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Dreaming In Colour: An Autobiography (2012)

by Kaffe Fassett(Favorite Author)

4.2 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1617690074 (ISBN13: 9781617690075)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Stewart, Tabori, & Chang

review 1: I love Kaffe Fassett - I love his fabrics and his use of colour and his versatility. (And I met him once and he was charming and generous with his time and expertise. And he said my bag was 'fabulous'...) So I saw his autobiography in the library and had to pick it up.And it's interesting. The writing style is a bit ponderous (and ungrammatical in a way you don't mind in speech but which jars to me in written prose), and yes, the continuous name-dropping is a bit clanging at times, but... he knew these people and they do seem to be part of the narrative of his life, so... I could get past it. There are a couple of striking things; one is that he does seem to have been blessed with several strokes of tremendous luck (being given places to live or enough yarn to do a whole k... morenitwear collection...) and the other is that he must have the most tremendous energy. (Perhaps the two are connected, I don't know.) Painting, knitting, needlepoint, mosaic, patchwork, fabric design... he does it all, often simultaneously, and always brilliantly. He sees colour and possibility everywhere and is inspired by everything. (This was my impression when I met him - he (the world famous knitwear designer) was asking me about *my* knitting and when he saw my 'fabulous' bag, asked to look at it and I could tell it was all getting filed away). Sometimes the tone of the book is a touch self-congratulatory to British ears but on the other hand, sheesh, the man's amazing - he has earned the right to pat himself on the back. And he is always, unfailingly and unstintingly generous in acknowledging the people who have helped, supported and inspired him, and that's always nice. And visually, the book is glorious. The breadth of the illustrations, their presentation and their sheer quantity make the book a delight to look at. The illustrations are all very well chosen and complement the text perfectly.
review 2: I opened this up yesterday and couldn't wait to begin reading it. While on a road trip through Big Sur last summer, stopped at a favorite spot (Nepenthe), I was astonished to learn that the restaurant was owned by Kaffe Fassett's family. This little bit of surprising news made me even more anxious to read his autobiography. I cracked it open last night, and finally had to put it down to go to sleep. It was immediately engaging, with wonderful photos embedded throughout. I love the conversational tone of the writing. One can imagine that Kaffe is sitting next to you, lovely teacup in hand, chatting you up! less

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