I was pretty lucky to join this design studio tour hosted by Art Center College of Design business club. My last class in Singapore (MBA exchange program) was at May 24 and I dashed to the airport flying back to Taiwan, stayed for a weekend, and then took a light to SF on Mon. So the whole tour was totally in torturing jet lag. It was still an eye-opening experience.
Living in SF is never boring even though I did't really know anyone here. There were two big events in the first weekend of my internship - Maker Faire and Bay to Breakers!
Maker Faire was huge and super crowded. It attracted geeks, families , designers,... basically everyone in bay area. It was like the combination of burning man (art installation), school carnival, music festival, and trade show. I never saw this in Taiwan so it was pretty cool for me. As a product designer, I was quite interested in different sorts of 3D printers. I probably would get one instead of spending tons of money and time printing at school.
One of my friends from the University in Taiwan invited me to go to Bay to Breakers. It is not a traditional marathon. It's the event inviting everyone to run in costume. It's exclusively held in this crazy city, San Francisco. HOWEVER, we didn't wear costume! (Ugh... I should have...) It was really fun to see how creative people dress up and some nude old men.... (Unfortunately we didn't see young nude guys or girls :-p I guess the cold weather discouraged them...)
SF design week had kept me busy for over a week! TONS of events - special guests talking, social, learning... with booze! Some of the events were free and some needed tickets (price varied). As far as I could remember, they were all sold out before the events started. In four events I went, I met some designers, photographers, entrepreneurs...
As a leather work enthusiast, West Coast Craft is one of the favorite events so far!
Lots of handcraft studios from SF, Portland, LA, and even England exhibited their delicate artwork in Fort Mason. OMG I love it! But it's quite expensive for an intern... I would be broke if I didn't control myself....
I bought a bronze bracelet because I had a nice conversation with that artist who is from LA. Then I walked to Wasshington Square for North Beach Festival. The crowd was far beyond my expectation: crazy long lines in front of street food vendors, people with beer packed in the small square confined by fences, lots of handcraft stuff but the quality were not as good as the ones in West Coast Craft.
The next day I went to Haight Ashbury Festival with a friend. It was crowded too but the crowd was mainly dominated by hippies.
