ALONG WITH HER HUSBAND BILL, NuBe Green owner Ruth True is one of the city’s foremost art collectors. But after two years of developing in-house lines for her all-American mercantile, it’s looking like her real talent is artisan collecting.
First she nabbed Adrienne Antonson, the former Vashon Islander who deconstructs 1950s railroad-stripe coveralls, for example, and reshapes and hand-sews what remains until cropped swing vests and pencil skirts emerge. The collection, originally dubbed NuBe Seattle and renamed State this fall, will progress and grow now that the artist—designer is too narrow—travels the country with her sculpture.
And then there’s NuBe Home, in which Maresa Patterson rescues homespun wool blankets and meticulously recovers orphaned sitting room sofas. The juxtaposition isn’t modern, or vintage, but something altogether different. And better.
True has plans to expand—New York, you ready?—but she might consider rebranding, too. She just doesn’t seem like a newcomer anymore.
Published: December 2011
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