At The Table With: Kelsey Rose Williams
3 questions for the Eames archivist, writer, and architecture expert
Kelsey Rose Williams is one of those internet friends that I haven’t yet met in real life but I’m 100% sure that we’ll click right away when it finally happens. We share a love of modernist homes, the ‘60s, Alexander and Susan Girard, and reading about all of it (among many, many other things.) For the last 8 years Kelsey has worked for the Eames Office, most recently as the photography archivist. She’s also a freelance writer and researcher with an encyclopedic knowledge of art and design that I would die for—whenever I’m taking an architectural tour I always wish I was on the Kelsey Rose Williams version of it.
Kelsey has lived all over the US (including in LA, for which she put together a driving tour of modern houses called “The Not-Trespassing Tour of Modern Homes in Los Angeles” that I highly recommend) but just earlier this year moved to Toulouse, France. If I’m being honest, I’m extremely jealous.
When I sent the questions over to Kelsey for this newsletter she replied that she was “not great at being brief or mysterious”, which made me laugh. It’s what I really love about what Kelsey shares, though—she is thorough and enthusiastic and invites us all to follow her down a rabbit hole (one that’s usually both aesthetically pleasing and interesting.)
I asked Kelsey 3 questions:
Ali LaBelle: Imagine perfect happiness. What does it smell, taste, feel and sound like?
Kelsey Rose Williams:
— Smell: Woodsy amber
— Taste: Un éclair au café !
— Feel: A really divine woven textile. I’m a sensitive, visual person, and when I am very drawn to something, I crave being able to touch it. I have to really control myself in museums! Plus, my childhood and teen years were spent obsessing over a possible future as a fashion designer, so I have a definite soft spot for textiles.
— Sound: ABBA
AL: Give us a rec!
KRW: I’m a sucker for biographical non-fiction books about modern era designers, architects, writers, and artists. I love reading the people-centric part of history—about how people came to be and how they were interconnected. My all-time favorite book is Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel. By the end of reading it, I felt like I deeply knew its main characters (Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Joan Mitchell, Grace Hartigan) because of how well Mary researched and how eloquent her storytelling was. She really transported me—for an entire summer—to the 20th-century era of abstract painting in New York City. Tangled in the lives of these enigmatic and thrilling women.
But! I realize that it’s an outrageous recommendation because it is 900+ pages long! So, if you want an easier substitute, try the New Angle Voice Podcast. It is created by the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, who has a wonderful chapter of writings called Pioneering Women of American Architecture. New Angle is essentially the audio version and it focuses on women such as Ada Louise Huxtable (architecture critic), Julia Morgan (architect of the Hearst Castle), Florence Knoll, and Ray Eames.
(Editor’s note: Kelsey’s Bookshop is a treasure trove of art and design book recs — peruse the list here.)
AL: It’s a table for two and your dinner date can be anyone dead or alive. Who do you invite?
KRW: My goodness, I’m going to choose Ray Eames because it’s the most starkly obvious choice for me. Ray because I feel like I know her personally, after having the luck to massively dive into her life during the past eight years in my work for the Eames family and as the Eames Office Archivist. At the same time, I understand Ray as being deeply private and I have so many unanswered questions about her! What was her experience of being a childless woman working seven-days-a-week in a design company for 40 years, in an era when that wasn’t standard? As she was finishing her six years of abstract painting studies with Hans Hoffmann in NYC in the 1930s, her goal was to move to California to build herself a house. What did that ideal house look like? Did the Eames House turn out anything like that dream, or was it vastly different? What, truly, was her very favorite hue on the planet? She had a distinct eye for color. I’m sure whatever color she exclaimed was her favorite…I would probably have an impossible time even imagining it! What was it like to be close friends with Lee Krasner, Alexander and Susan Needham Girard, Josef and Anni Albers, etc.? Deep in her soul, what were her most cherished moments of herself, and of her life? If she could have dinner with someone dead or alive, who would it be? Could I commission her to design me an outfit—or even just a silk neck scarf?
As you can see, I have a tough time being brief, but I think Ray was like that in spirit too. I think we would finish off dinner by having a delicious coffee éclair, us toasting them up toward the sky while smiling.
Thank you so much to Kelsey for letting me pry into her brain from afar—I hope to do it in person someday but in the meantime I’ll keep making my way through her book list.
You can follow Kelsey on Instagram at @kelseyyrose and read her writings and more at kelseyrosewilliams.com.
x
Ali