Wear What When

Local Designer Featured in Rue Magazine

Wait til you see his pad. And get his tips.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Jan 23, 2012 at 06:20AM 1 Comments

Photo: We Are the Rhoads

Stay small; Seattle spaces guy Brian Paquette as featured in San Francisco-based online Rue magazine.

Limited space—220 square feet—is no problem for Seattle interior designer and all-around style scene guy Brian Paquette.

Check out this Rue magazine link (“turn” to page 55; sorry there’s no direct link) to see his pad, and then read our interview to get to know Paquette a bit (after all, you’re about to be a guest in his home) and find out how to adapt his ideas to your little nook. Or your five-bedroom Craftsman.

WWW: You mention in the Rue article that your Capitol Hill apartment is smaller than your boarding school pad was. Where did you grow up and how did you find your way to Seattle?
Paquette: I grew up in Newport, Rhode Island; I went to school in western Massachusetts. I moved out to Portland on a whim five years ago and was brought up here two and a half years ago to do creative direction for a firm. When I was bored with that, I took on BP Interiors full time.

You did some time at Blackbird, too. What was your role there?
I started at Blackbird doing marketing, and then joined forces with [owner] Nicole Miller to open the Portland store and then redo the Field House. I am still part of the family but my own work is taking all of my time now.

What are your favorite spots for finding home accessories, accent pieces, and furniture in Seattle?
Kirk Albert, Susan Wheeler Home, Object, Pacific Galleries, and the Good Mod in Portland.

Is there a wall color that you find works particularly well for small spaces?
It’s personal. If my apartment let me, I would paint it high gloss navy blue. Dark colors, to me, don’t shut in a place so much as they cozy it up. It’s all about scale and your daringness.

1. Love everything you live with and if that means waiting until you find the perfect piece than wait. 2. Be bold; you can change almost anything, and you should, regularly. 3. Use large comfortable furniture. All too often people buy uncomfortable, “apartment”-sized furniture. I have a large dining room table that I use as a desk to spread out, and a queen size bed to do the same. If it’s not comfortable, it doesn’t matter how much room you might be saving.

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Tags: home interiors, Midcentury Design

Midcentury Design Exhibits at Nordic Heritage and BAM

Two pioneering designers, two separate shows, one revolutionary era of design that’s definitely still loved and appreciated in the Northwest.

Posted by: Heather Fink on Jan 10, 2012 at 12:15PM 2 Comments

Photo: Vitra Design Museum Archiv

SLIDESHOW: A look at the work of two midcentury marvels currently being touted by area museums. Here, George Nelson’s , Bubble Lamps c. 1952. Nelson’s work is shown at BAM.

View Slideshow » Photo: Vitra Design Museum Archiv

SLIDESHOW: A look at the work of two midcentury marvels currently being touted by area museums. Here, George Nelson’s , Bubble Lamps c. 1952. Nelson’s work is shown at BAM.

View Slideshow » Photo: Vitra Design Museum Archiv

George Nelson, Ball Clock, 1948

View Slideshow » Photo: Vitra Design Museum Archiv

George Nelson, American National Exhibition, Moscow, 1959

View Slideshow » Photo: Svenskt Tenn, Stockholm, Sweden

Josef Frank, Armchair with Mirakel, textile designed c. late 1920s, armchair designed c. 1934, produced c. 2010

View Slideshow » Photo: Svenskt Tenn, Stockholm, Sweden

Josef Frank, Master drawing of Vegetable Tree,designed 1943-44, paper, pencil, watercolor, gouache

Where: Nordic Heritage Museum and The Bellevue Arts Museum

What: Midcentury design. The world is enjoying a love affair with the era’s iconic shapes, and this month Seattle has two opportunities to delve into the lives and work of important figures in modernist architecture and interior design.

George Nelson was an American modernist designer of furniture. He was the director of design for Herman Miller, and is considered to be one of the founders of American modernism. His work is on display at the Bellevue Arts Museum. The show there encompasses several rooms and many notable pieces of furniture that have become synonymous with midcentury interiors—for example, the coconut chair and the bubble hanging lamp. No, you can’t test any of the furniture for comfort, but for those who might like to understand the roots of many currently used (and reused) design concepts, it’s a show worth seeing.

Josef Frank was an Austrian-born Swedish designer; he is currently featured at Ballard’s Nordic Heritage Museum. A renaissance man of sorts—an artist, architect, and designer— Frank was responsible for iconic brightly colored floral patterns and other designs which have been turned into textiles, and then into chairs, carpet, and other pieces. You will see some of this at the museum, but what you won’t see is Frank’s more conceptual contribution to architecture. Together with Oskar Strnad he created the Vienna School for Architecture, where innovations in modern housing and design were daily business. Wondering why he’s called a Swedish designer, but is Austrian-born? Frank adopted Swedish citizenship later in life. Perhaps he had an inkling of the cache that would eventually be carried by Swedish designers.

When: Josef Frank at the Nordic Heritage Museum: Now through February 19 and George Nelson at the Bellevue Arts Museum: Now through February 12 (Hint: There’s free parking in the garage next to the museum.)

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Tags: Bellevue Arts Museum, Nordic Heritage Museum, home interiors, Midcentury Design