One of our staffers recently came across a local company, called Little Orange Room, owned by Anne-Lise Hurn, that screen prints kids Seattle neighborhood tshirts, and has recently released a Laurelhurst neighborhood tshirt, pictured above.
The description of the tshirt says:
"l is for laurelhurst" tee features a hand drawn image of sailboats celebrating the Laurelhurst Boat Club, a group that has been sailing and competing off of the shores of the Laurelhurst Beach Club since the 1920's.You can check out all her neighborhood tshirts with clever and cute designs here.
Laurelhurst tee is a made in America, 100% cotton, blue shirt. Hand printed with orange, environmentally safe, water-based ink.
Anne-Lise was as an art major at the UW, where she took a few classes in printmaking and wanted to get back into that after graduating. She started her company when her son was born two years ago, to be able to work from home and use her background working previously as a stylist and Visual Merchandising Manager for Nordstrom and Anthropologie.
Anne-Lise, who prints the shirts in the basement of her Ballard home told us "When I’m not sewing, I’m silk screen printing colorful shirts for kids to proudly strut around in at the playground."
Her idea to do Seattle neighborhood tshirts came about when she and her husband who are originally from Redmond and Mukilteo "thought it was kind of hilarious how proud Seattlelites were of their pocket neighborhoods."
She adds "I also love learning the history of the area – how it evolved, what sets it apart and why people love their neighborhoods so much."
To come up with the theme and look for each tshirt, Anne-Lise says she usually finds out what sets the neighborhood apart, through reading neighborhood blogs, and investigating the history of the area.
"Some of the designs are less historical and more fun-fact. Like Bruce Lee for Capitol Hill or the Parakeets for Wedgwood. It has to be an image a kid would like as well as his grandparents. Bars, boring buildings and 'a view of Mt. Rainier,' are types of things I stray away from. I like to be pretty specific" Anne-Lise told us.
She said she sells a lot to people who have moved away and miss Seattle. Her tshirts are available at Clover Toys, Portage Bay Goods, Namas Candy, Nube Green and Trophy Cupcakes.
The tshirts are organic, USA made, hand-printed shirts using eco-friendly inks and she says "the customer pays for those qualities" with the tshirts selling for $22 each.
She said her business, which also sells custom home goods, including throw pillows and baby blankets will be featured in next month's issue of Seattle Magazine.
Go here for more information on the company and all the merchandise available.
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