L.A. native, Kinley Winnaman, was taking a break from her hometown when she started making Passion Pants, ankle to ankle rainbow pants. The Passion Pants took her back home to L.A., and into the arms of Cross Campus co-working spaces, where her interior designs can be seen wall to wall. She talked to the Power Thread about her design, her community, and the key to all of the above weave together; curiosity.
What in your background helped you get to this point in your career?
I was born and raised in LA, and I was raised in a really creative family. I went to the Arts Center College of Design in Pasadena, and my passion for art was not only nurtured, but kick-started. My mom’s dad is my mentor, and his name is David Willarson, who also went to the Arts Center. He’s the best. He is an artist as well and is actually one of the pioneers of airbrushing as a medium. He is literally my best friend. When I’m not in my studio, we try to get together and see each other as much as possible.
How did the idea for Passion Pants come about?
I felt like I needed to take some time away from LA, get back to my roots, and really see what I wanted to be doing. I have family in Utah, so I went and lived there for about a year. I started making them in that time, but when I started making the Passion Pants, I knew I had to get back to LA.
How do the Passion Pants and your interior design coexist?
About a month after I got back to LA, I was wearing the Passions Pants at an event, and I ended up meeting this guy, Ronen Olfshanskey, who was the CEO of Cross Campus co-working spaces. Ronen saw my pants and asked where they were from, and I told him I made them. He wanted to know more about them, and that’s when I told him about my other business, E.V. Knox, which was then custom wallpaper and upholstery. Cross Campus was opening up a second location at the time, and he really wanted to see more of what I was doing. We went to a space together, and I loved it so much. I asked to help, and literally gave myself a job at this company. I designed their last location in South Bay, and now I’m working on their new Beverly Hills and San Diego locations. So, the pants really were the key to the door. I blame this all on the pants. Both the pants and the interior design very much inform each other. The pants are the attitude, and the interior design is where that attitude lives. It all inter-weaves into each other.
What does it mean for you to feel powerful?
Power for me is the community that you’re in. You’re nothing without the people around you. I think that when you surround yourself with people who are smarter than you, and who have a desire to create good design, or really anything, that’s where that power comes from. It comes from curiosity. Power is asking questions. It’s a curious world, and it pays off to be present in that curiosity.
