Sneak Peek: Bedecked and Bejeweled
November 9, 2012
Baby and Co specializes in Paris-inspired women's and men's street fashion (as in, the stuff you wear over and over again so that it becomes part of the very fabric of your city and its collective style), but the fact that they just started carrying Tom Scott and Jackie Rosenthal's amazing canine sweaters takes things to a whole new level.
What birds are to Portland, skulls are to Seattle. We're a morbid lot around here, but what you have to love about this teapot by Seattle artist Trevor Jackson is that it's pretty and carries historical relevance, too. Let that be a metaphor for Far 4, where exquisite ceramic, paper, and glass objects as well as handmade and novelty items of every stripe (and in every price range) are well-humored, modern, traditional, and lovely—often all at the very same time. Got friends and family who fit the same description?
It may, at first take, seem limiting to focus solely on American-made goods, but NuBe Green makes it look easy. The Capitol Hill lifestyle and gift shop sources sweet, functional necessities and niceties like this Brooklyn-made pouch. Make sure you pop by their set-up to shop for well-traveled friends, design freaks with casual style, and the patriotically eco-savvy.
You've likely noticed that the thing about the latest, greatest scarves is that they're actually infinity loop cowls—circles, really—that you wind around your neck ... or the neck of some well-dressed best friend or perennially chilly cousin. Local knitter Anna Sharp makes hers in the best colors, for men and women.
Fashion and home designers have been exploring the world of photographic prints, and magazine editors, department store buyers, and fashionable shoppers have responded. It's been a key look for seasons now. Local stuff-maker Jessalin Beutler takes old family photographs and creates digitally printed eco-friendly prints with water-based ink for her line of crepe de chine silk scarves. Her block-printed kitchen towels are very differently aesthetically speaking, which just illustrates her large design vocabulary.
I'm glad that entrepreneur Elizabeth Roberts will be in the house for Bedecked and Bejeweled; her path from business woman to fashion label founder is really interesting and inspiring. Talk to her about it and you'll understand why her jackets (perfect for women who brave the elements for the city's cultural events) is so intelligent and attractive.
It was a Seattle inevitability: a bookstore for geeks. But Ada's Technical Books is so much more than that. (Although kudos to the tomes on inventors, space travel, physics, and nature.) We love their selection of humorous novelties as well as their random kits—like this one, which yields a music-making pencil. Ah, the lost art of tinkering. Glad it's back.
Thanks to Fran and President Obama, Seattle's synonymous with salted caramels—at least as far as sweets lovers are concerned. Our favorites are by Seattle Sweets Co. and are available organic and/or vegan in truly amazing, tantalizing flavors. You should probably send some to your cousin in Arkansas.
The holidays are the right time to return to old world things like nutcrackers and holly wreath—and paper calendars, like this letterpress one by Ilee Papergoods. The local designer behind the brand makes one every year, and we look forward to it, month by month.
Billed as the "OCD cutting board," this kitchen accessory is typical of the smart, useful, and innovative items at Click! Design that Fits in West Seattle, and at Bedecked and Bejeweled.
One of my favorite things about the gifts on offer at Bedecked and Bejeweled is that many of them aren't just gifts, they're experiences. We'll have a variety of gift certificates that allow you to give your loved ones a solid connection and a fantastic memory. And, for instance, a hair cut. At Gerald Wu Hair Design, new looks come with a custom cocktail and a black-and-white movie projected onto the wall of the stylist's singular and highly inspiring Pioneer Square loft.
For the couple on your list who just can't seem to get out of town but really, really needs a break from their busy lives: a staycation overnight at the under-discovered gem Cedarbrook Lodge just south of the city. Oh, you're one half of that couple? Even better.
For the sweet-toothed foodie who has everything, consider giving a cake decorating class with Cake Envy. Head baker Helen Noh created this ombre stunner for our wedding magazine, Seattle Met Bride & Groom, and she's willing to share her secrets. It's a great example of how Bedecked and Bejeweled is curated; the gifts and experiences you'll find there come directly from our pages and our blogs.
