LoPo is one of the great stores at Havendale Village. Check out this interview with the creator.
LoPo is the “go to” for practically anything custom made. The genius mind behind the brand is Logan Porterfield, whose stores make up the “LoPo district” at Havendale Village. He is one of our long standing renters, and we encourage you to view his work.
Logan took time to answer my questions about his brand and roleplay interests as inspirations for his work. He also shares personal tips and visions for the SL creative. Get comfy, you will be surprised :).
Charlotte: I can see you have a variety of interesting projects going on. Can you describe LoPo and its style?
Logan: “I almost always create things that I would actually wear, use or that I wish existed in the real world.
…LoPo is a department store with several departments. Kind of like Penney’s (a chain store in the USA). I set each department in its own little shop and design logos for each for the fun of it. My main store, LoPo, is casual apparel along the lines of J. Crew or Urban Outfitters. I make clothes for all genders, but generally I make more men’s clothes because the guys are sorely neglected in the fashion market. For the ladies, I make sensible casual apparel. Looking for tasteful jeans or shorts that won’t give you a wedgie? I’m your store. I have a lot more clothes to get packaged and into the shop, but RL is incredibly rude and often gets in the way of my pixel pushing”.
Charlotte: I agree, men’s fashion is totally unrepresented (especially in SL shopping events), so good on you for helping the lads out AND contributing to a more gender equal SL !
Logan: “I also make jewelry, shoes, furniture, décor, custom avatar tattoos, Harry Potter RP gear, and curiosities. All the really unusual or outlandish products I make go in the Raven’s Eye shop over the RolePlay store.”
Charlotte: That’s amazing. You truly are multi-skilled! Is there a particular line you find yourself more motivated to work on? What drives you to create?
Logan: “I have the most fun making things for Harry Potter role players because I am a HUGE HP geek. As it turns out, Harry Potter RP’s are actually my best customers, so I’ll always put something new out for them before any of my other little departments.”
Logan: “I have answering machines in each of my shops, and I invite anyone to use them to offer suggestions if there’s something they’d like me to make. I’m always looking for fresh ideas.”
As for what drives me to create, it’s the magic of it! I find using the art of texturing to make flat white objects look real to be profoundly magical. Doing texture art for models is one of my strongest passions and it brings me incredible joy when I get it right. I recently made a rocket garden table for the RFL Home & Garden Expo and when I finished texturing the glass, I just kept staring at the edges of the glass top, marveling at how real it looked. I’m not talking about a narcissistic moment of pride over my own skill (although I was beyond pleased with that texture job) I’m talking about the sheer beauty and wonder of how a two-dimensional image can make a model come practically alive. I had the same reaction looking at the lawn chairs over at ChiMia. The chrome legs were just an amazingly gorgeous thing to behold! (Ok, I confess: I’m a complete geek. I won’t deny it.)“
Charlotte: I see a great attention to detail goes into your craft. As some of your creations pay homage to the Harry Potter Universe, I have to ask…. if you could teach any class at Hogwarts, what would that be? 🙂
Logan: “Alchemy. I love transforming and improving upon things.”
Charlotte: Nice one! On the topic of learning. What skills do you think are helpful to develop in SL to do what you’re doing now?
Logan: “There are so many – and so many more I have yet to learn!”
“The first skill that’s critical to learn is how to observe the real world. For example, where does a shadow fall when the light comes from that direction? How far away can I be before the details of the weave on a sweater are no longer discernible? Also, paying attention to the scale of the textures on the objects around you. Case in point: I’ve seen a lot of well crafted jeans in world with overly large scaled denim. That just looks wrong to me. Yes, it may be a great denim texture, but if it’s scaled beyond what it would be for the clothing or object it covers, it ruins the magic of the item for me. Conversely, learning when to leave details out for the best visual effect is also important.”
“Learning how to use a good photo editing program is a must. I am boycotting Adobe and recently switched from using Photoshop to using Affinity Photo by Serif. Serif’s design tools surpass Adobe’s in affordability and ease of use, and they have iPad versions that do everything the desktop version does so I can work everywhere. Now if LL would just make an iPad viewer for SL, I’d be so happy!”
“Learning how to model is a critical skill. Blender is an amazing tool that I have yet to even come close to mastering, but I’m working on that. And as far as modeling anything goes, it’s important to learn how to mentally break objects down into base shapes so you at least have a decent idea where to start.”
“I guess the last skill – and yes, I consider it a skill – is developing your imagination. Learning to see things in different ways, or use things in a different way than they were originally designed to be used. Like recycling old and tired ideas into something fresh and new.”
Charlotte: This is really helpful advice, I’m sure our readers are feeling somewhat inspired, I know I am! :). Now no interview is complete without asking… where do you think he sorting hat would have placed you and why???
Logan: “Gryffindor. Why do I think so? Because that’s where the sorting hat DID place me!“
Charlotte: Well you sure have the determination and brave” qualities! That’s all from me today, would you like to add anything else ?
Logan: “I’d like to see more creators making things at a more realistic scale. A change in camera angle settings can make a world of difference! So many people walk around in SL scaled like giants, but SL is a lot easier and more enjoyable to explore when you set your camera angle lower.”
“I also want to say how fantastic Havendale and it’s community is. I am very grateful to have such a welcoming place for LoPo to call home. Thanks for thinking of me for this interview!”
Charlotte: Thank you on behalf of the Havendale team! We appreciate your time, your knowledge and sharing insight into your SL world.
Logan: “Pleasure was all mine. 🙂“
If you are interested in Logan’s products, or would like to share your creative ideas please contact Logan Porterfield in world. Taxi to the LoPo district are below. Leaving a voice message is highly encouraged!
*Casual clothes for male and female avatars.
*Mesh, materials enabled footwear to accommodate any avatar.
*Quality budget and luxury mesh jewelry for men and women.
*Harry Potter fans and role players rejoice! Fill your inventory with house robes, scarves, casual wear, and other miscellaneous HP and magic related bits and bobs.
Collectors of curiosities, pagans and other purveyors of the occult will find ritual robes, altar tables, candles, talking crystal balls, coffin curios and more in the Raven’s Eye half of the shop.
*Got Ink? Flash and custom tattoos for avatars. Express yourself with a one-of-a-kind custom tattoo. Virtual tattoos that are as realistic as pixels will allow. My work is hand crafted – not clip art.
Leave a message on Logan’s machine for a quote. He checks several times a week for estimate requests.