Retail
The Creatives: Kate Harmer
Kate HarmerFounder and creative director, Hum CreativePioneer Square; humcreative.com FOCUS: Hum Creative is a full-service design studio specializing in branding, strategy, packaging and web design. Weve worked with Sellen, Cornish College of the Arts, Forterra and Cupcake Royale. Currently, were enjoying working with South Lake Union Block Party, Mindy Kaling and KEXP. CRAZIEST THING IVE…
The Creatives: Michael Ellsworth
Michael EllsworthCofounder and chief creative officer, CivilizationCapitol Hill; builtbycivilization.com FOCUS: We believe in using design as a means of social change. We work with clients who share our philosophy, including the World Economic Forum, architecture firm NBBJ, slow fashion brand Olderbrother, the recently rebranded Sorrento Hotel and the Frye Art Museum. MOST CHALLENGING ASSIGNMENT: Creating…
The Creatives
Maybe its the location. Maybe its the beer. Whatever the reason, Seattle has an unusually strong pool of creative, talented people who have established a community of design boutique firms doing ambitious, edgy design work for important clients. Click the links below to take a look at nine of them. Michael EllsworthCofounder and chief creative…
Restaurant Business: It’s a Feeding Frenzy
Every time you and I go out to dinner, were getting into the restaurant business. We weigh the question of independent or corporate, modern or traditional, glamorous or cozy, exciting or predictable. And, more and more, we visit a chain restaurant. The worlds second-biggest restaurant group (after McDonalds), with 22,000 stores worldwide, is headquartered in…
Developers Scramble to Create the Right Retail Mix Downtown
On a sunny weekday morning, Tom Douglas spacious Assembly Hall is buzzing with activity. Office workers gaze at their laptops and sip coffee. Others, still in gym clothes from their morning workouts, gulp fresh juice and chat. At a deli a few steps away, customers waiting to order sandwiches watch the kitchen staff at a…
Bruce Cazenave Gets Nautilus Back in Shape
Nautilus Inc., the Vancouver, Washington, company known for its array of home gym cardio and strength exercise equipment, is back and pumping iron. In the first quarter of 2015, sales hit $96.23 million, up 34 percent from the year before on earnings that soared 87 percent to $10.73 million on the back of such hot-selling…
A CEO Tries His Hand at Theater
Playwrights expect criticism, but Dwayne Clark got a measure of disapproval he wasnt expecting. A comedy he commissioned and co-wrote, Seven Ways to Get There, received encouraging reviews after its premiere at Seattles A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) in February. The real criticism was about how the play earned its place on one of the nonprofit…
The Brands We Love
As residents of the Pacific Northwest, we love our morning lattes. We love our sports teams. We love reading on our tablets and listening to music we bought online through our smartphones while we commute to work in our down jackets. And we love the brands that make these things possible. But what makes a…
Zulily: Not Exactly Childs Play
Farida Roberts sits in the lobby of Zulilys Seattle headquarters sipping her coffee. On the other side of a glass wall, her four children scamper through a clutter of clothing, toys and scene settings as they wait to model clothes for the popular online retailer of moms and kids fashions. This photo session is one…
Rosanna Bowles: Designing Woman
She has been setting an artfully profitable table for more than 30 years.
Rosanna Bowles learned at an early age to appreciate beautifully crafted objects and a well-set table. By the time she was 5, she had started collecting antique Limoges china, adding a piece each year on summer trips to the Oregon Coast with her family. A half-century later, Bowles is still collecting. But shes far better…
Fifty Shades of Grey movie expected to boosts sales of sex toys
A recent New York Times story on how the new movie release of “Fifty Shades of Grey” is expected to boost sales of sex toys reminds us of a story we published in 2012 about the large presence of sex-toy retailers in this region and how they and others were taking advantage of the popularity…
On Reflection: A Double Tall Experience
Three weeks before Christmas, the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room opened at the corner of Pike and Minor in a repurposed 1920s auto-row building on Seattles Capitol Hill, offering a multipurpose experience dramatically different from the customary wait-in-line Starbucks procedure. An open-concept design invites transparency and encourages the curious. Visitors can see the roasting…
Seattles Shadow Economy
From real estate to retail, Zillow to Amazon, innovation has long powered the Puget Sound regions economic expansion, making it one of the fastest-growing areas in America. As that economic boom creates more wealth and disposable income, it is nurturing a similarly thriving, innovative sector that Seattle would rather not talk about. Seattle is home…