Michael Curry Design

Michael Curry studios is an internationally known physical design-​fabrication group located in a small Oregon river town near Portland.
They do design and fabrication for Broadway shows and events, like the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and the Superbowl.
Curry attended Portland’s own PNCA art school. He went on to found these studios. A design group I’m in arranged to tour the studios in advance.
It’s a series of nondescript on the outside industrial buildings on a random road fronting a wholesale plant nursery, a mill for making wood shipping pallets, mobile home parks, RV storage and marinas. As the namesake address indicates, they are on the land side of a dike, the failure of which would wipe them out.
We started in a respectable lobby with exhibits of many studio projects Then we toured fabrication areas and worker studio pods where the creative mixes with specialized manufacturing of robotics, carbon fibers, paints and fabrics.
We visited the back lot, where projects are stored to a 30 foot ceiling and a fully equipped stage where Curry clients Julie Taymor and Cirque du Soleil develop productions with his designs.
It’s a special thing to tour and you need a group and a justification to do so. Photography is strictly controlled for projects that are not yet released. Well worth the effort to arrange to visit in advance for designer, school, creative and visual groups.
Another world class creative business, originating from Portland and environs.
(In 2015 Curry created a lion for the Superbowl halftime
)