Internationally renowned designer and textile artist Kaffe Fassett was born in San Francisco in 1937, but his early life was formed by Big Sur. One of five children to Bill and Lolly Fassett, who established Nepenthe Restaurant in 1949, he was raised, not only by a creative and pioneering family, but also by the influence of, inarguably, one of the most spectacular places in the world.
The result seems to be an inheritance of artistic talent among all Fassett offspring and their children, as well as a deep appreciation for color and form, and a true sense of place. What they didn't get from nature was filled in by nurture through their mother and grandmother, matriarch Lolly Fassett.
"I wish I knew what it is about color," said Fassett, 72, who returns home this month to lecture and teach about color and inspiration. "I used to love it when I was growing up; my mother had a great sense of color and did wonderfully dramatic things with it. If she were going to someone's house for lunch, she would grab a piece of cellophane and gather up shocking pink geraniums and surround them with greens. She made color celebratory.
"It showed in the way she wore her jewelry; big brooches of a red stone. And she always wore big, bold patterns. She was a huge woman, but she had a great style. She carried it absolutely beautifully. She had panache. She'd wear an enormous print that was shocking and kind of modern on this big body of hers. She was very shy in some ways, but was
fearless of wearing bright colors."
Kaffe was going to be a serious painter. In fact, he can remember the defining moment when he sold an early painting to art collector Drue Heinz. It was a huge still life, a triptych of a table scene. And he noticed, while attending a party of hers, that she had placed it on a prominent wall among a Renoir, a Morandi and a host of other fabulous paintings.
"What's interesting," said Kaffe, "is what she said to me. She saw I was wearing a knitted sweater and asked where I got it. When I told her I made it, she said, 'Kaffe, you have to be careful not to dabble in the craft if you're going to be a serious painter.' Well this was a red rag to a bull. I took it seriously, and I was frightened. I had to be a serious painter and be commercial. But I loved textiles.
"When I first started to knit, it made me want to get up in the morning. It's utterly, sensuously enticing to me. Painting is enticing, but it's always an uphill slog to finish it. I'm always a bit nervous that maybe I'm not up to it. But I'm never nervous about textiles. I'm absolutely confident that whatever I do, it's as beautiful as I can make it at that moment. I feel absolutely relaxed and total enjoyment. Textiles are me; I knew, early on, I had found something for me."
Although Kaffe carries his Big Sur connection with him, he left for London on what was intended as a three-month holiday and extended it to more than 40 years. Big Sur is his heritage; England is home to a man who began knitting well before Hollywood made it hip.
"In 1988," he said, "I attended a huge party given by the American Embassy in England, so the Queen could greet the high achievers. Somehow I got on that list. There was I, the knitter and needle pointer. She met me, and I was introduced as a man who has had an exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. She said, 'Oh yes; what of?' When I said, 'Knitting,' she said, 'I can do that,' and she turned on her heel and walked away. Knitting doesn't impress certain people at all."
What Kaffe loves about knitting and why he thinks he took to it so fantastically is that he believes it can genuinely change someone's life. Knitting, he said, is a life-enhancing activity that comes out of your soul. Through it, you can express the deepest parts of yourself, can take those very poetic feelings that you have about the world, make them into a textile and give it back to the world. Knitting, he said, is very simple, technically, and yet through it, you can be expressing the depth of a Shakespearian play.
Which is what Kaffe intends to convey through his workshops: that amazing emotions can go into simple textiles through color.
"In my lectures," he said, "I plan to talk about all the influences where I get turned on by color and basic shapes. It's the damnedest thing. It might begin with the very basic shapes you would find on a manhole or a brick, and how you start to make that into a gorgeous opera of a quilt. It's about how you take inspiration and use it. People who would never pick up a needle of any kind come to my lectures, but they're interested in color and inspiration. It's a wonderful thing to be able to pass on a life-enhancing craft."
Today, Kaffe is considered by many to be one of the most influential designers in textile arts.
"He literally designs his garments on the needle," said his niece, artist and writer Erin Lee Gafill, who lives with her family at Nepenthe. "Best known for his sense of color and exuberant pattern, he has published more than 15 books, which have sold millions; designed more than 400 fabric designs, and has seen his collection of hand-knits on permanent tour around the world for more than a decade. From paintings, sweaters, tapestries and ceramics to mosaics, quilts and fabrics, his works have influenced millions of home crafters. Designers and everyday craftspeople alike keep his books on their coffee tables as reference, and crowds throng to his slideshows and lectures in countries all over the world."
