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.
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.
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.
