The Design District

Posted By Rachel DeSchepper on 04/29/2008

Ok, I’m not really going to Kansas City until Memorial Day, but it is my hometown, and I love it, and it’s great to find out what creative folks are doing there.

First off, I’m thrilled that Kansas City is coming to me here in Portland: My favorite letterpress and design studio, Hammerpress (and I’m not just saying that because of the KC love) is currently exhibiting their work at Office on NE Alberta until May 24. Brady Vest and Lindsay Laricks run the studio, and to say they’re talented is a huge understatement. They create music posters, stationery, art prints, T-shirts, wedding invites, and more. I send out these notecards every chance I get, and I have this poster framed in my apartment (I wonder why):

Secondly, my mom sent me an article in The Kansas City Star about an incredibly beautiful line of hand-printed and hand-painted wallpaper, Porter Teleo, run by Bridgett Cochran and Kelly Porter.

Kelly has a background in printmaking and Bridgett a background in interior design. Over a dinner conversation, the two conceived a wallpaper business and started Porter Teleo in 2004.

Currently they’re starting work on a textile line, plus two new hand-printed images for the wallpaper. They use Kelly’s original artwork and ancient Japanese woodblocks and nature for inspiration, and they woodblock, paint, silkscreen, and chine-colle the designs onto beautiful Japanese and other high-end paper.

The papers retail for $330 to $1,000 a roll, depending on if they’re hand-painted or hand-printed. Porter Teleo isn’t available in Portland yet, but you can order online.

For more about design and shopping in Kansas City, check out DesignSponge’s Kansas City Design Guide.