Pamela Kelly with Shelley Thompson - El Palacio Magazine

INTERVIEW
Pamela Kelly with Shelley Thompson
Translating Museum Treasures into Products
As the founder and director of the Museum of New Mexico
Foundation’s licensing program, Pamela Kelly helps to translate
treasures from the collection into products that are sold
across the country. El Palacio asked her to tell us more about
how the program operates, and about what makes New
Mexico collections attractive to manufacturers nationwide.
Thompson: What was your background before you started the
licensing program. And how did the licensing program begin
Kelly: The program was born from a combination of life history
and work experience. I am a third-generation Santa Fean
who gained a unique appreciation of
our state and its history by attending
cultural events and visiting our
museums. After I completed my
M.B.A., I was fortunate to work for
two innovative companies whose
mission respected and supported
ethnic communities and their environments.
My first job was with the
UK-based company The Body Shop.
Its founder, Anita Roddick, hired
me to research plants and herbs of
New Mexico as potential product
ingredients. We developed a line of
Photograph by Blair Clark
hair and skin care products using
blue corn purchased from Santa Clara Pueblo and a shampoo
using yerba de la negrita from a supplier in Arizona. This success
secured me a full-time position with the company, which
further taught me to appreciate the value traditional practices
can bring to new markets.
My next job was with Smith & Hawken, running their
expanding retail operation. Then I represented several major
accessory and home décor manufacturers, and developed
product for several of San Francisco’s home décor companies—Williams-Sonoma,
Cost Plus, Banana Republic, and
Chambers. Having worked with these international companies,
I started to think of home and what my skills sets could
offer my community and conceived the licensing program to
promote the museums’ collections.
Thompson: What are the goals of the licensing program
Kelly: The goals are the same as those of the foundation:
to promote and support the institutions that comprise the
Museum of New Mexico. The success can be judged on two
fronts: financial and promotional. Since the program’s inception
in 1998, it has contributed close to a million dollars to
the museum. And our efforts have generated countless articles
about the museums and their collections in newspapers and
magazines across the country.
Thompson: How do you go about interesting a manufacturer in
the program
Kelly: The business of securing new licenses involves five
steps: (1) researching a given market (rugs, furniture, lighting,
fabric, paper goods, etc.) to determine the major players;
(2) attending trade shows to see manufacturers’ products and
meet the principals; (3) reviewing the museum collections
to identify objects and/or designs that might fit into a given
manufacturer’s product look; (4) developing a product presentation
using museum-based objects; and (5) if I do a good job
on these tasks and manage to pique a manufacturer’s interest,
then we invite them to the museum to tour the collections.
When we enter into a partnership, we sign a license, design
product for curatorial review, manufacture the products,
introduce and promote them at appropriate trade shows, and
finally enjoy the receipt of royalties on sales of the products.
Thompson: Tell us about a favorite project that you
have worked on.
Kelly: In the summer of 2002 we approached Marshall Field’s,
the iconic Chicago-based department store, with the idea of
developing an exclusive home décor collection for their stores.
With their support, we identified seven partner manufacturers
to license designs from the museums and develop product.
In April 2003 we launched a 500-piece collection consisting
of upholstered and wood furniture, rugs, fabrics, bedding,
lighting, and accessories inspired by MNM objects and textiles.
In building this collection, we chose traditional furniture
24 El Palacio

