• Sunday, January 7, 2007

    Todd Oldham: Renaissance Man

    Todd Oldham, highly acclaimed and popular designer and host of Bravo’s new reality show,TOP DESIGN, is not only a multi-talented and multi-faceted man, but a genuinely personable and caring guy who gives back to the community and his fellow man. Todd’s biography sits on Bravo’s site, but did you know he was also involved in the following projects?

    Last April, Todd joined MTV's Design Against Fur 2006 (DAF) and designers David Carson, Milton Glaser and Karim Rashid to fight to Protect Seals. "Killing for vanity is a very sad state of affairs. No matter how you feel about vegetarianism or the meat industries, it is very hard to feel OK with these senseless, cruel and cowardly murders. Any effort that causes people to consider the sad plight of so many animals whom are raised for vanity businesses brings great awareness and growth possibilities," he said in a formal statement.

    At the Sundance Film Festival in January, 2005, when the young film crew of the 1 Second Film, a non profit collaborative project, approached Todd for a donation, he not only gave them $100, but then, much to their surprise, chatted with them for half an hour to learn more about the movie, its nonprofit mission, and its future. Here’s his photo taken at the time. Doesn’t he look scrumptious in a huggy bear sort of way?

    Our charming Tod is a man of so many divine talents. Observe, for instance, the cover of this 2001: Modern Ferret Magazine Issue #31 featuring Tama Janowitz and her ferrets. It was photographed by Todd Oldham and Oberto Gili!

    Todd also interviewed dancer Patricia Velasquez in the June 2000 issue of Interview magazine. He asked her, "Do you have any pets of your own?" When she answered that she wanted to get a dog, he suggested that she try to find one at the ASPCA first. Todd, dahling, thank you for making that suggestion! I’m already hopelessly in love with you.

    Are you as intrigued by TOP DESIGN's host as I am? Here’s more: An October, 2005 interview by Jess Latham on Blue Vinyl blog, in which Tod discusses his book, Hand Made Modern, his friendship with Amy Sedaris, and the direction his career was going at the time. He also described how he designed to book cover's font: "The font I designed for the book was called ERASE, as it was hand cut out of pink erasers and scanned into the computer. "

    I knew only the barest particulars about Todd when I agreed to join the TDBlogger team. Researching Todd whetted my appetite. Now I can’t wait for TOP DESIGN to begin, and to see our charming and hugely talented host in action.

    Posted: Ms. Place

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    2 Comments:

    Blogger TheHoInMO said...

    Cudos to you Ms. Place for a wonderful start on the blog!

    January 7, 2007 at 10:23 AM  
    Blogger BigAssBelle said...

    oh my goodness, i just found out he's a texas boy!! how fabulous!! corpus christi! middle-aged and fabulous and a texan and gay. can it get any better??

    January 7, 2007 at 2:59 PM  

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