Wear What When

Slideshow: Bilinear Art with Krista Kelly

Taking style home and to work.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on May 20, 2011 at 07:45AM 0 Comments

SLIDESHOW: Style Counselor Krista Kelly at work with Bilinear Art. Here, she commissioned a New York-based street artist to create work for a client’s residential game room.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

SLIDESHOW: Style Counselor Krista Kelly at work with Bilinear Art. Here, she commissioned a New York-based street artist to create work for a client’s residential game room.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

The master bedroom of a residential client; Bilinear placed a diptych pyrograph by Japan-born Seattle-based artist Etsuko Ichikawa. The use of blown glass and cotton paper in Ichikawa’s work adds to the natural elements of the national award-winning residence. “My inspiration for the placement came from the idea of the couple dreaming beside each other,” says Kelly.

View Slideshow » Photo: Glassworks Architectural Glass

In the Spring of 2010, Luxe Magazine featured downtown’s Escala building in Downtown Seattle and highlighted the work of five interior designers within the spaces. Bilinear consulted with Jeffrey Lamb of J Lamb Studio; shown here is a triptych and artwork positioned inside the wall and a sleek, minimalist bar.

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For another condo in the Luxe spread, Bilinear selected a piece titled “In the Dream” by a Korean artist for the ceiling of the master bedroom. A portion of the graphic design was blurred to create a triptych which softened the attached master bath and created a unity between the two rooms. In order to activate the color palette and shapes, Kelly commissioned custom-made light boxes for the bathroom.

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Using whale vertebrae and rib found on shore off the coast of Alaska, native Eskimo artists carved the sculpture here, positioned next to floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Seattle skyline. “The juxtaposition of the city and whale’s architecture signifies the beauty of the Pacific Northwest,” states Kelly.

View Slideshow » Photo: Malcolm Smith Photography

Acting as part of a consulting member of Columbia Tower Club’s arts committee, Kelly organized an exhibition in order to create an opportunity for Seattle’s galleries, curators, and art enthusiasts to gather. The participating galleries in the resulting “Sky Tour” were R E Welch, Cullom, and Woodside/Braseth. The exhibition featured artwork from the first SAM curator, 1800s Japanese woodblock prints, and contemporary European oil paintings.

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In 2009, Bilinear created an exhibition called “Innovative Design: Seattle Architects for the Port of Seattle.” Twelve of Seattle’s top architecture firms were showcased in display cases throughout Sea-Tac International Airport. Some of the firms included: Olsen Kundig, Miller|Hull, Weber Thompson, Sclater, LMN, Ankrom Moisan, Hinthorne Mott, and VIA. Pictured is Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership’s proposed 5th and Columbia building.

I’ve always wanted to explode that whole take-your-daughter-to-work-day thing out a little further. Once a year, we ought to get a free pass to bring and/or tag along with friends, sig others, moms, dads, neighbors, siblings, former college roommates, and yes style counselors and check out each other’s work world.

Until such time as International Here’s What Your Friend Does at Her Office All Day Day, you’ve at least got the chance to see some of the art consultation projects completed by Style Counselor Krista Kelly;. (You’re on your own if you want to actually get inside her office at the old Rainier bottling plant.)

“I find I am excavating and interpreting my client’s style,” Kelly told me when I asked if stylish people live in stylish environments, and vice versa. “Most people have opinions on their taste and just want to be informed about their options.”

To see how that’s worked out in a number of Seattle homes, offices, and public places, take a stroll through the slideshow here.

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Tags: Visual Art, butch blum, Style Counsel, Home Decor

Taking your Pills

Or better yet, leaving them. The experts tell us how as fall/winter clearance sales continue

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Jan 19, 2010 at 10:00AM 6 Comments

Half price at Margaret O’Leary: Unpilled sweaters (and gratis tips on how to keep them that way)

I have a thing about pilly sweaters. I have a thing as in I hate them. So when I stopped by Margaret O’Leary recently to get the details on their current sale (50% off all classic cashmere, and 50% off all F/W chunky wool sweaters, luxury cashmere blends, and draped, boxy, directional cuts), I took the opportunity to chat with store manager Nisa Trehearne about her favorite pill fixes. And then I followed up with a few more retailers to bring you the first Wear What When How To.

Nisa likes those pumice stones for de-pilling, and also reports that she’s had good luck with the little sweater shavers you see at drug stores. She points out that you have to lay the sweater flat on a smooth surface and not attempt to shave the sweater you’re currently wearing. Bad move; causes snags.

At Butch Blum, Kay Smith-Blum, an ardent knitwear wearer if ever there was one, has this to say: ‘I use the small comb meant for depilling – I pick them up in Italy usually, but have seen them in sewing shops too. You can also use the masking tape lint rollers – and the best preventive measure is to hand wash all cashmeres in cold water. Drycleaning is too much heat, and results in breaking fibers. I would not recommend the vacuums. Angora needs to be stored in freezer to keep fibers from flying in your eyes when wearing. Any time you have a chance to buy double face wool, cotton, cashmeres, do it! They never wrinkle! And fold your knits – never hang!’

I’ll add on Kay’s behalf, and yours, that F/W looks by Marlene Birger, Tumi, Culturata, and more are 40% off.

Next up, thinking of the shawl collar cardigan on our November Spree page, I went to Patricia Wolfkill at Merge. Here’s Pat’s practical and simple advice: ‘I just trim the pills off with scissors. I’ve never tried the shavers, but I’ve heard they work on sturdier pieces — I suspect they would pull on the weave of more delicate cashmere. I do know that you shouldn’t PULL the pills off, it just drags on the weave, creating more pills.’

You may recall that there’s a killer sale going on at Merge as we speak.

And finally, I wanted to two cents or so from Totokaelo’s Jill Wenger, since that’s where I purchased the Junya Watanabe cardigan I am hellbent on protecting. Jill says, ‘I remember the first Tom Scott cardigan I bought. Special. Somewhat conceptual. 100% cashmere. And it pilled after the fist wear. And I was devastated. Come to find out that great knits pill. It’s not a reflection of quality. The weave makes a difference (how thin is the thread they are stitching with? Is it bundled into yarn before knitting?). And additives – like 50% cashmere 50% nylon. Soy and bamboo are also fibers that don’t pill, so good blenders. And then I pay attention to designers. Some designers/clothing lines just do a better job at containing the pilling than others. If you have a favorite sweater that’s held up well, stick with that maker. APC is my go-to non- pilling sweater brand. Thinner sweaters are less likely to pill. Big heavy sweaters tend to just shed. It’s that medium weight knit that’s a doozie for pilling. I don’t have a great fix as I’m a low maintenance gal — well, not too low maintenance because the one fix that I can recommend is the dry cleaners. I ask them to de-pill when I clean. But now-a-days I mainly just buy sweaters that are 1) a lighter weight, and 2) a blend and 3) a brand I trust. Because I too hate pilling.’

And again, the sale at Totokaelo? Don’t sleep on it.

Now what about you? What’s your best trick for keeping the best sweaters free of pills?

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Tags: sale, How To, cashmere, butch blum, merge, totokaelo, experts