Reading
Upon the news of Paul Reubens’s death last week, I did what I do, and started rabbitholing on the interiors. Artnet has a decent interview with the set designers who brought Pee-Wee’s Playhouse’s unique vision to life, and yes, it is Memphis-leaning Postmodern. But it’s so much more, even if you’re just considering the aesthetics*—a potent blend of “hippie chic, psychedelia camp, and thrift store” plus a pastiche of the designers’ own backgrounds in painting, illustration, and puppetry. Deep dive even further into the created world of Pee-Wee Herman via The Verge (from 2016), the South Florida Sun-Sentinel (circa 1986), and this week’s issue of For Scale.
While the premise made me laugh, I couldn’t help but wonder: Why is Vogue the outlet asking whether Aiden Shaw is “actually a good furniture designer”? (Of course not. He makes refried Craftsman furniture for people who think patriarchy means horses.) Where stand the shelter publications on this important cultural debate!?
I was thrilled to see a story very close to my heart in the Wall Street Journal recently: a history of the International Style enclave in South Knoxville called Little Switzerland that was designed and developed by architect couple Alfred and Jane Clauss in the late 1930s. (He, a Mies-trained architect from Germany who came to Tennessee to work with the Tennessee Valley Authority; she, an American who was one of few women apprentices in Le Corbusier’s Paris studio.) Longtime buddy John Sanders—one half of Knoxville firm Sanders Pace—has been working on this restoration project for a decade or so, and frankly I’m too close to it to write about it with any objectivity.**
It is entirely possible that art world people hate New Yorker profiles of art world players the way architecture people scoff at New Yorker profiles of architects. That said, Ariel Levy on painter Lisa Yuskavage is a worthy follow-up to the previous issue’s Gagosian reportage.
Whilst packing for my family’s recent cross-country haul, I went full Baggu girlie with a plethora of the patterned, zippered pouches. The 80s windbreaker of organization, if you will. I could never compete with the original Baggu girlie in my life, who—true to form—showed up at our recent friend reunion in Asheville with a car trunk full of Baggu totes instead of a suitcase. (I would be remiss in not mentioning that as part of Herman Miller’s 100th anniversary, our ace art director designed a big logo-ed tote in collaboration with Baggu, which you can snag here.)
Buying
I won’t make it to Manitoga—Russel Wright’s incredible organic modern homestead in New York State—this summer, but damn if I could. I’m especially, um, ENAMored with Jade Snow Wong’s enamel pieces being shown as part of Manitoga’s 2023 “Layered Voices” program, which showcases Asian-American ceramic artists from the midcentury to today. I’m stealing a pro tip from longtime JSW collector and design mensch Dung Ago, who pointed me to Ebay for the occasional score. Set an alert!
And finally, on the aforementioned trip to Asheville last week, I made an obligatory stop at East Fork’s store downtown to see what they are merchandising. I am never disappointed! This visit yielded the holy grail of dishtowels: both absorbent and beautiful (thanks to a waffled cotton/linen blend), and made locally in North Carolina. Even my husband, a good cook and therefore an-opinionated-person-in-the-kitchen, was pleased. The weaver’s collaboration with East Fork is online here in a neutral color, and you can snag more colors direct from Deanna Lynch Textiles here.
This week I’m heading to ~Oaxaca~ on vacation. May or may not report back! As ever, thanks for reading,
Kelsey
*That statement is a trap. Do not just consider the aesthetics! Consider the HUMAN CONDITION!!
**That said, I do have a long, very un-edited draft of the Clauss/Sanders story if anyone’s interested in whipping it into shape for publication. There’s even an appearance by the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker.
Manitoga is really magical, though I imagine living amid all that stone in the wintertime would require lots of dense sweaters...
🙏 🙏