profile / alumni / faculty / environmental-design / art
June 15, 2013
Writer: Mike Winder

Welcome to the Machine

Steve Joyner (BS 05) and Jason Pilasrki (MFA 97)

“We privilege no particular creative practice, which allows us to explore the interests of our choosing without discrimination.” That’s the fearless statement on the website of MachineHistories, the two-man design team of Environmental Design alumnus Steven Joyner and Graduate Art alumnus and ArtCenter instructor Jason Pilarski.

Whether they’re creating undulating benches for the Los Angeles Design Group, CNC-milling a bedframe out of white Corian for Grad Art alum Pae White’s Widow of a King installation, or building for Chandelier Creative a chrome-pink 400-pound “electronic baroque” door inspired by Rodin’s The Gates of Hell, Joyner and Pilarski let their investigation of process drive their production.

Those visible tool marks on the finished product? They aren’t accidental, they’re intended to point to the history behind its making. The two have been featured in several high-profile art and design magazines recently, including landing the cover of Metropolis.