Table of Contents

40.
Pomp&Clout's Ryan Staake has been making a name for himself by taking music videos for acts like the Suzan
and Robyn to the next level. He’s now incorporating elements of user interactivity and computer-generated
radness. Using skills acquired as a smartphone developer, Staake is quickly becoming an innovator in his field.
He worked with an architect to build “a pristine live and work box in the woods of Northern Vermont” and told
us what it means to him.
I’ve always been interested in having a sanctuary away from the city, somewhere to retreat from people,
complications, wires, multiple monitors and social stuff. It would be a space to focus on ideation, relaxation,
activity and the power of an idea, rather than the number of steps it takes to create it. I want to be able to go out
and chop a piece of wood as easily as I can click my mouse, and this is where I’d like to do it.
This project started as a self-initiated thing where I was talking with an architect friend of mine about the
possibility of creating a really small, relatively cheaply built structure in the woods of Vermont. Once I had the
opportunity to create it for this project and ground it more in reality, the process shifted away from talking about
these things that weren’t rooted in any physical building without talking about what was possible. We had to make
something that could actually be built. The whole core of the idea was to build a place that’s incredibly small and
incredibly simple, but allows for intense ideation on projects. You know, the stereotypical idea of running away
from society into nature, temporarily.
Watch a guided tour of Ryan Staake’s space in the interactive vesion of this issue at scionav.com/scionmagazine20
pompandclout.com