Billy Bartels’s Four Favorite Seattle Bands

Willing to wager you haven’t heard of any of them. Yet.

“The Tractor is my favorite venue, and it happens to be right in my neighborhood. I’ve seen some of my favorite bands and favorite shows here—it’s a Seattle stronghold.”

A Wisconsin native, Billy Bartels moved to Seattle when he was 27 after a few deceptive trips out there a friend. “I visited a few times when it was perfect weather,” he laughs. “Everyone goes crazy on sunny days—it goes from 10 people on the sidewalk to 30.” Despite the notoriously rainy city’s biggest drawback, Billy, who has since launched an impressively wearable line of men’s jewelry Vim Beget, says he’s got nothing but love for his locale. One of the reasons? The music: Though it’s a far cry from the nineties grunge scene that put the city on the map, there are some really stellar, under-the-radar bands that call Seattle home. These are Billy’s favorites. —anthonia akitunde

Charles Leo Gebhardt IV: “Charles Leo Gebhardt IV is a good friend and a talented person—honest lyrics and great pop melodies. He’s on a label named GGNZLA with a lot of other very talented people.”

THEESatisfaction: “They sit right on the edge of funky soul and hip hop—a very positive energy and lyrics coming from two very cool girls.”

Craft Spells: “Some good dark, dance-y stuff—this is the kind of stuff I listen to while working. They’re not your average Seattle sound. I’m pretty proud of how eclectic the music scene in Seattle has become, and this is a good example.”

Smooth Sailing: “Gotta love a little heavy music. This is metal in its finest form, in my humble opinion of course. Their live show is not to be messed with.”

Get your hands on the rockin’ edition Billy made for us: a faded-out, made-by-hand chain bracelet.

Why Iacoli & McAllister Work So Well Together

He’s a Capricorn; she’s a Virgo—even astrologists can vouch for their compatibility.

McAllister (left) and Iacoli.

Jamie Iacoli was about done with Seattle in 2007 when she met Brian McAllister, who was studying industrial design at University of Washington. “Brian knew how to weld, and I said, ‘You should bring me over and show me how to weld,’” Jamie recalls. BOOM. With those magic words, a beautiful artistic partnership was born: They moved into a studio space together stat and figured things out from there.

Get a load of one of their latest creations: the angular (and supremely cool) brass-and-leather necklace they made just for Of a Kind.


Another Iacoli & McAllister piece: a matte-black powder-coated step ladder with pink washed oak treads and brass hinges.

Once they determined what this new project Iacoli & McAllister should be—a furniture and jewelry outfit driven by a clean-lined ethos—how did they figure out how to work together so well? “We sketch an idea really poorly together, and then Brian does a modeling of the concept on the computer—I art-direct over his shoulder. Then I create quarter-scale models of the design. Brian doesn’t really have the patience to build the models,” Jamie explains. “But our skills really complement each other. I’m the brains; he’s the brawn. He’s the one who figures out engineering and production, and I’m the front-of-house.”


The duo inspiration-hunting.

And to answer that question you’re definitely asking in your head: “No, we’re not a couple. We were a couple, and it shows just how well we work together that we still get along after that. We’re like brother and sister now. We’re done with that,” Jamie laughs. Impressive—almost as much so as the design magic they make.

Meet Iacoli & McAllister

These two are angling to jazz up you and your home.

When Jamie Iacoli and Brian McAllister, two Emerald City creatives, met in 2007, it was all about furniture. Bound together by their joint love of welding, they quickly established their eponymous studio in Seattle’s Capital Hill neighborhood and started dreaming up stark side tables and bold, powder-coated steel light fixtures.

The process involved in creating those large, statement-making home goods is not so dissimilar from the ones needed to make jewelry, it turns out, and soon after, the twosome started playing in that direction—offering the opportunity for all of us to get a little piece of their genius. “All of our stuff is very simple—we’re dealing with how positive space and negative space relate to each other. Jewelry is really the same thing: getting in there with a table saw and cutting brass pieces,” Jamie explains. “It’s quicker than what we normally do, and it’s fun to reap the rewards so fast.”

