dijon

michael & tony
make classic
pomodoro and gnocchi

What did you want to be besides architects when you were kids?

T. I was always into drawing and building, making things. I was kind of a loner, I had two sisters who were really close so I was out doing whatever. I was into space but I never thought of becoming an astronaut. I kind of fell into architecture.

M. I’ve always wanted to be an artist or something in that world. But my entire family, even extended family, are all doctors, are about to become a doctor, or work somewhere in the medical field so growing up I just assumed I’d do that. In my first year of university, I was doing fine arts in the morning, going to a painting studio and loving it, and then going to a chemistry lab in the afternoon, thinking I’d do a science degree. I remember the exact date, it was November 7th and my mom picked me up from the chemistry lab and I said, “I cannot do this for the rest of my life.” She said, “of course you can’t, what the hell are you doing? Everyone in the family knew you couldn’t do this.” Kind of like, why are you even trying? It was harsh but it was also so relieving. 

So what makes buildings cool anyway?

M. Architecture is more than just buildings. The world of architecture is interesting to us, we’re both really interested in design, drawing, the process of making. I like the challenge of buildings, there’s a lot of problem solving involved. The more friction you have, the more difficult it is, so the more fun it is, because it’s testing whether or not you can think of a good solution. There’s added pressure with a building, it’s probably going to outlive me so I hope it’s good, and people are going to live there for 60-70 years. If you fuck up how someone lives, that sucks. 

Are you hyper-critical of designs, like when you walk into a space?

M. Yeah, definitely. I don’t want to speak for Tony, but not only are we sort of trained to be but Tony and I, our natural disposition is to do that. I had a boss who put it very well, he said good design - you shouldn’t notice it or if you do notice it, you’re noticing it for some incredible phenomenon or some incredible moment. 

What’s your favourite type of decorative gargoyle or whatever you might see on the side of a building?

T. We were talking about Carlo Scarpa, this Italian architect that did this graveyard and some other buildings. He does decoration, little windows, little strips of metal and details around doors, patterns... At first glance they just look like they’re stuck on the building but if you step back you can see they’re part of a larger whole, they’re representing the plan or they’re representing different functions of the building. At the Brion Vega Cemetery there’s these metal circles on this wall, and when you get closer you see it’s part of a pulley system that lifts up a glass door in the water that’s below the surface, it’s pretty amazing.

M. It takes you to this not-quite secret space, because you kind of see it but have no idea how to get there. That’s a highly detailed product, it’s kind of detail over decoration. One architect I really like, Thom Mayne, more of his stuff is from the 70’s and 80’s where they express a lot of the tectonic structure of the building through - they also bring too much attention to it, with things you’d normally try to hide, or traditionally wouldn’t want to show - they show it. 

Have you been working on art?

M. I don’t do as much as I wish I could, but I try and stay active with it. Even photography, I feel like that’s a quicker medium for me but I try to keep up with it.

T. I just built some picture frames, so yeah, doing stuff, haha. I’m fortunate to have access to a shop space in the Exchange through my job at Sotirios Corp, so I go there after work and build things. I’ve been making these small lamps and the big one on the floor. I took three of those to a design show in Vancouver last year. I definitely wouldn’t call it art necessarily but it’s a type of design. 

You wouldn’t call that art?

T. No. It has a function outside of being art, so for me that’s the difference. You can describe art in different ways but for me art has the value of just being art, whereas this is more of an industrial design. 

M. One thing I think Tony and I have explicitly talked about, but also implicitly, we always know we’d love to be doing our own art projects as much as possible and that we want to stay active. I’d say we’re doing a pretty good job of it. It probably contributes to why we’re good roommates, because we respect the work that each other does. 

T. By putting our stupid shit up on the walls?

M. Yeah, exactly.

Michael, how has having the last name Butterworth impacted your life?

M. Oh, it’s been a gliding path of uninterrupted success. I was called ‘Butters’ from before anybody watched South Park. It’s both good and bad, people remember it which is good.

Do girlfriend’s parents inherently like you because of your wholesome last name?

