What is Shoegnome?
This About Page is horribly outdated.
The site started as a blog focused on ArchiCAD. It then expanded to cover both ArchiCAD and BIM. It still covers all that but has evolved to also include other topics that explore being an Architect in the 21st century. I’ll explain it all better later. In the meantime, you can read the historical origins of Shoegnome below and sift through the site to get a better understanding of what I’m writing about these days. Now for some disclaimer language:
Do you like what you’ve read here on Shoegnome?
That’s awesome.
Want to share it with people you know?
Please do. All my writing and graphics are copyrighted, so please attribute the work to me. Seems fair, right? Links back to the source material would be nice too.
Want to repost entire articles on your site without asking?
NO WAY. That’s just a dick move. Ask first. I just might say yes. But if you lift entire posts and put them on your site without asking, even if you give copious links, that’s just shitty and unethical. And a poor way to run your site. Of course if you ask me to write something for you, or ask to include one of my articles in your website, magazine, publication, etc… that’s a completely different story. I sure like the sound of that.
A Fairytale…
Why are we called Shoegnome? It’s from our favorite Brothers Grimm story, the one about the cobbler and the elves. We identify with the elves. Here’s a recap:
A poor cobbler had enough leather for one pair of shoes. He left it out overnight and returned to find shoes so beautiful a customer paid him double their price.
The cobbler, thinking carefully, reinvested the money and learned to make beautiful shoes. His reputation grew and he prospered thereafter.
A Secret Weapon…
We noticed that wherever we were working, people would come to us to “save” their projects. Our coworkers would go home and we’d stay fixing projects and making everything wonderful. Something felt very familiar. Jared misremembered the Brothers Grimm story as the cobbler and the gnomes. The concept of being a shoegnome was born. After a while we began to ask ourselves, “What exactly is attracting people to us?”
We focus on process and communication. A skilled architect brings value to a client both by helping a client figure out what he or she wants (creative development) and also by communicating that (via drawings, models, etc.) to others who can make it real. While, of course, you need a good idea in the first place, without great communication that’s all it will remain.
Shoegnome wants to help you and share opportunities. Don’t worry, there’s enough to go around. We’re interested in you—whether you’re our client or customer; whether we’re your client or customer. Our mission is to understand what it means to be an architect in the 21st Century. That involves building a proactive and supportive BIM community. There’s too much to do, so we need to subsume BIM into our processes and make it invisible. And soon. If you use ArchiCAD we have some specific services here that might help you. And if you don’t use ArchiCAD, we don’t care. Let’s talk.
An Architect and a Project Manager…
Jared Banks, AIA. I’m a licensed architect in Minnesota and was the CAD/BIM Manager at SALA Architects in Minneapolis for 4 1/2 years. At SALA Architects, my primary focus was residential design. I first used ArchiCAD in 2006 (version 9) and haven’t looked back. I started the Minnesota ArchiCAD User Group (MNAUG) in 2009 and began blogging about ArchiCAD in 2010. In July 2012, I also started writing for the BIM Engine Blog (the official blog of Graphisoft North America). I love working in the BIM environment and helping other architects work in a smarter, more efficient manner. I am always looking for opportunities to speak, write, and teach about ArchiCAD, BIM, and the future of architecture. You can find a list of my off-site writing here.
Carolyn Banks, PMP. Formerly a structural EIT, and then the manager of project management with a publishing house in Minneapolis, I’m now getting my MBA at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. I’m interested in how BIM facilitates better project planning, especially at smaller firms.
Contact Us
Shoegnome, LLC.
1381 Arona St.
St. Paul, MN 55108
651.894.4759
info@shoegnome.com