The real gluey good stuff behind all this is, of course, Jamie and Brian. They have matching work ethics—and are maybe even a little competitive about who can work more—and, they’re both obsessed with constantly pushing things forward. Two of the many projects on the horizon: a collection of bronze-and-marble jewelry and an entirely new line of  home amazingness that will launch in May. “We’re really blessed to have a compatible vision. Any piece we’ve created, it all has a certain feel. We’re first and foremost selfish in our vision. We don’t want to compromise  on it,” Jamie says. “We just want to make beautiful things that have quality and value—things that won’t be thrown away.”

Don’t miss out on their ridiculously amazing Of a Kind edition. Get on our email list to get word first.

Seattle’s Finest, According to Iacoli & McAllister

The designers give us a tour of the seven spots they heart the most.

Being based in the moody, beautiful, artist-nurturing city of Seattle has had a huge impact on Iacoli & McAllister, and one of the best parts of town, in the humble opinion of the duo behind the line, is Capitol Hill, where they have their studio and create stunning, clean-lined furniture and jewelry. As Jamie Iacoli says, “It’s the densest part of the city, and it’s also the hippest and gayest. I can stumble outside, and there’s a ton of amazing local, seasonal restaurants within a five-block radius and a real sense of community.” Here, Jamie gives props to the places in her adopted hometown—Capitol Hill and beyond—that she and her cohort Brian McAllister can’t get enough of.

Elliott Bay Book Company
“They have a great magazine stand and amazing coffee, and the space is beautiful. It’s a half a block from the studio, so we go there every few days to have a coffee and to flip through magazines.” (elliottbaybook.com)

Volunteer Park Conservatory
“This park is a 15 to 20 minute walk from our studio. The conservatory has stunning views of the city, an Asian Art Museum, and a gorgeous greenhouse.” (volunteerparkconservatory.org)

Melrose Market
“Walking in here makes you feel like you’re on a movie set—it’s that sickeningly sweet Pacific Northwest sort of place, and it’s great. There’s a sandwich shop, cheese shop, flower shop, butcher, oyster bar, wine bar, and one of Matt Dillon’s restaurants, Sitka & Spruce.” (melrosemarketseattle.com)

Object   
“This Belltown neighborhood shop was started by our dear friend and photographer Charlie Schuck. He carries beautiful—beautiful!—objects [Ed: See the America mirror above], and he throws some fun parties, too. We call him Good Time Charlie. He’s magnetic.” (hereisobject.com)

North Cascades Highway
“The photos of this road say it all. It’s part of what makes this area magical.”

Totokaelo  
“Our great friend Jill Wenger is the owner of Totokaleo. She’ll be moving to our neighborhood, Capitol Hill, soon, opening a much larger store with home goods. I go to her site at least three times a week for wardrobe inspiration.” (totokaelo.com)

Ferry to Bainbridge Island
“It’s a 35 minute ferry ride from downtown Seattle across the sound to Bainbridge Island, and it is the best way to see the city—for only $6.50.” (wsdot.wa.gov)

Come back tomorrow to score the edition the duo made from their Seattle studio, and get on our email list to make sure you don’t miss out.

Sara Dudzinsky Shops the Pacific Northwest

Locals know best—and this one has killer taste.

Sara Dudzinsky, the designer behind Better Late Than Never, is a Portland girl. She also makes some of the most surprising but understated jewelry we’ve ever seen—tiny, rough crystal earrings and slender hammered rings. Which makes her exactly the sort of person you want showing you around her own city and the upper left coast’s other much-loved locale, Seattle. These are the six places where she always finds the best stuff (aside from the stores that sell her own work, course).

