SAILMAINE GETS YOU OUT ON THE WATER
STYLE FOR EVERYDAY AND EVERYONE
FIVE ART SHOWS TO EXPLORE
PORTLAND'S
CITY MAGAZINE
SEPTEMBER 2016
Bold Move
The Portland Museum of Art
opens its season with new work
and a fresh perspective
Decked Out
Geoff Minte rescues a historic
triple-decker on the Eastern Prom
TURIN
+ DAVID
serves what you really
want to eat
PORTLAND FIRE
DEPARTMENT ON:
6
BEST BREAKFAST
SPOTS IN TOWN
75 Market Street
Suite 203
207-772-3373
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TIES THAT BIND
ON WEISS (left):
Nicholson & Nicholson
shirt, Judith, shopjudith.
com. First Responder bow
tie, Bowline Co., bowlineco.
com. Jeans, Bliss,
blissboutiques.com.
ON KLOOSTERMAN
(right): Jesse Kamm
Shirt, Judith, shopjudith.
com. Caribou, self tie,
Bowline Co., bowlineco.
com. AG trousers, Bliss,
blissboutiques.com.
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TAKING A BOW
Laura J. Kloosterman and LK Weiss—
owners of Bowline Co.—craft bow ties
for every day and everyone.
by Jen DeRose Photography by Nicole Wolf Styling by Carrie Montgomery Photographed at J’s Oyster
I
n her fourth-floor office over the rooftops
of Congress Street, LK Weiss reaches out
across a table—an antique door topped
with glass and mounted on modern steel
legs—to shake hands. It’s a Thursday afternoon,
and she looks both cool and classic, dressed in
jeans, a short-sleeve button-down shirt, and the
borrowed-from-the-boys pièce de résistance: a
white cotton bow tie with delicate black polka
dots. Her partner in life and in business, Laura
J. Kloosterman, is beside her, wearing jeans,
a pale blue button-down, and on her hip, her
afternoon charge, the two-year-old girl she
nannies for, EV.
During business hours, Weiss is the graphic
artist and owner behind the Portland Designer,
with a client roster that includes L.L.Bean,
Sea Bags, and the Belted Cow Company.
Kloosterman is a devoted nanny to four young
children under the age of seven. When they’re
not at their day jobs, the couple is toiling away
on the tailored-to-perfection, unisex bow ties
sold by their company, Bowline (pronounced
not like the knot, but rather bo-line) Co. “Bow
ties are a way to dress up but not wear a regular
tie, which is seen as sort of corporate and stiff,”
says Weiss. “Bow ties are more fun, classic, and
rare. They make you stand out.”
Using an antique sewing machine at their East
Bayside home, in a small loft that the couple
refers to as the bow tie tree house, the pair
“BOW TIES ARE
MORE FUN,
CLASSIC, AND
RARE. THEY MAKE
Y O U S TA N D O U T. ”
stiches, cuts, and irons 19 different styles of
bow ties. In a nine-step collaborative process,
they hand-make the ties in patterns that range
from polka dots to plaid. Each is named after
a place in Maine, from the light blue cotton
Harpswell, with an anchor motif, to the buffalo
plaid Jackman. A few are upcycled from
unconventional materials such as L.L.Bean
flannel pajamas and a blaze orange hunting
vest. They also have a neon yellow design
inspired by first responders’ jackets—part of a
charity collaboration with the nonprofit Never
Forget Project, which provides aid to New York
City Fire Department fire fighters and families
affected by 9/11.
Each finished piece is wrapped in crisp tissue
paper, secured with a piece of wax-tipped
marine rope tied in a bowline knot (naturally),
and placed in a kraft paper box along with
Weiss’s original illustration outlining how
to properly tie it. In addition to the actual
making, the pair does all of the branding—
from production to photography. They sell their
wares at David Wood Clothiers, local shows
such as Picnic Music and Arts Festival and the
MECA Holiday Sale, and in their online shop,
which they manage and maintain.
The idea for the business came two years ago,
after the couple attended a men’s fashion show
where bow ties went down the runway. There
was one problem with them: “They looked like
they were made out of Grandpa’s drapes,” says
Weiss. When the pair searched for other styles,
everything felt too retro. So they decided to
make their own. “We wanted to do something
a little bit different,” says Kloosterman. “Make
our bow ties modern and super-styled, and we
also wanted to target more women.” Bowline
ties are thinner, sharper, and more tailored than
some of the floppier, more traditional styles,
so they work on both male and female frames.
(And even on well-dressed dogs, who often
sport the look when their owners are headed
down the aisle.) “A bow tie can be for every day
and for any outfit,” adds Weiss, who suggests
pairing one with a pair of shorts for a guy or a
cardigan for a girl.
SEPTEMBER // 2016
77
(clockwise from top left)
ON THE HALF SHELL
Bosco Jewelry rings and bracelets,
South Street Linen,
southstreetlinen.com.
TAKING A STAND
Bobi tank, scarf, Wilt pants,
Zane, shopzane.com. Selkyrie
Design ring, Portland Dry Goods
Co., portlanddrygoods.com. La
Molla bracelet, South Street Linen,
southstreetlinen.com.
FIT TO BE TIED
Brooklin bow tie, Bowline Co.,
bowlineco.com.
Like one of their bowties, knotted together
in its center, their relationship is very much
entwined. Weiss’s office shows just how
enmeshed it is: near a ’70s-era maroon and
magenta shag rug is a child-size table and pair
of chairs for art lessons that Weiss gives to the
seven-year-old Kloosterman nannies for; tacked
up on the wall behind a counter-height drafting
desk are numerous original sketches by Weiss,
78 OLD PORT
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which hang next to finger paintings by one of
the kids. The pair is so in sync that on a recent
fabric-buying trip to New York’s Garment
District, they split up at a textile warehouse
to cover more ground. When they met up an
hour later, they had each selected the same three
fabrics.
When they have a rare day off, the couple
enjoys boating, paddle boarding, and road
biking (part of Weiss’s recent training for
her first Tri for a Cure, in which she was
the eleventh top fundraiser out of 1,200
participants). But because Kloosterman’s job
means she’s very physically active—she wore
a Fitbit to work one day and clocked five
miles pacing in circles trying to get kids to fall
asleep—she tends to decompress at home, while
Weiss—who sits at a desk all day—tends to do
errands or run the Back Cove after work.
In the office, Weiss waters one of the happy
succulents on her desk, while Kloosterman
attends to EV, who has finished a coloring and
a muffin. “When we’re at a show or somewhere
out selling, people come up to us and say, ‘Oh,
those are great, but I could never wear one,’”
says Kloosterman. “I used to be that person. I
tell them, ‘Just wear a bow tie once.’ And then
you’re hooked.”
Yes, a bow tie might be a bit of a fashion risk,
but it’s a stylish statement that makes people
smile. Man, woman, or dog: if the bow tie fits,
wear it.
ANCHOR’S AWAY
Sundry shirt, Bliss, blissboutiques.com.
Hudson jean, Zane, shopzane.com.
Rough and Tumble laptop bag, Rough
& Tumble, roughandtumbledesign.com.
South Street Linen scarf, South Street Linen,
southstreetlinen.com, Milbridge bow tie,
Bowline Co., bowlineco.com.
SEPTEMBER // 2016
79