About a month ago, the pictures started making the rounds on all the style blogs. Word was out that Blackbird—a great little shop in Seattle—was opening up another store just around the corner. This is the Field House.
We were heading to Seattle for Thanksgiving, so I brought along my new Canon 7D in the hopes I would get a chance to document my inevitable visit to The Field House.
My first impression was that the store was put together right. Some shops are cool, but uninviting. A shop that is put together right is cool, but comfortable; you aren’t checking what they’ve got hurriedly and rushing for the door or collapsing under the pressure to buy something.
So what is The Field House? It’s one part general store (this part is mostly cosmetic, it’s no Trader Joe’s), two parts cozy hub for the workwear-style attire and accessories that are such a part of the current zeitgeist. Add a dollop of solid handmade goods of yesteryear and you’ve got your recipe.
If asked to explain pictorially, I might present it this way (click on pictures to enlarge):
The Field House has the product list you would expect–Filson, Quoddy, Pendleton, Red Wings, RRL, Alden Shoes, Tellason Jeans–but the devil is in the details, and getting them right is why the store feels the way it does.
Here are the details:
As I paid for my goods (another sign of a good setup: sell stuff I can buy that won’t break my bank. In this case locally-made soaps, the slow down card pictured above, and a Mexican Coca-Cola), I got some insight into what made this store tick. I asked John, the guy helping me, how involved he was in the setup. He mentioned that his boss, Nicole, headed up the project but as soon as he heard about it he lobbied to be a part of it. It fit his personal aesthetic.
John mentioned how exhilarating it was to put the store together–they spent a full week laying it out–and how satisfying it was when they finished up and stepped back to observe the final product.
I consider this a natural byproduct of people working on the projects they are passionate about, whether or not the economic climate tells them now is the time. It is a big risk to take on a project like this right now. The folks at Blackbird have gone out on a shaky limb and come back with something that is just the opposite. Solid.
Tags: Style
blog home | « #thenewcom. What is that? | Catch of the (last) decade: Local Ocean in Newport, OR »