“Here’s a shot that really shows the reality of my desk…in all it’s chaos….a snap I caught recently of my son Beo taking over my spot…”

In addition to the Fauna collection of soft goods and balsa prints that he created for Areaware, Ross Menuez has designed everything from a small airplane in the 1980’s while still in school in New York City to kitchen, office, and home furnishings, to commercial interiors for shops and restaurants throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan. Menuez also founded Salvor Projects in 2003, for which he was a finalist in the 2009 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards in the Product Design category. Early projects included commissioned pieces for Bruce Weber, Mariko Mori and a costume for Bjork. The line is currently sold at Maxfield and Barneys in LA, Dover Street Market in London, Isetan in Tokyo, Maria Luisa in Paris and Space Mue in Seoul.

ROSS MENUEZ: Yes…too much time in that spot.  It’s covered actually with Beo’s graffiti he does with the Krink markers laying around in the studio…everything else on it is pretty random.  Paperwork, scraps, sketches, things to be scanned..swatches of prints I’m working on.  There’s actually a turntable on the back of the desk as we play records while we’re working.

RM: Music generally….coffee definitely doesn’t work. Only good for numbers.  Right now I’m being amazed by a new album from THE FUN YEARS –  “And God Was Like, No.” Also the band Grails…and EXPO 70 (Sonic Messenger LP). Need music to leave the normal plane.

The Whale… If you read a recent front page story of the San Francisco Chronicle, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth. A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her. They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as she was thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same. May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you. And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.