15 minute read
SPOTLIGHT ON
ALEX K. MASON
The turreted building on South Main Street in Versailles is the heart of Alex K. Mason’s international business.
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T h e building at 160 South Main Street in Versailles draws the eye. It looks like a wedding cake, three stories of white brick, a ring of seven windows at its middle, a turret at its top. Big, bowed display windows fank the front door. At night, they become a warmly lit stage for sprightly chairs dressed in cheerful upholstery fabrics.
It’s an enticing storefront, which makes it easy to understand why shoppers are dismayed to read “By Appointment Only” on the door of Ferrick Mason/Alex K. Mason Studio.
“People ask ‘Are you going out of business?’ ” said artist and textile designer Alex K. Mason.
Tat’s not likely. As it turns out, 160 South Main is not a typical smalltown storefront but instead the low-profle headquarters of a high-profle upholstery and wallpaper company selling directly to designers.
In its relatively short history, Ferrick Mason has become a darling of interior designers, garnering dozens of mentions and stories in glossy magazines such as House Beautiful, Architectural Digest, and Southern Living.
MUCH BUSTLE IN SMALL SHOWROOM
Inside the small Versailles showroom, everything in a front sitting area is upholstered in fabrics designed by Mason. Samples of her upholstery and wallpaper — a newer product — line the walls. Each year Mason adds three new designs to her collection and discontinues three. “But sometimes I get carried away,” she said with a laugh. “For next year I’ve already created four.”
Beyond a cluster of ofce desks and computers where she and her four full-time and one part-time staf work, shelves hold bolts of upholstery fabric, shipped from as far away as Italy. Tey soon will be sent to one of the 15 design showrooms that represent Ferrick Mason in such fashion- forward cities as New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, London, Singapore, Vancouver, and Toronto. (Te nearest showroom to Kentucky is DeCioccio in Cincinnati.) At the back of the building, wallpaper, printed to order, emerges from a massive digital printer.
FROM CALIFORNIA TO KENTUCKY
Mason brought her company to Kentucky in 2015. She had started it with business partner Brian Ferrick — known for his ability to get textile designers up and running — in 2008 when she and her family lived in L.A. But California’s high cost of living stifed the company’s growth, and so Mason bought all but 5 percent of Ferrick’s 50 percent share, came back to her native Kentucky, and bought 160 South Main, an 1860s building that had been untouched for 30 years. Locals applauded the renovation. “Te city of Versailles loves us,” she said.
FROM PAINTING TO TEXTILES
Mason didn’t set out to be a textile designer. Her frst love was, and is, painting, which she studied in college, earning a bachelor’s degree in studio art at the University of Vermont and a master’s in painting from the Pratt Institute. “Painting is where my true passion is, but I love this too,” she said. “If I had to pick one, it would probably be painting, but it doesn’t pay the bills like this does.”
‘‘ MY DESIGNS ARE A BIT WHIMSICAL AND COLORFUL.” — ALEX K. MASON
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ALEX K. MASON
Mason’s passion for the natural world inspires her color-rich designs.
Left, Mason displays a sample of her wallpaper. Right, a Ferrick Mason sample book features wallpaper and grasscloth collections. Making a living is part of what pushed her toward textiles. For one, Albert, her then future husband, pointed out that “starving” artist was a title to be avoided. Ten, people who knew the industry began to tell Mason that elements of her paintings would translate well to textiles. So she headed to the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles and studied textile design.
DESIGNS FUELED BY NATURE
Mason’s designs are infused with her personality and her passion for the natural world. As she likes to say, “Flora, fauna, and color fuel my work.”
But her interpretations are contemporary. “I’m not a realistic painter — I’m not doing landscapes, still lifes, or people.” As she told one design magazine in an interview, “My designs are a bit whimsical and colorful. I’m defnitely a maximalist when it comes to color and pattern.”
