- on the right is Jim Rosenquist who was Paul's mentor back in NYC; a player in the pop art movement in the 60’s.
- on the left is first sergeant Paul knew in Iraq.
10 ft by. 6.5 ft pencil drawings on an acrylic and oil background... - Paul Kaiser
A Black Bear Brand story…
Coming Soon.
by cinematographer: Ian Beaudoux
A Harley Davidson motorcycle is much more than a machine…
its the places you go.
its the things you see.
its the people you meet.
its a journey.
its an adventure.
its the timeless, ageless appeal of freedom.
While searching the internet for an original 1948 Panhead tank emblem… I stumbled upon a craigslist advertisement for general Panhead and Knucklehead parts and shot off an email with a few questions. I received a quick response, followed by a few phone calls and here we go…
Now my interest had a lot more to it.
I want to learn more about Jeff, his story, his life long devotion to Harley Davidson motorcycles, the amazing history of all the Harley Davidson bikes and parts he has and works with every day… and the idea of a Knucklehead build I want to do.
I’m proud to introduce a new friend and motorcycle mentor… Jeff Coffman!
So much more to come… this is just the beginning.
Next; cinematographer Ian Beaudux brings the story to life.
Photos by: Chad Lyons
Once the largest facility for mentally ill people in Washington State, Northern State Mental Hospital was a town unto itself.
The Olmstead Brothers, whose father was famous for having designed New York City’s Central Park, designed the landscape at Northern State. Renowned architects Saunders and Lawton designed the hospital’s buildings. They worked in close collaboration with Northern State’s farm superintendent to create a self-sustaining and therapeutic colony for the mentally ill.
The hospital site included patient and staff housing, a water reservoir, sewage system, lumber mill, quarry, steam plant, greenhouse, canning facilities, gymnasium, library, laundry, dining room, bakery, dairy, and 700-acre farm for growing vegetables and raising livestock.
Nearly 2,000 patients lived at this psychiatric clinic. Some died naturally but some were murdered through strenuous physical labor, electroshock therapy, sterilization and even lobotomies. There have been a variety of ghost sightings here, including a man being pushed in a wheelchair by a nurse!
Northern State Mental Hospital closed its doors in 1976 after the State Legislature cut off funding. - photos by: Chad Lyons
Defining The "Black Bear Stitch"
As we explored what we needed in our knit collection we started on the search for the right people to work with.
In Centralia WA, a small town about an hour south of Seattle, there’s a knitting mill that’s been producing knitwear, jackets, and textiles since 1939. This mill is nearly unchanged and still producing high quality, hand crafted knitwear the same way today. This is where our journey with Centralia Knitting Mills begins.
Starting with specific design goals we became very involved in entire process as the design needs intertwines with the manufacturing process.
Being engaged in the process and keeping the close connection of the purpose and design with the manufacturing process is essential.
A new stitch was born through this process, everything evolved as we worked together to meet each detail. This new stitch has been proudly named the “Black Bear Stitch” by Centralia Knitting Mills.
This process has started off something special. Our stitch is evolving...
Black Bear Brand 2016/17 Winter Parka Collection
- Black 60/40 Shell; Stone Blue Corduroy Lined Hood; Black Nylon lined Body; Stone Blue Corduroy Accents; Leather reinforced snaps.
- Black 60/40 Shell; Khaki Corduroy Lined Hood; Black Nylon lined Body; Khaki Corduroy Accents; Leather reinforced snaps.
- Navy Duck Canvas Shell; Black Corduroy Lined Hood; Black Nylon lined Body; Black Corduroy Accents; Leather reinforced snaps.
