Wear What When

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

Opening Report: Nordic Fashion Biennale

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Oct 04, 2011 at 07:30AM 0 Comments

SLIDESHOW: A preview of the Nordic Fashion Biennale at the Nordic Heritage Museum, on display through November 13. The show includes film, photography, jewelry, fashion, and, as shown here, expressive interpretations of “looking forward to find our future” (the show’s central theme and concept).

View Slideshow » Illustration:

SLIDESHOW: A preview of the Nordic Fashion Biennale at the Nordic Heritage Museum, on display through November 13. The show includes film, photography, jewelry, fashion, and, as shown here, expressive interpretations of “looking forward to find our future” (the show’s central theme and concept).

View Slideshow » Illustration:

In some cases, what you’ll see at the Nordic Fashion Biennale is indeed fashion. Not clothing mind you, but fashion.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

There’s a real sense of connecting heritage, location, and history to dress. I think that’s what I love best about the show, and the concept. What we use to cover our bodies—it’s as important as the food we bring from our soil, the products we export to the rest of the world, the music and art we produce, and the way we live and work in our environment.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

The Nordic Heritage Museum has a wing devoted to showing the history of immigration from Northern countries to America, and to Seattle and Ballard. Inside these scenarios (replicas of passage ships, old time storefronts, farmhouses, slums), there are mannequins that are usually dressed in traditional garb to further illustrate the historical perspective. For the NFB, the forms have been outfitted with fashion from the designers represented in the exhibit. It does get a little hokey at times, and it’s not as successful as other parts of the show, but it’s an interesting effort.

I tried all day Friday to walk away from what I was doing and get to the Nordic Heritage Museum to hear the symposium speakers during the opening day of the Nordic Fashion Biennale, but the best I could do was getting there in time for the opening party.

As we walked in, the Icelandic trade commissioner was toasting the relationship between the Northwest and the North, and acknowledging the role that fashion, apparel, and art can play in healthy economies. Skoal indeed.

The first familiar face I saw was Blackbird owner Nicole Miller’s; she had served as the symposium moderator that day and reported that the day’s talks on sustainability and ethical, artful practices had exceeded her expectations.

Actually, she copped to the fact that she’s a very tough critic and isn’t easily impressed, and said the discussions had been really inspiring, motivating, and challenging.

The second familiar face was Henrik Vibskov’s. My friends and I had to check our cool level a little; our instinct was to ask him to autograph our sweaters or something. The designer’s buzz factor and art/fashion cred is off the charts. It was no small deal to have him in our city, participating in our cultural event.

And then it was on to the exhibits. And the exhibit watchers.

I’m partial to multigenerational crowds at fashion events. In my mind, there is nothing more fun than people watching when the Baby Boomers and college students are both turning it out.

Women who might have been lifelong museum members but could have also been Faroe Islanders or Finnish design experts (there were a lot of visitors in the house) were dressed in long, drapey textiles and covered with architectural jewelry. They accepted passed appetizers of salmon and lamb, prepared by the Icelandic chef who was imported for the event. Twentysomethings in self-made experiments stood next to them as we all took in politically minded soft sculptures, over-the-top knits, and hypnotic black and white fashion-minded films.

The slideshow here gives a brief preview of the exhibit, which is up at the Nordic Heritage Museum through November 13. I should note that I didn’t photograph or otherwise include my favorite parts of the show. I wanted those to be a surprise and a discovery when you go to see it all for yourself.

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Tags: Seattle Fashion Show, Fashion as Art, Nordic Heritage Museum

Slideshow: Nordic Fashion Biennale at Nordic Heritage Museum

See symposium and exhibit designers and get links to their work.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Aug 22, 2011 at 06:30AM 0 Comments

Photo: All images courtesy Nordic Heritage Museum and Nordic Fashion Biennale

SLIDESHOW: Nordic artists participating in the NFB at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard. Here, a still from the fashion-influenced film Magma by Marianna Mørkøre and Rannvá Káradóttir.

