics’, thinking it might work on a wall. All I had to do was to introduce counter weights, as stabilizers. My original counter weights were canvas bags full of pennies. The local sheet metal shop formed the 8 foot x 18” straight edge. I used ‘clothes line’ as the cabling. It was surprising, how well it worked!
Next, I had a local woodworked make a 24” triangle with a thickness so it would sit on the half inch bent edge of the aluminum sheet metal. I took a simpler approach using ordinary triangles. I adhered half inch wood blocking standoffs to the edges, giving them thickness. I also developed a 24” standing T-square for vertical lines. I’ve also used a ‘dry wall’ t-square. Other essential tools; an electric eraser and electric pencil sharpener for wood pencils. I draw with good quality HB wood pencils.
Due to life changing events, Drawall went into storage and it wasn’t until 2013 that it came out of storage. It now hangs on my studio wall. My inspiration to draw came from seeing a ‘Sol Lewitt’ pencil drawn installation at the Dia Museum, in Beacon NY. Sol was an artist & a draftsman.
In the last 10 years I’ve put together a modest body of work representing what I’ve done with Drawall. I’m looking forward to see what others will do with this drawing tool. It wasn’t until 2022 that it dawned on me Drawall is an important new drawing medium. So I went about R&D refining Drawall details. Now, I’m bringing it to the art, tech, design world. “Invention as ART”
There are a lot of ‘moving parts’ to bringing a product to market, sourcing parts, logo, videos, website and shipping crates, to name a few. For now, I’m committed to making a limited edition. Drawall is a mystery going forward, along the way, I hope to attract some help to further its existence.