What we talk about when we talk about the man behind Built for Man is passion and enthusiasm. In last year’s 100 Reasons to Love Seattle feature, we put it this way, No one believes in Seattle’s viability as a World-Class Fashion City more than designer Francisco Hernandez.

It might be said that no one believes more fervently in the potential of Capitol Hill and the Seattle U district, either. In speaking with Hernandez about his soon-to-open Built for Man Open Space, the creative force says, ‘The Seattle University neighborhood is going to be Tribeca to Capitol Hill’s Soho.’

(He also said, with a laugh, that his passion for helping build and grow a fashion community here sometimes borders on obsession — which I thought was just plain charming. I love it when people embrace the truth.)

This idea about the get-in-now-before-it-gets-really-really-cool nature of the nether region between the Hill and the ID has a lot to do with why he and his collaborators decided to make a home for their showroom/art space/forum/community catch-all on 13th Avenue near East Jefferson.

Here’s what we know about what that catch-all will be:

-The space will serve as a place to go check out the chunky, urban-nomadic men’s knitwear, shirting, and accessories that are building the Built for Man brand.

-The space will also be like an art gallery; Hernandez was an art consultant in a former life. My favorite thing about going to the Built for Man design loft is staring at the enormous Stephan Sprouse painting. Add to the list of his passionate obsessions: The idea that fashion and art are intricately linked, and collaboration between designing minds of all kinds is vital, but it’s not worth much if you’re not there, too.

-The first show in the space centers on video art and is called Push/Pull. Key collaborator on the premier show, which culls the work of 11 artists and will run for four continuous hours each day once the curtain is up, is recently transplanted New York artist John Criscitello.

-The majority of the video artists in the show are women. Why? Hernandez believes that video art is marginal and women in art are sometimes marginalized, and he wants to explode that. (I guess I’m not sure that I think video art is marginalized anymore, considering everything happening at the intersection of the internet and fashion is happening via video, but I’m still interested in the concept and the reach of the show.)

UPDATE: Date has been announced: February 17. No, there is no date yet for opening night. We’ll update you here once there is one. It’s looking like mid-February. Until that time, please check out the video here by Liliana Velez, who joins Janet Biggs, Michael Greathouse and others in the show.

Untitled from Liliana Velez on Vimeo.