Some may think this section is just about Fashion so why is it called 'Design' ?
Because this section is about all kinds of things that are made in SL; some creative, some fashionable and some just truly beautiful and of course some are all three which is where I introduce Aurelius.
Aurelius Draken is the designer and builder of Caliber and Rivendell his furniture is amongst the most beautiful I have seen and I have a lot of it in our home (well before the wedding plans) I decided to chat to him about it and find out more:
Dana Vanmoer: Tell me how it all started, was it Nyre clothing range or your furniture?
Aurelius Draken: It was my furniture, and buildings. We had bought our first property, and couldn't find the things we wanted. Especially not for our library room, so I started making our own. Nyre became interested, and I taught her the basics of prim building, which she then took and branched into clothing all on her own.
I've always lusted after the library from the movie, "My Fair Lady", and since this was cyberspace, it was finally very feasible to realize :)
DV: How you you describe your furniture style?
Aurelius Draken: No matter what Nyre and I build, be it her clothing or my furniture or my structures, there's always one guiding, overriding principle; beauty. That's what we strive for, to make something that the eye finds very pleasing, something that your hand wishes to trace the graceful lines. Each line of furniture comes out of a lot of research and imagination; I try to make the furniture realize a concept, a theme. One line is Elven in conception, another is Victorian (mostly research and immersion in the ideas behind it), yet another is Gorean. The latest line is a Gothic Celtic theme.
DV: Do you ever think about how high prim it is, does it worry you?
Aurelius Draken: Prims are always a worry! I would love to build with complete disregard to the number of prims, but the reality of SL makes that unworkable. I try to be very efficient in my designs, and I use sculpties where I can. It's a balancing act, because while a sculpty may save prims, it causes as much lag as if I had used 10 prims. A lot of people are starting to figure out that sculpties aren't the be-all answer, but they do have their place. Some times, though... a design just has to use to the prims to still be beautiful, and credible. I'm really not fond of 'low prim' furniture that depends on textures, it's an illusion that's swiftly pierced, and once that happens, you're no longer in an immersive environment.
DV: Tell me about the apothecary and medical equipment?
Aurelius Draken: The medical equipment is a case-in-point for what we consider to be the cornerstone of Caliber :) . It's completely customer-driven. We listen to our customers, and prospective customers, actively soliciting their ideas, suggestions, and feedback. Customer service is extremely important to us, Dana. In many ways, we operate by the rule of treating our customers the way we would wish to be treated. The medical equipment began because, a bit over a year ago, there was very little on the market for SL doctors, so we had requests that we responded to. In turn, our customers have been fabulous, and we feel very fortunate in that regard. We hear a lot of horror stories from other content providers, but we've been blessed to have a really great group of customers. We try to be accessible to them, listen to them, and treat them as the VIPs they are to us.
DV: I know you started with several shops what led to a whole sim?
Aurelius Draken: We used to be located with a well-known property renter here in SL, and had a great relationship there for many months. But eventually, it became clear to us that it was time to move forward, so we searched and found a sim at a price we could afford. Once here, we decided to continue with our eclectic notion of blending Victorian and Elven styles together, and this sim really let us be creative in not only holding the new flagship store, but also providing interesting and beautiful things on the grounds for our visitors to enjoy. Our original place was much the same in that regard, we prefer to create an environment that people want to spend time in, rather than depending on contrived methods of traffic creation. Yes, we have a few camping 'chairs' now, but that's as far as we're willing to go. Towards that end, Rivendell itself now boasts a lovely promenade at the store level, horse and carriage rides, a gorgeous night club, and a build of Elrond's House of Rivendell on the ground below, reachable through the 'Elven Elevators'. There's riding paths, and the ground level has become exactly what what hoped for; a beautiful, relaxing place for people to play or take it easy in.
There's lots of places around the 'Net where you can meet people, chat, build communities... but SL permits anyone who has the desire, willpower to learn, and a vision, to bring that vision into virtual-being, with very little effort and resources compared with what it would take to do it in reality. SL is literally a place where dreams can be made manifest, where I don't have to tell you what I'm imagining, I can *show* you. To me, that's just phenomenal, and I can see a day where the next step will become feasible; when someone will figure out a way to make in reality, what we make here.
Aurelius Draken: Pictures don't begin to do it justice. You have to come see it for yourself, sit in it, use it, to see and understand. In our old store, I couldn't put many pieces out, we just didn't have the prims for it. Consequently, my furniture sales were very low.... But here, we have most of it out, and finally, people can see it, and they've demonstrated that they like what they see.
I know I like it :) and the texture change table and chairs I absolutely love.
If you are looking for high quality then this is a place to visit, the furniture is displayed all around the Caliber store, see it for yourself and I bet you don't walk away empty handed.
Dana
I have seen sculpted prims used a lot in building and furniture but this castle took my breath away, it was like stepping back in time, so perfect was the atmosphere created.
Maxwell Graf: This is the furnishings store, but also to explore.
