Olive Ateliers: Kendall Knox, Ben Knox, Laura Sotelo

KENDALL – Olive Ateliers began with a deep emotional connection to objects that carry memory. We have always been drawn to spaces that feel collected rather than decorated, where every piece seems to tell a story, and nothing feels overly considered. Travel shaped so much of that early inspiration, especially wandering through markets, workshops, old homes, and quiet places where beauty reveals itself slowly. We kept returning to pieces that felt humble but unforgettable, an old stool, a weathered vessel, objects that had clearly been lived with and loved. Those kinds of pieces have a way of making a home feel more grounded, more personal, and more alive.

KENDALL – The collaboration began from a shared sensibility more than anything else. There was an immediate emotional familiarity in the way Pamela sees home. She’s very instinctive, very personal, very rooted in feeling. We were drawn to the same objects that carry memory, and beauty that doesn’t need to announce itself. It felt less like beginning a collaboration and more like recognizing a kindred spirit. There’s nothing performative about her – just a sincerity in how she lives.

LAURA – A sourcing trip is a mix of instinct, patience, curiosity, and a little bit of luck. There are days when you look for hours and find almost nothing, and then all at once, in the most unexpected place, something special appears. That is part of what makes it so exciting. You have to stay open and keep your eye tuned to the quieter things. I am often drawn to pieces that do not immediately announce themselves. Sometimes it is a cracked urn with an incredible shape, a table worn perfectly smooth, or a chair with proportions that feel just a little unusual in the best way. Some of the most extraordinary finds happen when you almost pass something by.

LAURA – To me, it means allowing beauty to feel honest. I am always drawn to things that show their age, their making, and the hand behind them. A slightly irregular edge, a softened surface, asymmetry, or wear from real use are often the details that give an object its humanity. Perfection can feel static, but imperfection feels alive. It’s about trusting that what is a little unruly or unexpected is often what gives something its lasting beauty.

KENDALL – The dining table, without question. It is one of those pieces that really holds memory. We’re an anti-coaster family, and over the years, it’s seen us through long dinners and conversations that stretch late, picking up little marks from daily use and the soft wear that comes from people truly living around it. What I love most is that its beauty feels inseparable from those moments. The patina has become a record of gathering and memory. That is such a beautiful quality to have in a home, and when a piece becomes part of the life happening around it. Those are the objects I love most.

LAURA – Start slowly and trust your instincts. I think people often feel pressure to finish a home all at once, but the most beautiful spaces usually come together gradually. Pay attention to what you are consistently drawn to, and let that guide you. A collected home is built through living, noticing, and choosing things that feel meaningful to you, not just things that look right for a moment. The pieces that last are usually the ones that carry some feeling, memory, or function in your daily life.

BEN – We are expanding Olive Ateliers in ways that feel true to who we are, thoughtfully through furniture, objects, and experiences that carry the same spirit people know us for. We just launched our first ever design collaboration, with none other than Pamela Anderson. We have long felt deeply aligned with her point of view, so this is an incredibly exciting next step for us. The future for us is about growing with intention and continuing to create a world people really want to live in and participate in.

BEN – The impetus for our “drops” in the beginning was really just the nature of vintage sourcing. Pieces arrive in containers, on haphazard timelines, everything is one-of-one, and once it’s sold, it’s gone. We weren’t trying to manufacture scarcity, that rhythm already existed. We would open the doors around each arrival, share what had just landed, and it would move quickly. It helped build a very engaged early community.

As we grew, we were able to be more strategic with sourcing and scale in a way that still honored that one-of-one nature, but allowed us to hold more inventory and consistency. It became clear people were connecting to more than just individual pieces. They were drawn to the full environment, the feeling of how everything lives together. Opening a retail location felt like the most natural evolution, because it allows our community to fully immerse themselves in that world. It’s a slower, more tactile experience where the lifestyle behind the objects can really be understood.