Conni Reed’s Jet-Setting Essentials

Since leaving the corporate world in 2005, Conni Reed has been promoting happier living with her lifestyle brand,Consuela. The playful line of clothing, bags, and home decor echoes rich hues and textures from Reed’s world travels. This fall, Consuela’s signature collection is ready to take flight with its luxurious Italian leather bags and punchy color schemes. Reed let us see what’s always inside her Consuela carry-on.

• iPad: I am addicted to my iPad even more than my phone—I’m never without it. I use Evernote for photos, sketch apps, calendar, music, etc. I am a believer.
• LePlume and Copic markers and sketchbook: I love to doodle, especially with markers. The colors and tips available are endless.
• Reed Krakoff sunglasses: Acrylic aviators with gold.
• Small Consuela crossbody that I use as a wallet: I cart around a ton of stuff and love to be able to pull the essentials out and wear hands-free whenever I’m on the run.
• Pashmina I got in a little market in India: It’s amazing how comforting and warm the texture is, even though it’s super lightweight and doesn’t take up much space.

DO-HO SUH AT THE CONTEMPORARY AUSTIN

On our short list: the Do-Ho Suh solo exhibition at The Contemporary Austin (it runs through January 11). Showing at both the Jones Center and Laguna Gloria, the evocative work of Korean-born renowned sculptor and installation artist Do-Ho Suh examines the layered dimensions of personal versus public space, globalism, and displacement through architectural structures, documentary films, and videos. At the Jones Center, guests are encouraged to wander upstairs through brightly colored, transparent large-scale installations—replicas of Do-Ho Suh’s apartment spaces from a single building in New York City—and downstairs in the dark among light-box fixtures, made entirely of polyester fabric and stainless steel, from his Specimen Series (2013). At Laguna Gloria, Do-Ho Suh’s Net-Work (2010) is refabricated. The sheeny “fishing net,” comprising thousands of tiny gold and silver human figures, recollects the nets that Do-Ho Suh observed stretched across the shorelines of Japanese seaside villages. As guests explore the architectural settings of Do-Ho Suh’s nomadic past, they begin to meditate on their own notions of “home.”

A REIMAGINED BLUES BAR

Billy Hankey and Colette Dein knew they had a legacy to uphold when they moved into the space that previously housed East Austin’s staple blues bar, Legendary White Swan. Named in homage to a Muddy Waters song, their bar, King Bee Lounge (which opened August 1), adds its own charisma to the history its predecessors have left behind. Some things haven’t changed: there’s still live blues on Monday nights from the Little Elmore Reed Blues Band, and a section of the bar has been left untouched, with old concert posters and other remnants from the Legendary White Swan. But other details have changed for the better—like the lounge’s redesigned cedar bar and warm accent lighting. Hankey, former bar manager at Bar Congress, and Dein, former operations manager of Second Bar and Kitchen, want to provide a relaxing getaway cocktails and food, but at much more enticing prices. We’re certain King Bee’s curated wine list, impeccable cocktails, and delicious made-in-house pizza menu will do the trick.

A NEW NEST

After losing his parents to cancer, Brian Allen-Aguilar vowed to spend the remainder of his life doing solely what he loved. “Life is too short. I want to do woodwork,” he says. A self-taught craftsman, Allen-Aguilar, owner of Eagle’s Nest Artistry, approaches his carpentry organically. “I’m fascinated by the natural figure of wood. The way the grain turns, swirls, and fans out,” says Allen-Aguilar. “Most wood is either dyed or strained rather than allowing natural variations to come out.” Utilizing wood that he’s harvested either from local suppliers or a friend’s ranch in Kerrville, Allen-Aguilar works with the organic lines and blemishes of his materials, creating sleek hardwood tables with a contemporary edge. His work can be found at Urbanspace Interiors, Primitives Furniture, and on display at Houndstooth Coffee on North Lamar. He’s also working on new tables and art to showcase at E.A.S.T. in November.