Special Scarf Celebrates Houston’s Groundbreaking Menil Drawing Institute

Akris creative director Albert Kriemler has collaborated with his personal friends/Los Angeles-based architects Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee of Johnston Marklee to create a scarf celebrating the opening of the Menil Drawing Institute.

The cashmere/silk blend scarf features a photo print sketch of the Johnston Marklee-designed Menil Drawing Institute, the fifth building to join the Menil neighborhood. Johnston and Lee created the structure to both fit in to the lineage of the other Houston buildings commissioned by Dominique and John de Menil, such as their home designed by Philip Johnson and the main Menil Collection building designed by Renzo Piano, but also to work within the natural landscape of the Menil Collection’s campus.

Trees, courtyards, and gardens are as important as the strong lines of the architecture. “The trees are germane to the way that light will work in the building,” Johnston has said previously of the trees strategically placed in the courtyards of the Menil Drawing Institute.

The trees dapple the scarf, creating a beautiful green pattern when tied.

The limited-edition scarf retails for $895 and is now available for pre-order in the Menil Collection Bookstore and at the Akris boutique and will be available in-store in June.

At the Akris Boutique, River Oaks District, 4444 Westheimer, and Menil Bookstore, 1520 Sul Ross Street.