View Slideshow » Photo: All images courtesy Nordic Heritage Museum and Nordic Fashion Biennale

SLIDESHOW: Nordic artists participating in the NFB at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard. Here, a still from the fashion-influenced film Magma by Marianna Mørkøre and Rannvá Káradóttir.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Looks from Hildur Yeoman, an Icelandic designer and fashion illustrator. Her work is featured in the NFB’s main exhibit, “Looking Back to Find Our Future.”

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Cult designer Henrik Vibskov is one of the region’s most well-known contemporary designer. He’ll be speaking during the symposium on September 30 and October 1.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Danish designer Barbara i Gongini has been heavily involved in the sustainability movement, and, despite the ultra dark, ultra goth aesthetic, collaborated in 2009’s Bright Green Fashion collection.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

A look from Icelandic designer Eyglo.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Gudrun & Gudrun is a knitwear line made by two natives of the remote Faroe Islands, which sit between Norway and Iceland.

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Greenland’s Julie Edel Hardenberg will also speak at the 9/30 and 10/1 symposium. Much of her work seems to riff on a key piece called ‘Rigsfælleskabspause’ (“the break of the Danish Commonwealth”), in which she used flags from Greenland and Danish to construct a kind of straight jacket.

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“Recycle or die;” Aftur’s brand slogan is pretty direct about the repurposed materials used in their Iceland-based line.

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The inspiration for Jóhanna Methúsalemsdóttir’s jewelry line, Kria, is said to come from a black lava Icelandic beach on which she found a bird skeleton. That’s the kind of romantic darkness that typifies at least our expectation of Nordic artists, if not always their actual work.

If you read about the upcoming Nordic Fashion Biennale at Ballard’s Nordic Heritage Museum and are curious about the fashion-industry thinkers and makers who are bringing their thoughts on style, sustainability, culture, heritage, and the future of all of these things to Seattle at the end of September, this is the slideshow for you.

Check out images and links to designers who are either featured in the main exhibit (begins September 30 and runs through November 13) or are participating in the opening-weekend symposium.

One caveat: We didn’t get example images of the street style photos that are going to infiltrate the Nordic Heritage Museum as a way of sort of populating the show with natives, but I’m hoping pictures from Hel Looks and Face Hunter will be in attendance—those were my introductions to the genre years ago.

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Tags: Seattle Fashion Show, Art Exhibits, Fashion as Art, Nordic Heritage Museum

17 Swedish Designers

A small but essential show of gorgeously rendered lifestyle pieces is open now at Nordic Heritage Museum.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Jun 27, 2011 at 07:00AM 0 Comments

SLIDESHOW: 17 Swedish Designers at the Nordic Heritage Museum offers a clean, bright, fresh perspective on home and lifestyle design.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

SLIDESHOW: 17 Swedish Designers at the Nordic Heritage Museum offers a clean, bright, fresh perspective on home and lifestyle design.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

This piece by Anna Kraitz sums up a good chunk of what I love about the show. Simple, classic forms—and just a little bit of fun.

Where: Nordic Heritage Museum

What: What is it about the stylish Swedes, huh? From H&M to Cheap Monday, Acne, Filipa K, and Whyred, everyone’s favorite bargain go-to and some of my favorite boutique brands come from the Scandinavian haven.

The country is also known for smart, minimal home and lifestyle design, as a brief but lovely exhibit in Ballard cleanly, neatly outlines. The show, which features 17 young-ish female designers and was developed by Svensk Form, the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design, in collaboration with the Swedish Embassy and the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation and launched in the US at the Cleveland Institute of Art, arrived in Seattle earlier this month. I walked through it on a recent Thursday afternoon, marveled at the perfect simplicity of minimal white ceramics by Anna Lerinder, loved the bright aprons and housewares by Lotta Kuhlhorn, and left resolving to get more fresh flowers, multi-functional furniture, graphic patterns, and white space in my home and in my life.

The whole of the show is laid out in three small, neatly styled wood-floor rooms (you can’t help but think of an edited, abbreviated, way cooler Ikea) but the combination of lighthearted wit, fresh perspective, and perfect restraint is worth the trip. Check the slideshow here for a brief preview.