With breezy brushstrokes, she loosely interprets vines, blossoms, seed pods, and leaves. Other designs are more geometric
ALEX K. MASON
Above, shelves contain bolts of upholstery. Right, Mason reviews current wallpaper designs while one of her newest patterns prints from the machine behind her.
and employ small elements from her paintings — such as piles of crisscrossed color that resemble hieroglyphs. A design called Albert, named for her husband, echoes pointillist painters with its tightly spaced, brightly colored dots.
Designs are ofen named for family members and important places. Tere’s even a nod to one family dog, Whiskey, although there isn’t one yet for the other, Pickle.
Each design is ofered in varied color combinations. Many earlier designs, from the California years, lean toward blues and greens, the cool colors Mason calls her “go-tos.” Te colors, combined with her lighthearted style, made her designs popular in children’s rooms and other casual spaces. But the return to Kentucky has caused her to shif toward warmer colors, a nod to the region’s design aesthetic. A good example is a wallpaper she created called Tobacco, which features overlapping golden tobacco leaves on a metallic paper.
“Tere’s been an evolution as we moved to Kentucky in trying to get into the adult rooms of the house,” she said. “I’m instinctively drawn to blue and green, but I think I can push other colors in textiles in a unique way to give more variety and depth.”
One of her newest designs, Woodland, is a good example with its butterfies and mushrooms in shades of brown and gold.
Nature is at play in her work in another way. Sustainability is a company value, and so now most of her fabrics are created through digital printing, which has fewer environmental downsides. Te linen and cotton used for upholstery fabrics
‘‘THIS MOVE HAS BEEN INCREDIBLE FOR US.”
— ALEX K. MASON, ON RETURNING TO KENTUCKY
ALEX K. MASON
A painting in progress shows Mason’s fondness for blue.
are from sustainable sources; her wallpaper is printed to order to eliminate waste and the need for warehousing. She buys furniture for her showroom from resale shops or online auctions and has it upholstered in her fabrics, a way to recycle and save money.
ENGAGED IN ART COMMUNITY
Although her work schedule has kept her from connecting with the arts community as much as she would have liked, she was part of two art projects during the pandemic. In early 2021, mid-century modern furnishings collector Lucy Jones and interior designer Isabel Ladd designed a themed room for Lexington’s 21C Hotel based on the popular Netfix series “Te Queen’s Gambit,” which was set in Lexington. Te pair turned to Mason to create a custom wallpaper for the room, which Mason turned around in two weeks. She used a knight chess piece as the design’s focal point, which wedded the show’s chess theme to the Toroughbred industry.
She also was one of three area artists featured in fall of 2021’s “Informed by Nature” exhibition at the Headley- Whitney Museum.
BACK TO SMALL-TOWN LIFE
Returning to Kentucky has had many upsides. Mason, her husband, and their two daughters live in a house they own, which they couldn’t have aforded in California. It’s around the corner from the ofce, which makes the commute short for her and Albert. While she works downstairs or in her second-foor painting studio, he can work across the hall in his ofce on digital production projects for flm and television. Tey can monitor the one-bedroom AirBnB they operate on the second foor, where afernoon sun beams into rooms featuring Mason’s art and wallpapers and furniture bedecked in Ferrick Mason upholstery. When Pickle and Whiskey — both adopted from the Woodford Humane Society — need a walk, she can run home and do that.
Most importantly, the move has placed Mason minutes away from her parents, who live on Big Sink Pike, and other relatives. “I wanted to be near them and have a small-town life,” said Mason, who was born and raised in Lexington.
Her design called Lexington, with its dogwood blossoms, reminds her of how it felt to be so far from her family in Kentucky. “I was feeling homesick when I designed it.
ALEX K. MASON
Left, an “inspiration board” displays clippings and other material. Right, a window sill contains books about design, art, plants, and birds that Mason uses as references.
Mason lives so close to work she can easily dash home to walk Pickle, left, and Whiskey. Tere are no dogwoods in California.”
But that time on the West Coast was essential for her company’s success. “When we moved here, we were already established. Magazine editors knew who we were, and we were in a lot of showrooms. If I had tried to start the company in Kentucky, it would have not been the same.”
But thanks to its fortuitous timing, the homecoming has been like one of her paintings, which, the artist says, are all about “abundance and movement and change.”