M. I think they think I’m a good boy, yes. It was a bit weird in middle school, kids would be like ‘how much is your butter worth?’ Or in football as a receiver so whenever I’d drop a pass it’d be like, ‘nice catch butter fingers.’ I looked up the history of it, and it was a town in England known for its butter, and now it’s a parking lot in Liverpool. There’s no plaque but there’s this photograph of where the church used to be and now England’s version of Home Depot is there. 

What do you like about baseball so much, Tony?

T. My dad really likes it and when I was a kid that was the only sport I played. After high school I stopped playing, and I kind of got out of it but I started listening to games again in University. We had just returned from a trip to LA and I started listening to the Dodgers on the radio because it reminded me of the city. Their announcer at the time, Vin Scully, had been doing it for like 60 years, calling games by himself. It was really soothing. People give baseball a bad rap for being boring or slow and it is, but that’s kind of what I like about it. You can have it on in the background if you’re doing something and the announcers always get louder if something’s happening so you tune in. Also, I think it’s a bit of a mystical game. It’s a bit alchemic - it’s rumoured to be started by freemasons. So, the idea of a pitcher - a challenger, a batter and a hitter and the infield/outfield defining different boundaries. Something about it conjures up something mystical.

Whaaaat?

T. Yeah, the geometry of the game too, it’s a square and a circle, so there’s all these geometries made from these right angles and circles. It’s very based on numerology, there’s lots of 3’s and 4’s. 

M. Which also applies to the way you hit, because you have to hit a round ball with a round bat but you have to hit it square. There is something spooky about it.

T. The bases used to be little obelisks, like cast shadows on the field. It’s cool.

M. Think about it this way, they’ve never changed the geometry once, so no matter what era you live in whether it’s the 30’s or steroid 90’s, the distance is the same. It’s this perfect dimension regardless of how much better athletes have gotten.

T. It’s also very dumb, which I like. It’s easy to understand. If you look at hockey or football there’s a lot of moving parts, lots of people around, it’s loud, it’s busy, lots of things are happening. And in baseball there’s no clock so it’s like, you have to do the thing to finish the game. It’s nice. Plus there’s a very low entry to playing.

Can you each describe for us your perfect day?

T. Every day I have is really good.

Awww, that’s so nice.

T. I mean, it’s also really bad too, with everything going on. But what is nice for me is waking up without an alarm - I’m fortunate to be able to do that. I get up, look at my phone, do a bit of yoga, shower, play some tennis, it’s maybe 20 degrees out, not too hot, not too cold. It’s probably fall. Come home and have a nap, make a nice dinner with someone or go out for dinner and have some drinks and be in bed by 11.

Today was fucked up though. It was like that scene in Goodfellas, where Henry has a lot of shit to do in one day and he’s like having to make dinner for the family, go and pick up the drugs, get the babysitter ready. That’s what I felt like today. My boss was calling me, I had to get a massage, haha, and then make the sauce. In that scene, he’s telling his brother Michael to stir the sauce. I was actually texting (real) Michael “don’t let it stick.” 

M. Didn’t stick. I like the thing about waking up on your own. I’m really lucky to have the jobs I have and I like doing them, but a perfect day is when there’s nothing planned. Honestly, a good day would start if I didn’t fall asleep looking at Twitter. If I started like that I’d have more perfect days. Tony sums it up well, keeping everything on your own terms. There’s this short story I really like that’s about a lemon tree, and I’d love to grow a lemon tree one day and take care of it. Perfect day, tend to a lemon tree, sit in the sun and not look at Twitter. 

What’s your favourite mustard?

T. It would depend on the situation. Favourite is a big word, it’s an important word. There’s something comforting about French’s, as a kid we’d have that yellow mustard, I can see the bottle and the logo. It’s a beautiful thing, the colour. So many times this summer I’d make a cheeseburger on the grill and put on stupid ketchup and stupid mustard
- Heinz and French’s - and it was so good. 

M. The first thing I bought to put in the fridge when we moved in was French’s standard mustard. That means something. 

T. You can’t pick what I picked.

M. I like Dijon but I don’t want to pander. So we’re going to go with Inglehoffer Grainy Wasabi Mustard, how about that? Yeah, Spicy Mike over here. 

Interview by Katy Slimmon & Ali Vandale
Photography by Ali Vandale