Black Bear Brand 2016/17 Winter Down Collection
Stone Blue Corduroy; Grey Nylon Liner; Leather Reinforced Snap
Khaki Corduroy; Black Nylon Liner; Leather Reinforced Snap
Navy Duck Canvas; Black Nylon Liner; Leather Reinforced Snap
Black 60/40; Khaki Nylon Liner; Leather Reinforced Snap
Black Bear Brand 2016/17 Winter Wool Collection
Grey Pendleton Wool; Black Nylon Liner; Black Corduroy Accents; Leather Reinforced Snaps
Navy Pendleton Wool; Grey Nylon Liner; Navy Corduroy Accents; Leather Reinforced Snap
Black Pendleton Wool; Navy Nylon Liner; Navy Corduroy Accents; Leather Reinforced Snaps
“Photos: Paul Kaiser”
A VISIT TO HORWEEN TANNERY
I find it is essential to our brand that we at Black Manufacturing be personally engaged in every step of the making of our products— concept, design, material selection, and production. When we work with others, we become closely familiar with those people. We become as involved as is possible with the people behind the process, behind making. They are often the heartbeat of what makes these products special. We also study and embrace the practices and the history of their companies. To us, the process of making is our story.
When I first began my exploration of leather I reached out to Horween Tannery knowing of their reputation for excellence. This relationship has developed into something I never could’ve imagined. I consider myself very fortunate for their guidance and expertise. We at Black Bear Brand strive to offer items of the highest quality, and the people at Horween Leather Co. are a great partner to us on our journey.
We've worked with Horween on several Black Bear Brand products, a visit was past due. So when an opportunity recently came about, I was excited to take it. The timing was perfect. We’d just completed the samples of each of our 4 upcoming boots, Nick and I were working on a design for a Horween shirt, and my friend (and Black Bear Brand Photographer) Chad Lyons also happened to be passing through the Midwest. The stars had aligned, and so I shot off for Chicago.
The Horween Tannery is located in an industrial area of North Chicago. When I got there that morning, I was taken away by their presence there. The Horween family has been operating here through 5 generations and for more than a century. The tannery is imposing. It’s all brick, with an unassuming, plain wood door for the entrance. There is a small sign outside that is the only indication you’re at the right spot. The door opens to a small wood stairway that leads to a small waiting room. Everything about the entrance to the tannery is right down to business. It’s direct and purposeful, there is nothing added for flair. There are two church style pews facing each other and a dumbwaiter door where the receptionist greets you. I could feel the history here as I sat waiting; the essence of a place like Horween can’t be replicated.
Nick grabbed us out of the waiting room and off we went. He took us through each step of the tanning. We started in the receiving area, where the hides—hair and all—are delivered by truck. The attention to detail was immediately apparent. Every single hide is closely gone over and separated. The separated hides are then sent off with a specific tanning method, and even customer, in mind. Every detail is taken into consideration for the sake of quality.
The tannery nearly overwhelms the senses. The moment I walked in the door I was overtaken by a scent that brought to mind an old scotch I used to drink. Walking into the receiving room, where the natural hides come off of the trucks, a heavy, deathly type of smell fills the air. During waxing, oiling, and glazing, you pass pungent odors and then smoothing scents. And the classic smell of leather is pervasive. Some leather types require a good amount of heat, and there are different liquids throughout the place. All these things happening together produce create an actual sensory overload.
Each step of the tanning method is involved and they do it at a scale that’s impressive. The Horween Tannery is the real deal, they have been doing it forever and have always stayed true to who they are. In fact, there are actually chalkboards hanging on walls with recipes written on them that look as if they could’ve been there since the beginning. I believe it’s rare to be able to hang onto all the specialness of doing something the same way, and at such an exceptional level for so long, never losing your true character by giving into technology or fads. Horween Leather Company is timeless. That’s not by intention, or by a marketing design. Instead, it’s because that's really how true they are. They simply do what they know works, and by just doing that simple thing, they are totally killer.
I feel a connection to the Horween approach. They have a connection to their process and their product that is unmatched; its motivating, inspiring. Skip and Nick Horween, and their deep generational love, devotion, and knowledge to the world of leather, have shown me unlimited future possibilities for the brand I represent.
The unwavering need to work with, learn from, and team with the best is what initially drew me to Horween. Black Bear Brand is about learning by doing—being engaged in each process. We design and work with a purpose, and we have a vision to work with others that share a goal to elevate others in producing great items. In getting to know Horween Leather Co., that is exactly what has come to be. And the more I learn from them, the more I realize how much I’m unaware of. The more we learn, the better we become at Black Manufacturing.