“Tis move,” she said, “has been incredible for us.” KM
For more information, or to see Mason’s paintings and prints available for purchase, visit ferrickmason.com.
Keeneland dazzled on Keeneland dazzled on the international racing the international racing stage as it hosted the stage as it hosted the Breeders’ Cup World Breeders’ Cup World Championships Championships
V V ibrant fall colors and festively decorated grounds provided the backdrop Nov. 4-5 as Keeneland presented the Breeders’ Cup World Championships for the third time.
T e two days culminated with undefeated Flightline’s tour de force in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in which the Kentucky-bred son of Tapit defeated a top-quality but overmatched f eld by 8¼ lengths. A sell-out Saturday crowd of 45,973 responded with a prolonged standing ovation.
From the start the 2022 Breeders’ Cup delivered unforgettable performances. Four of them came from horses that had won stakes races during Keeneland’s fall race meet: FanDuel Juvenile victor Forte (Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity), Distaff winner Malathaat (Juddmonte Spinster), NetJets Juvenile Fillies winner Wonder Wheel (Darley Alcibiades), and the Qatar Racing Sprint winner Caravel (Franklin).
Malathaat’s Distaff — her fourth stakes victory at Keeneland — produced an impossibly close f nish while a poignant Dirt Mile saw Cody’s Wish battle Cyberknife the length of the stretch to prevail by a head.
European invaders once again proved to be formidable: Godolphin won a record four races, three with trainer Charlie Appleby. T e Coolmore ownership group and trainer Aidan O’Brien also won three races.
With racing so formful and outstanding, bettors responded by wagering a record $189 million. KM KM
Above, fans cheered as Flightline soared alone to the fnish line. Right, the winner’s circle couldn’t contain everyone who has an ownership interest in the Classic winner.
Cody’s Wish (center photo) won the Dirt Mile as his namesake, Cody Dorman (above), watched. The teenager with a rare genetic disorder met the colt several years ago on a Keeneland Make-A-Wish farm tour and the two bonded. Malathaat (outside) won a nail-biting, three-horse fnish in the Distaff with Blue Stripe (center) second and Clairiere third.
COADY PHOTOGRAPHY
ANNE M. EBERHARDT COADY PHOTOGRAPHY
Splendid Showing
ANNE M. EBERHARDT
Elite Power stormed to a decisive victory in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, giving trainer Bill Mott (left) his second win on the day. Mott also took the Dirt Mile. Juddmonte’s Garrett O’Rourke (right) accepted the trophy from Sheikh Fahad Al-Thani.
Wind gusts on Saturday made hat wearing precarious.
HERALD-LEADER/KEN WEAVER ANNE M. EBERHARDT COADY PHOTOGRAPHY
Confdently ridden by Ryan Moore, Tuesday (above left) won the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Moore and Coolmore trainer Aidan O’Brien (above) teamed up for two other victories. Modern Games’ success in the Mile made it three for trainer Charlie Appleby (left) and Godolphin.
Splendid Showing
Forte found his best stride to pass previously undefeated Cave Rock in the Juvenile to highlight Future Stars Friday.
The 5-year-old mare Caravel (above) upset the boys in the Turf Sprint and gave red-hot jockey Tyler Gaffalione a second Breeders’ Cup victory. Gaffalione had earned his frst the day before riding Wonder Wheel (above right) in the Juvenile Fillies.
Keeneland accommodated Breeders’ Cup connections and racing fans in luxury chalets (right) as well as in the grandstand and clubhouse.
CHAD HARMON
SILAS WALKER
Splendid Showing
Godolphin’s homebred Rebel’s Romance (right) set a course record to win the Turf.
Goodnight Olive (below), who won for the f rst time at Keeneland a year ago, returned to the scene of that triumph to add the Filly & Mare Sprint.
SKIP DICKSTEIN
CASEY LAUGHTER Wearing Breeders’ Cup purple, Keeneland’s gate crew (above) prepared to welcome the f eld for a Friday race.
Victoria Road (left) prevailed over Silver Knott to capture the Juvenile Turf.
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