The summer between my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I attended a creative writing program on the east coast. There, I befriended a kid named Joel, an affable young man and possessor of an incredibly level speaking voice, who played the guitar and had only minor undertones of the obligatory teenage rebellious streak (a group of us went swimming in the river we had been given strict instructions not to swim in. It was wild.) The only other thing (in fact the main thing) I remember about Joel was that he hailed from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

I never saw Joel after that summer and I doubt I ever will. Yet his existence has managed to sustain significance in my mind: he is the one and only person I have ever met from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and as such is my only point of reference–the only face I have to associate with the state.

Until now. (Sorry Joel.)

Henceforth, mentions of Oklahoma will call to mind Bailey Austin and Mel Bean, founders of Austin Bean Design Studio. I’ll think how somewhere out there (in Tulsa) two lady bosses and their team are designing spaces that are both tastefully sophisticated and whimsical-traditional. I’ll think how well they balance neutrality with color and pattern, how they use contrast to create glamour, and how they always manage to walk the line between overt masculinity or too-frilly femininity. I’ll recall that epic, three-tiered, open-shelved homage to Glassybaby (whaddup, Seattle-staple), and the acrylic frame around a marble-slab-topped pedestal sink…

Image credits: Alyssa Rosenheck

Truth be told, I’ll probably still think of Joel.

Hey, you think they know each other?