Living room (Shonnard Chair in foreground),
Traditions Made Modern® Showroom, April 2004,
photograph by John Hall.
pieces and updated them for a modern audience. We also
did what comes naturally to New Mexicans: we layered on
ethnic influences through textiles, accent furniture pieces,
and decorative accessories. Traditions Made Modern®—the
name we chose to market the products under—was a huge
success, generating significant revenues and great publicity
for the museum.
The two best-selling pieces were the Manderfield Bed
and the Shonnard Chair, named for their original owners.
Philadelphia-born William Manderfield traveled west on the
Santa Fe Trail with the ornate Victorian bed strapped to his
covered wagon. Eugenie Shonnard, the New York–born, Paristrained
sculptress, came to New Mexico in the late 1920s and
brought with her some wonderful European furniture.
Thompson: What is the value of the MNM brand and how does
the licensing program contribute to and/or support our brand
attributes
Kelly: Branding is as critical to the program’s success as the
quality of products we offer. People need to know that what
you offer is both unique and of quality. The challenge and
pleasure I have with our licensing program is that we actually
have five brands: the Museum of New Mexico and the
four individual museums. As such, depending on my targeted
licensee, I will promote one or all.
Thompson: How do New Mexico’s unique history and culture
make a program like this possible
Kelly: Despite what some in the general public might believe,
New Mexico has never been solely about cowboys, Indians,
and outlaws. It has also been about explorers, artists, and traders
who brought cultural and design influences from Europe,
Spain, Mexico, Latin America, and Asia into this place of
beautiful landscapes and interesting Native communities. As
a result, New Mexico has long stood at the crossroads of culture,
creating and defining yet a new aesthetic paradigm that
mixes the Old World with the New World. It’s a very appealing
concept to modern designers and retail establishments who
respond to consumers’ desire to bring meaning, beauty, and
continuity into their homes.
Today, as people across the country have become more
casual and nomadic, moving and living in more than one city,
design rules have relaxed, and furniture design and interior
decoration have shifted from the “suited collection” of pieces
that match, to a new trend, one focused more on how people
actually live. Many people inherit a nice family piece or two
and over time add other pieces bought at antique stores or
on trips, or that round out a collection. The result is a more
eclectic home. New Mexicans long ago perfected that eclectic
look. I trace this effortless style and confidence to the historic
trade routes that crisscrossed New Mexico (Native trade in and
around Chaco, the Camino Real, Santa Fe Trail, the AT&SF
Railroad, and even Route 66), delivering goods from around
the world that residents here simply added to Native and
Spanish traditional pieces.
Thompson: How did the Old World and the New come together
in New Mexico to create a unique style
Kelly: New Mexico’s unique style is a blending of European
style and Native design motifs translated initially with relatively
simple tools. The result: a beguiling, rustic interpretation
of European design mixed and melded with traditional
Native American motifs. Trade goods delivered to Santa Fe
from Mexico on the Camino Real were highly refined and representative
of European, Mexican, and Asian design traditions.
Native design was equally refined and elegant, but manifested
itself in a more spare and highly graphic manner. Because this
combination of design traditions was initially interpreted or
made real by artisans using relatively simple tools, a whole
new style emerged—one rooted in a European design tradition,
translated through Native eyes, and/or made manifest by
local artisans.

INTERVIEW
Thompson: Why do our collections appeal to manufacturers
What do they come here to find
Kelly: West of the Mississippi, the collections of the four
museums are unrivaled in the breadth and depth of their
offerings. The 23,000-piece textile collection at the Museum
of International Folk Art is considered one of the top ten ethnic
collections in the world. The Museum of Indian Arts &
Culture’s Native textile, ceramic, and basketry collections offer
a wealth of bold and graphic pattern inspiration to contemporary
designers. Countless museums and books feature historic
English or French furniture, but very few feature the unique
blend of European, Mexican, and Native design found in the
furniture collections at the New Mexico History Museum and
MOIFA. Our furniture licensees find inspiration not just in
the overall silhouette of a piece, but also in the hardware, the
manner of construction, or the patina of aged wood.
A storyboard from the design process shows the “Yucca” fabric from the
Shelter collection by Designtex with the Pima baskets from MIAC that inspired it.
Photograph courtesy of Designtex.
Kelly: Contemporary design is about clean lines, bold graphics,
and elegant simplicity. Interestingly, our best resource of
such design is found at MIAC in the basketry, textile, and
ceramic collections. Several manufacturers/licensees have
developed beautiful contemporary objects from MIAC pieces.
Nambé developed a series of leaded glass vases and metal
alloy platters inspired by Pueblo pottery and basketry.
Designtex—a textile and wall-covering manufacturer selling
to the commercial market—developed a gorgeous and sophisticated
collection called Shelter. And West Elm—a division
of Williams-Sonoma that sells furniture, rugs, lighting, and
bedding—has developed a series of contemporary wool rugs
inspired by basketry and textile designs at MIAC.
Nambé Lead Crystal Vase, photograph courtesy of Nambé.
Thompson: Many museums sell reproductions of objects in their
collections, but that is not the focus of your program. Why not
Kelly: MNM represents the art, culture, and history of the state,
and many of the objects in our collections represent living and
thriving traditions. Out of respect for the fact that so many
New Mexicans still make their living creating and selling work
based upon these traditions, we do not sell reproductions. The
shop buyers can get the “real thing” from local artists.
Thompson: Is there some object or collection that you just adore
and keep hoping a manufacturer will fall in love with, though the
match has not yet been made
Kelly: The ethnic dress collection at MOIFA is fantastic. My
dream would be to partner with a haute couture designer to
develop a fashion collection. Can’t you just see it Models
of all races walking down a Paris runway, wearing stunning
fashions inspired by clothing from Palestine, Macedonia,
Guatemala, India, and New Mexico It’s just one dimension of
what we have to offer, and why I continue to love my job. The
opportunities are endless. n
Thompson: How do our collections provide inspiration for products
that appeal to contemporary buyers
Shelley Thompson is the director of marketing and outreach for the
Museum Resources Division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.
She interviewed Nicolasa Chávez for the winter 2012 issue of El Palacio.