In a city known for its eccentricity, Brian Kidd is a standout. He rides a unicycle and plays a set of flaming bagpipes. Known as the Unipiper, he might be even weirder than his home city of Portland. Dressed up as Darth Vader or Uncle Sam, Brian Kidd the Unipiper redefines viral fame.
When 4:20 hits, bong maker Robert Mickelsen is on the clock. Though the longtime artist and glassworker doesn’t smoke, he’s thrilled to be a part of the USA’s growing cannabis counterculture. And since the 2008 recession, that’s also how Mickelsen has made his living -- by making and selling pipes and bongs at all price points, from double digits to $30,000 a piece.
Justin Crowe of Santa Fe, New Mexico started Chronicle Cremation Design, a company that turns human remains into pottery, after finding artistic inspiration in his grandfather’s death. He was surprised when others asked him if he could turn their loved ones’ remains into memorial objects, too -- and even more surprised when the project grew into a business. Now, for those who seek to keep lost loved ones close, cremation pottery can be the answer.
The “Bug Whisperer,” Aaron Rodriques, wants to make the world a better place by learning from its oldest residents -- insects. At Purdue University, where he’s a PhD student in entomology, he studies bugs’ chemical systems, particularly their resistance to radiation, in order to make chemotherapy treatments easier on human patients.