Get to Know Portland Designer Tsilli Pines​

PORTLAND, OR — Designer Tsilli Pines moved to Portland ten years ago and she's become a staple of design in the city ever since.

"Everyone who moves here seems to think they should be the last person allowed to relocate here," Pines told Patch about the city that seems to inspire such fervent loyalty. We spoke with Pines about her design work in PDX and what people can expect from Design Week Portland 2017.

Patch: How long have you lived in Portland?

Tsilli Pines: 10 years! When my husband and I moved here, we joked about how we were late to get on the bandwagon. It’s funny to think about that now, given all the growth. Everyone who moves here seems to think they should be the last person allowed to relocate here.

Patch: What's your favorite thing about Portland in the fall?

Tsilli Pines: The seasonal change is so visceral in the Northwest. The trees, the chill in the air, the apples at the farmer’s market. It’s the beginning of a cozy time.

Patch: You work as creative director at Fine, director of Design Week Portland and host of Creative Mornings Portland. Do these different endeavors inform one another or do you mostly use different skills for each one?

Tsilli Pines: They definitely inform one another, but I also flex some different muscles in each. The skills I honed as a designer at FINE for almost 15 years years equipped me to collaborate effectively and think on my toes. When I started hosting CreativeMornings/Portland, I was looking for an injection of inspiration outside the office and an opportunity to engage with people doing different kinds of things. It immediately put me in contact with so many new and interesting people, and Design Week Portland grew out of that.

I became more of a ringleader through the festival, and brought all of these new muscles I was using back to the studio, where I stepped into a leadership role as Creative Director. But it also scratched a different kind of itch by providing opportunity to do more curatorial and editorial work, to prototype ideas in a civic space, to contribute as a designer in a whole different way. But there’s a virtuous cycle to all of it, too — engaging with the larger community keeps me sharp, which helps the work I do with my team at FINE. And the client work often gives me insights into strategic moves for Design Week Portland. It’s a healthy feedback loop, and it keeps me inspired and fresh.

Patch: How did you first get started in design?

Tsilli Pines: My first job out of college was a production gig for an AOL content provider. I did that for nearly two years and started realizing that I wanted to work on the creative side of the interactive space. So, I went back to school and studied graphic design at Parsons for just a year to get some basic building blocks. I lucked into a junior web design position with a studio that was owned by a Canadian record label. We made a lot of websites for BMG artists and I got to learn by doing. I designed and coded alongside people who were way, way more talented and experienced than I was, which was the best education. While I was there, I got to work on David Bowie’s website. It was ridiculously good fortune.

Patch: What can people expect from Design Week Portland 2017?

Tsilli Pines: One of the things I’m really excited about is that we’re working with the team who won the LoopPDX competition last year to prototype their design as our Headquarters. Untitled Studio will bring to life a design concept for the Green Loop, a pedestrian/bike urban promenade linking the city’s east and west sides. The exhibition will be the culmination of a yearlong engagement campaign. A prototype of the concept will take over the street and an indoor exhibition will allow visitors to react, discuss, comment, and further envision and co-design the loop.

And then there’s the programming! We kick off the festival with the Main Stage, where two dozen speakers from diverse backgrounds and disciplines will address where design is today and where it’s headed. From food systems to augmented reality, regional design identity to products challenging norms, there will be much to think about. The talks form the basis for our editorial outlet and reach a wider audience through The Journal, a year-long dialog in monthly installments. In each issue, a talk from the Main Stage pairs with an original think piece and a commissioned design.

But the meat of the festival is in the 200+ independent events. Our roots are in the collective strength of the programs produced by the creative community of an entire city. Through lectures, tours, hands-on workshops, exhibits, installations, screenings, and design initiatives, the festival stitches together events and open houses that connect, educate, and inspire. Providing a platform for diverse perspectives, formats, and experiences is what we’ve been doing since the beginning and it remains central to the experience. Every year, there’s an amazing range of content to take in, people to meet, and inspiration to be had.

Patch: What have been some of your favorite recent Creative Mornings?

Tsilli Pines: Kevin Cavenaugh on changing Portland 3,000 square feet at a time as a creative developer. Lena Lenček on language and meaning. Storm Tharp on art and commerce.

Tsilli Pines has a number of events coming up, including a PDX Creative Morning talk by Jamie Mustard on Friday, October 21 at 8:30 a.m. at Miller Gallery in the Portland Art Museum. There are also monthly design dispatches on Design Week Portland's website. Design Week Portland is back in April 2017. Follow Pines on Twitter to find out what she's up to next.

Photo by Ashley Courter