Specimen

Ian Schneller began using Specimen Products as a name for his sculptures in 1981 while an undergraduate at the Memphis Academy of Art. It was the anonymity of the words “Specimen” and “Products” that appealed to him. It also seemed a funny little ruse — pretending to be a company instead of himself.

After he became a graduate student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1984, Specimen Products expanded into a music and instrument-making endeavor — first to fulfill Ian’s own personal needs, and then for his friends, fellow bandmates (Shrimp Boat), and other musicians (Tar, Red Red Meat, Coctails). A growing clientele quickly turned his little ruse into a real company.

Since 1986 Specimen has operated out of four different Chicago locations. At first it was housed on Archer Street on Chicago’s south side, in an old lamp factory that was a labyrinth of funny little spaces with several walk-in safes and gingerbread hutches. There was an electricity room, an aquarium room, a woodshop, a metal shop, a darkroom, a music room with adjoining recording cubicles and control room, and several bedrooms. There Ian and his roommates even operated our their radio station with a broadcasting range of only one-quarter mile — enough to reach Interstate 55 with a constant flow of their own music. It was like the rock ‘n’ roll Little Rascals. This is where Ian started to make musical instruments and began his formative study of tube amplification.