After making our way through the tannery, we had a chance to sit down and share a little more of what each of our companies do. Horween’s office is scattered with cool stuff, including a handful of NFL footballs that Wilson has been making out of their leather for nearly a century. I brought some of upcoming pieces from our Fall/Winter jacket collection that I thought they’d dig. It was a fun opportunity to share in person some of our stuff that no one has seen yet.
My process of design is what I call “curating.” It’s a process that involves multiple parties. One example is the boots that I brought along to show. These boots are made by Dayton Boot Co. using Horween leather, and have been 9 months in the making. I look at them as just a start to the collection that we will be doing with Horween. I’m proud of what we have been able to collectively design and make, and I’m excited to be a catalyst of what’s evolving out of this cooperation. We know that the best of what we can do is yet to come.
- Josh Sirlin
During a recent building renovation in Sultan WA. a Black Bear Brand “advertising” painting was uncovered. This building was Warners Clothing Store and operated from 1910's the 1940’s..
Sultan WA is a small logging community, located at the confluence of the Sultan and Skykomish river.
Making a Boot that Lasts a Lifetime
A collaborative journey to the Oregon coast -
Photography by Chad Lyons + Jason Tilley
Written in Collaboration by the Makers themselves
My experience on the morning September 25th was surreal. While it was calm and peaceful, it was an absolute sensory overload at the same time…
The Trip:
Seattle to Port Orford in a ’66 Lincoln. Port Orford is a scenic town on the Oregon coast and home to Tilley Surfboards. Jason Tilley, Master Maker and undisputed surfboard craftsman.
I was paddling out with Jason Tilley of Tilley Surfboards for our first session on a collaboration board we created, and the marine layer was thick and the ocean and sky were separated only by their slight variation of grey, blurring the boundary between the two. The morning was cool and the water was still warm enough that wearing a hood was a preference and not a necessity. We paddled out into chest high rollers.
Anticipating the next wave with such reduced visibility required focus, and had I missed the full meaning of something Tilley said to me while we were waiting for the next set. He wanted me to look at something off to my right, but I didn’t see much.
I’ve heard stories about how one sense is enhanced by a deficit in another, and maybe it was the uniformity of the environment that deprived me of crisp vision, but either way the first I caught of it was the smell. It was overwhelming. It was as if the ordinary smell of the ocean had intensified a hundred fold. Not rotten—just the smell of bait fish, maybe shrimps, and salt air. And then I saw it: the top of a massive whale. I’m unsure what kind it was, but I was close enough to feel the pressure of the water it parted as it moved by. I’m unsure why it came so close to shore. Perhaps it was curious about what we were doing.
The Project:
An undisclosed surf break, a ’66 Lincoln, and a collaboration bred from quality and heritage. The recipe for a true Union of Makers: Black Bear Brand x Tilley Surfboards.
“I was paddling out with Jason Tilley of Tilley Surfboards for our first session on a collaboration board we created.”
Since Black Bear Brand and Tilley Surfboards have common interests–aesthetic taste and values, for the most part–the obvious step forward was a collaboration board. But not just any surfboard.
Jason Tilley of Tilley Surfboards has an interesting story. “Building wood surfboards the way I do is a product of everything I have done and have been into since I was a kid,” he said. “Much of that was passed on by my father. Tilley does more than build surfboards. He’s a vast well of knowledge in all things wood and ocean.
“Windsurfing, surfing, sailing, working on wood boats, living and traveling on a small wooden cutter, all these are part of who I am and create the context for my experience and work,” remembered. “Being deeply immersed in the wooden boat scene, especially the working trollers, longliners, packers, gillnetters, and seiners of SE Alaska, gave me an intense appreciation and understanding for how well beauty and function can complement one another. Beauty enhancing function and function enhancing beauty. Most important is how much each adds deeply to the lives of the designers, builders, and users who get to partake in the art and craft. A beautiful soulful object is such a pleasure to use. At every turn it adds to your experience. It promotes proper care and recycling. Beautiful functional craft are restored, resurrected, used and coveted. These boards aren’t meant to be set against the wall and admired as art, because there is also beauty in their use. I like to think that each one of my boards walks that line: were the joy of using it and the joy of looking at it are hand in hand. It has to look stunning. It has to perform well. It has to be made to last.”
