Simpson Strong-Tie Art

Genuine Connector Collection Art

In this earlier post, I shared the story of my brother-in-law indicating that he thought some of the connectors specified on a swim club project were “ugly.” The contractor and I were able to come up with some other options, but I guess I’m still upset with my brother-in-law for calling Simpson Strong-Tie® connectors ugly. I’ll have to walk into his office sometime and comment on the attractiveness of his financial audits. How pretty are those nonrecurring charges, unrealized capital gains and special purpose entities?

The shade structure at the cabana club looks awesome, by the way. While engineers may identify the powder-coated hardware as Simpson Strong-Tie, everyone else just thinks it looks safe and strong.

SST David
Michelangelo’s “David” if Simpson Strong-Tie existed in the 1500s. The piece was envisioned by artist Bob Klammer, and Barc Simpson liked it so much he had it commissioned. Photo credit: Joe Way, Simpson Strong-Tie

Not every use of connectors is going to be Michelangelo’s David, but Barclay Simpson loves artwork incorporating our products. So Simpson Strong-Tie was happy to work with Portland-based photographer Jim Golden to create a photograph of our connector products. We’re calling it our Genuine Connector Collection.

In addition to doing amazing portraits and still life photos, Jim likes to work with everyday objects to create something beautiful. He creates portraits of unique collections. The items from each of his collections may come from a different time or place. They tell a story about the evolution of a product: how the design has changed over the years and all of the different iterations of a product.

I am so excited because it is a special way for us to tell the Simpson Strong-Tie story. Barclay Simpson started off with one joist hanger in 1956. It is clear from the photograph that our portfolio of engineered connectors has grown significantly from that one joist hanger. There are nearly 100 connectors featured in the photo and that is still just a small sample.

 

Genuine Connector Collection
Jim Golden’s take on Simpson Strong-Tie Connectors.

Jim Golden not only knew about Simpson Strong-Tie and our products, he has actively used them for building decks, home renovation projects and creating things like skate board ramps. His passion about Simpson Strong-Tie is apparent by the meticulous care he took to arrange the products and create the final photograph.

Click here to watch a short video of Jim Golden in action with Simpson Strong-Tie connectors and subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified of new video posts. You can also download digital wallpaper of the photograph so that you can have some industry art of your own to admire!

(And if you’re really a fan like me, ask your local sales rep for a poster.) We’d like to hear from you – tell us what you think of the new image and if you’ve ever used our products as art.

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Paul McEntee

Author: Paul McEntee

A couple of years back we hosted a “Take your daughter or son to work day,” which was a great opportunity for our children to find out what their parents did. We had different activities for the kids to learn about careers and the importance of education in opening up career opportunities. People often ask me what I do for Simpson Strong-Tie and I sometimes laugh about how my son Ryan responded to a questionnaire he filled out that day: Q.   What is your mom/dad's job? A.   Goes and gets coffee and sits at his desk Q.   What does your mom/dad actually do at work? A.   Walks in the test lab and checks things When I am not checking things in the lab or sitting at my desk drinking coffee, I manage Engineering Research and Development for Simpson Strong-Tie, focusing on new product development for connectors and lateral systems. I graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and I am a licensed Civil and Structural Engineer in California. Prior to joining Simpson Strong-Tie, I worked for 10 years as a consulting structural engineer designing commercial, industrial, multi-family, mixed-use and retail projects. I was fortunate in those years to work at a great engineering firm that did a lot of everything. This allowed me to gain experience designing with wood, structural steel, concrete, concrete block and cold-formed steel as well as working on many seismic retrofits of historic unreinforced masonry buildings.

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