PORTLAND


The Golden Rule
“There are a lot of great shops in the 811 East Burnside Building. Wendy, who runs this place, always has a ton of amazing vintage clothing for sale, and she does a rotating gallery exhibition. All the people who work there are volunteers—they just really want to give as much money to the artists that they’re showing as possible.” (goldenruleportland.com)


Sword+Fern
“On that same block as The Golden Rule, there’s a beautifully curated place called Sword+Fern. Emily Baker, the owner, has all sorts of home goods and accessories, and she also has her own jewelry line, which is awesome. It’s funny: Right now, we’re using some similar materials—crystals, seashells, stuff like that—but our work is so different.”
(swordandfern.com)


Blackbird
“Blackbird has a location in Seattle and one in Portland. They have a little bit of womenswear but great menswear—and they also carry a lot of great body products. I’m obsessed with Malin+Goetz, and they carry all of their stuff. The guys that run it are super nice. They are really into chatting with you—it’s a very personalized shopping experience.” (blackbirdballard.com)


Canoe
“Canoe is fantastic. We just bought Hearth ceramics for our house, and we went there and picked them all out. I have my eye on this crazy, fancy mechanical pencil for my boyfriend, and they have some really amazing wood-slice cutting boards. They have a great online store, too.” (canoeonline.net)

SEATTLE


Totokaelo
“Totokaelo has a super clean aesthetic—very modern and white. Last time I was there, the jewelry was hung up on the wall with colored tape—literally just taped straight to the wall. It was really unique. I have a Shabd bag—a tie-dye one with a rope handle—that I bought there.” (totokaelo.com)


Lambs Ear Shoes
“If you want some amazing shoes, this is the place to go. The owner introduced me to LD Tuttle. I haven’t thrown down for a pair yet, but I’ve been obsessed with the line for a while.” (lambsearshoes.com)

Get on our email list to ensure you don’t miss out on Sara’s edition tomorrow—only available here.

The Three Movies that Mean the Most to Gaby

And the designer behind Tucker has seen more than most people.

When Gaby Basora, the mastermind behind the statement-making line Tucker, was a kid, her mom owned an art-house theater in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. And when Gaby and her sisters weren’t running around among the vendors—“not causing trouble, but definitely making our appearances,” as she puts it—they were tucked into the cinema seats, taking in films far more thoughtful and high-minded than the cartoons most grade-schoolers were consuming. This triad has had the biggest influence on her and her aesthetic through the years.


The Fugitive Kind
“It’s a movie with Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, and Joanne Woodward. They’re a trifecta—they’re all so phenomenal. It’s one of those movies where you know that things are going to end terribly. When I first saw it, I was like, ‘What is Anna Magnani doing with Marlon Brando and Joanne Woodward in this movie set in the South in the fifties?’ But it works so well.”


A Hard Day’s Night
“Walter Shenson—a producer on the film—had come to Seattle to meet my mom and do some projects with her. I didn’t go see concerts until later, so there was a real allure to the movie. My mom and dad dated since they were fourteen, and she would tell us stories about my dad taking the family car and driving to Detroit to see Motown bands. So I felt a real connection with this band movie—it was really intoxicating to see them on the road, with all their fans.”


Peppermint Soda
“I have a VHS copy. It’s extraordinary. There’s no fancy filmmaking or anything—it’s just this poignant, coming-of-age story. At the time, it felt very relevant. It was about two sisters whose parents are divorced, and, although my parents didn’t divorce until later, the sisterly connection really spoke to me. The girls just looked so impeccable—they were these French girls in Paris wearing trench coats and ballet flats to school.”

The edition Gaby made just for us is available! There are just 25 bright-blue silk tanks, and they have awesome printed piping.

Tucker

Clothing was always a thing in Gaby Basora’s house when she was a kid—her grandfather was a tailor, and her mother sold a collection made from quilts to Chicago boutiques in the sixties. The ebullient designer, who has earned a mad following with her silky, bold-but-ladylike line Tucker, says: “When I look at pictures of myself from then, I’m in Frye boots with a denim dress and a Cacharel blouse. My mom always says, ‘I had to make you wear this!’ What I really wanted to wear were hot pink satin shorts and a matching jacket, with roller skates that had wings on the back.”

Eventually, though, Gaby came to embrace the more sophisticated aspects of fashion (no offense, fuchsia satin) and, after wrapping up her schooling in Seattle, Amsterdam, and New York, became a stylist. “There was no Style.com—you were really on the ground. It was a little like Alice in Wonderland, getting to go to these mysterious places and seeing

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Of a Kind

You wouldn’t think that the lopsided nature of this simple, brass-and-suede necklace from the Seattle-based firm Iacoli & McAllister would be quite as jarring as it is. —erica