Jason and I met and quickly realized that where we really saw eye to eye when it comes to board design was the traditional fish. “With the fish design, we are able to draw something cool from the past and twist it a little with updated concepts,” Tilley said.
“It has to look stunning. It has to perform well. It has to be made to last.”
We wanted to respect the tradition of board building, but at the same time be creative and build our own new thing, and the fish template was the perfect way to do it. “The template of the collaboration fish draws on the long linage of fish designs, and is my go-to template for traditional fishes, Tilley explained. “It is a little drawn out and longer than the norm.”
So what’s different with our collaboration from a normal fish? Tilley designed a template that’s slightly different than average. And of course, as with all board design, small changes make a big difference, and not just aesthetically. “With this board I focused on the rails, bottom contours and fin template and set-up,” Tilley explained. “The rails lean towards the fuller round rails of a typical modern board. They are about halfway between the low thin rails often seen on traditional fish and a medium full rail. The deck is rolled more than normal, something that I think looks good. The bottom starts with a mellow single concave in the nose, to flat in the middle, and transitions to a vee shape with double concave. I pulled my normal twin fin template a little more upright, which actually is a step back towards the originals. The fins are set with a very slight toe (pointing towards the nose) and cantilever (tips pointing outboard), which is not a true keel fin set up (no toe and no cant). This aspect would make a dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist moan, though the numbers are so small they would need a good eye to determine this is not a straight keel. Tints, wood selection and logos were very much Josh’s game with much back and forth and adjustments to pull off the look. I like the Yin and Yang balance, it fits with the idea of new and old, past and present.”
The board itself truly was a labor of love. To sum it up in one small paragraph doesn’t do the amount of work justice, but Tilley kept the build’s explanation short and sweet. “The basic build is my standard wood railed construction: a cut and hand-shaped foam blank, select lumber, and milled up deck and bottom skins,” he said. “The deck is just shy of 1/8″ and the bottom just shy of 1/16″. These were vacuum bagged onto the blank with a layer of glass and epoxy between the skins and foam. I then cut a little more than 3/8″ from the perimeter of the board and laminate the rails on. Instead of the usual nose block I steamed and bent the rails all the way to the nose, doing one side first, trimming and then overlapping the other side on top. I was striving for clean lines and a clean wood canvas to show off the color design and logos. Next, I glued the tail block on. I got into sculpting the tail block, indulging in a little hand tool carving while thinking of wooden boat stems. After shaping down the rails and fairing everything together was logo and color work, followed by a layer 4oz glass in epoxy. Then fill, sand, gloss and polish. This sounds quick in one paragraph, but is no small amount of labor.”
The Result:
An ominous day reminiscent of Tilley’s SE Alaskan fishing heritage amid a coveted location veiled in fog. And a beautifully handcrafted fish design set atop a perfect right.
The Man Behind The Build (Nitro World Games 2016)
- Nate Wessel -
““HES THE REASON NITRO HAS BEEN ABLE TO SUCCEED AS WELL AS IT HAS.”
-Travis Pastrana-
“HE’S THE MOST IN THE MOMENT, most sincere, most real person you’ve ever met.”
-TRAVIS PASTRANA-
“THE UNDERLYING TALENT THAT NATE IS: HE’s A TRUE ARTIST AND HE’s A TRUE ARTIST AS IT RELATEs TO THE CULTURE OF THESE ACTIVITIES.”
-GARY REAM, CAMP WOODWARD-
HE’s got this innate ability to get down to the core of things whether it’s what your trying to do with a project or even emotionally and I feel that’s a quality that is rare to find in a human being...
-TRAVIS PASTRANA-
I was very fortune TO FIND IT IN SOMEONE WHO MAKES MY DREAMS AND MY PASSIONS COME TRUE.
-TRAVIS PASTRANA-”
Defining the "Black Bear Stitch".
“During the design process the ‘black-bear’ stitch was created…
• The stitch was a result of our exploration of the designs fit and feel.
• Our intention is to celebrate the detailed refinement and retain a pragmatic purpose.
The stitch was proudly named the ‘black bear stitch’ by 3rd generation owner of Centralia Knitting Mill -Randy.
Collection releasing late 2016.
- photography: Justin Kenna”