When: Now through August 21

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Tags: Design, Home Decor, Nordic Heritage Museum

Nordic Fashion Biennale at the Nordic Heritage Museum

The Ballard museum’s set to host a Nordic fashion celebration with an independent design focus.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Jun 16, 2011 at 08:00AM 1 Comments

Photo: Shoplifter.us

Slideshow: A northern perspective on style. Here, work by Biennale curator and Iceland native Hrafnhildur Arnardottir, who you may just call Shoplifter.

View Slideshow » Photo: Shoplifter.us

Slideshow: A northern perspective on style. Here, work by Biennale curator and Iceland native Hrafnhildur Arnardottir, who you may just call Shoplifter.

View Slideshow » Photo: Henrik Vibskov Boutique

Looking Back to Find Our Future, an exhibit of fashion and jewelry from Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway, is part of the Biennale celebration. In it, the work of cutting edge designers like Henrik Vibskov (familiar to fans of Blackbird in Ballard) will be presented within the context of traditional garb and folk art.

View Slideshow » Photo: Barbaraigongini.dk

Barbara i Gongini, a Faroese line based in Denmark, will also be part of the Looking Back exhibit.

View Slideshow » Photo: Kerstin Alm, courtesy of Nordic Heritage Museum

A menswear look from the line Moods of Norway at the 2010 Arctic Summer Nordic Fashion Show at the Nordic Heritage Museum

View Slideshow » Photo: Kerstin Alm, courtesy of Nordic Heritage Museum

A look by Marimekko from last year’s runway show in Ballard.

View Slideshow » Photo: Kerstin Alm, courtesy of Nordic Heritage Museum

From last year’s show: Kristiina Hiukka, honorary vice consul of Finland, Seattle Sounders soccer player Freddie Ljungberg (a bona fide Swede), Ole Henriksen, the Danish skin care guru. Henriksen is also set to judge the North by Northwest competition.

If I told you that one of our local museums was hosting a fashion happening that had the potential to really boost local talent and will definitely add knowledge, insight, and experience to the community, you would probably guess that it was that big, one-name joint downtown doing the to-do. Actually, it’s the Nordic Heritage Museum.

In conjunction with the Nordic House in Reykjavik, Iceland, the Ballard institute is hosting the first American iteration of the Nordic Fashion Biennale. It’s because of a successful program last year, Nordic Heritage’s 2010 Arctic Summer Fashion Show, that Ballard, and Seattle, got that honor. Reps from the Icelandic organization were here to see the 2010 show (check the slideshow here for a few images courtesy Nordic Heritage); they were impressed, and decided we should start the stateside party.

The celebration of style and global design runs from September 30 through November 13 and will consist of three elements: a street fashion photo exhibit from the Nordic capitals, contemporary fashion from the five Nordic Countries shown with traditional customs from the Museum’s archives, and a sort of all-encompassing, genre-skipping exhibit of Nordic design to be installed in various formats throughout the Museum.

And, then there’s the design competition.

Open to fashion design students who live and create in the West Coast states (WA, OR, CA, AK: that’s you! BC and the Yukon: you’re in also!), the Biennale’s fashion competition, NxNW, counts the creative director of Diane Von Furstenberg, Denmark’s leading skin care expert, and Icelandic designer Steinunn among its judges.

A two-day symposium focusing on sustainability, slow fashion, cultural heritage, and current trends in the marketplace presents another opportunity for the Northwest’s up-and-coming designers to get face time with global leaders. This aspect of the biennale is curated by New York-based Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardottir, also known as Shoplifter—also known as, let’s be honest, A Pretty Big Deal. Having collaborated with VPL, dressed Bjork, and been given page of praise in the New York Times, Shoplifter in Seattle is something to pay attention to.

The biennale, in general, is definitely something to pay attention to. You’ll be hearing more about it from us in the weeks to come; in the meantime, tell every up-and-coming dress designer and thing-maker you know to check out the guidelines and information on the Nordic Heritage Museum’s website.

Deadline for entries is July 25; winners will receive round-trip airfare from Seattle to Reykjavik, three night’s accommodations, and entry to events during the 2012 Reykjavik Fashion Week.

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Tags: Seattle Fashion Show, Seattle Designer, Blackbird, Nordic Heritage Museum