Category: Shopping + Fashion Articles

This month’s shopping finds

Native Soles
When a jacket-clad snowboarder flew into the Vancouver Olympic Games’ opening ceremony in February, the Alano Edzerza-designed Haida art on the coat created instant buzz, placing Pacific Northwest native art squarely in fashionistas’ crosshairs. Two local artists have created statement shoes celebrating this marriage of heritage and fashion. A Seattleite with Haida and Katzie roots, Sondra Simone Segundo paints native designs on modern wedge heels and details sports jerseys with her family’s whale crest ($95–$140, haidashoes.com). SeaTac’s Louie Gong wields a fabric dye pen against canvas sneakers, detailing a stylistic teal hummingbird or a bold red hawk spanning both shoes. The British Columbia native’s Eighth Generation line blends Coast Salish art and street style. “As a child of mixed heritage, I had to navigate between two worlds,” says Gong, raised in the Nooksack Tribe from age 10. “My shoes express this perspective, grounded in both tradition and pop culture.” $175–$250, eighthgeneration.com.

Pine For Wine
First they did it with The Chocolate Box, a one-stop shop for all things chocolate. In February, Michel and Valerie Brotman, longtime owners of souvenir/gift shop Simply Seattle, evolved their business again, adding locally made wines to their repertoire. Situated next door to the Box, Pine 106 has reclaimed-wood shelves stocked with rare and local wines selected by store manager (and Seattle magazine wine columnist) Shannon Borg, as well as varietals from up-and-coming small producers like Walla Walla Valley’s Tempus Cellars and Kirkland’s Cedergreen Cellars. Perusing and imbibing at the gorgeous, shabby-chic retail shop/wine bar can be an afternoon affair: The rustic communal table and bar encourage lingering over wine paired with gourmet delights (crackers, meats and sweets) or the shop’s meat and cheese boards (a standout: the creamy chèvre from Gothberg Farms in Bow). If you can tear yourself away from the bar,  Borg and team also lead urban wine tours every Saturday at 2 p.m., exploring the in-city wineries from Interbay to SoDo.

Berry Bliss
We love the clever, colorful gadgets from Seattle based Chef’n (chefn.com). Our latest crush is on the StemGem strawberry stemmer. The cheery tool’s stainless-steel claw stems a berry with a quick click and turn, reaping sunny summer berries without the labor. $8; available at Metropolitan Market (multiple locations), metropolitan-market.com.

Put the StemGem to the test with our simple recipe for chocolate-mousse-filled strawberries with toasted coconut and almonds.

Originally published in July 2010