KRISTIN VAN BUSKIRK — love good color

I love Portland, the people, the city, the energy. Kristin embodies the Portland spirit of humanity and generosity. As a former color designer for Nike, and colorful store owner of Woonwinkel, Kristin is no stranger to the power of color. When Kristin learned of my non-profit, Project Color Corps, she reached out to me to see how she could help. Along with those who became our Project Color Corps Chapter Leads, she and Gabrielle Enfield hosted a night to introduce Project Color Corps to the Portland community. The evening felt like a warm pink embrace and it wasn’t long before we launched our Portland Chapter. When I think of Kristin, it is hard to not imagine light, love, and energy. When you enter her store, it is pure color magic.

Laura Guido-Clark: WHEN I SAY THE WORD COLOR, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF?

Kristin Van Buskirk: Joyful round shapes, luminous blurs, light, and joy.

LG-C: CAN YOU SHARE A SIGNIFICANT COLOR MEMORY OR YOUR FIRST COLOR MEMORY?

KVB: My mom, bless her heart, let me dress myself as a wee kiddo. I probably put together some pretty great colors. Whatever I chose had to center around my very favorite piece of clothing: a white, purple and red* cotton plaid bucket hat. I also remember being amazed by the colorful gifts my favorite uncle brought back from his time in the Peace Corps. I still have some pouches and hats he brought back in blazing greens, pinks, reds, and yellows. I wasn't a pink girl. I loved putting those rich, bold colors together in every which way I could.

*I just noticed my screen saver is white, purple, and red. Ha! I would never call those out as favorite colors right now but look--there they are! I find this screensaver the right balance of calming and motivating.

LGC: HOW DO YOU USE COLOR FOR SELF-EXPRESSION?

KVB: When I used to work as a color designer for Nike, I used to wear almost exclusively black. I told myself it was because it kept things simple in the morning and because it was a nice foil to the color I work with all day. But in truth, I was pretty conscious of the fact that it was my armor. I knew that not too much of myself and my emotions would be revealed, which felt like the safe way to go in such a hard-core competitive environment. Now that I've left the corporate world and I'm the owner of a home and gift shop in downtown Portland, I feel like I can act out my "crazy color lady" impulses when I need to. Bright yellow pants? Why not? Giant red-orange tent dress? Of course!

LGC: WHICH ONE OF YOUR SENSES, ASIDE FROM SIGHT, DO YOU MOST ASSOCIATE WITH COLOR?

KVB: Hmm... this isn't a sense but I associate my breath and my pulse with color. Wait--I guess that could be smell, now that I think about it. I inhale deeply out in the forest, and of course, I smell green and brown. My pulse slows, my breath deepens.

LGC: HOW DOES COLOR PLAY A ROLE IN YOUR WORK?

The tagline of my shop, Woonwinkel, is "Everyday goods that shine bright". We carry home goods, furniture, and gifts by independent designers and small companies, but what really pulls everything together is color. Color can transform a mood and a home so we choose it with care. We love feeling jazzed by an eye-popping yellow ceramic vessel, or wrapping ourselves in a calming blush throw blanket. The neon sign in our window promises "color, color, color" and we definitely deliver.

LGC: WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU SAW LATELY THAT WAS COLOR CAPTIVATING?

KVB: I saw more proof that there's a common "pulse" of color in the world. I recently did a trend-forecasting exercise with a friend--a longtime color designer and academic--and I was amazed at how many commonalities we found in our work, despite living in separate countries and working in different industries for the last several years. This affirms for me that color really is more than just surface treatment. It's more than a seasonal trend that comes and goes quickly--it's actually emblematic of our time. So now I'm going to take that exercise one step further. I'm getting ready to do something I've never done before: crowdsource a forecast, digitally. On Woonwinkel's Instagram, I'm going to ask followers to send us images of color that they think will be important in the next decade. And over the next decade we're going to track the success (and the total bombs) of our own "professional" forecast and also the crowdsourced forecast. I can't wait to see the commonalities and differences.

LGC: WHO HAD THE BIGGEST COLOR INFLUENCE ON YOU?

KVB: My tastes were certainly influenced along the way by different artists like Joan Mitchell, Edvard Munch, and Willem de Kooning--I studied painting in college--but I think the biggest influence had to be my fellow color designers at Nike. Nike's a huge company so I was part of a veritable color army. I spent 23 years with that crew of talented designers, thinking about how color could motivate an athlete, create a competitive edge for a team, inspire a purchase. I learned how color has the power to attract and engage, to create an emotional connection. And I learned how to use color strategically in the marketplace through highly planned color merchandising.

photo: Ici by Joan Mitchell, oil on canvas 1992 Saint Louis Museum of Art — photo: *Ici* by Joan Mitchell, oil on canvas 1992 Saint Louis Museum of Art

LGC: WHAT COLOR CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE?

KVB: Commitment. When it comes to my own home I am THE SLOWEST shopper. I want to be SURE that I'm going to love it for a long time before I buy it, so I can sometimes become paralyzed by indecision. It's so much easier to make color decisions for other people or brands.

LGC: DO YOU HAVE A PHILOSOPHY YOU WORK BY?

KVB: Empower your team. I'm a very focused, independent work-horse who could probably easily slip into doing everything by myself, but thank goodness I learned early on that the best team manager is one who makes themselves almost obsolete. If each person on your team is empowered to function successfully without you, you, in turn, will succeed. This sure is serving me well in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic. We're scattered but still functioning. We're each learning new roles, and giving lots of trust, and keeping our little cogs (mostly) turning.