Kris von Oy, who created harmony with designs, dies at 35
He designed and built many Seattle gathering places, including Bauhaus Books and Coffee, the Baltic Room and Cafe Paradiso (now Caffe Vita) on Capitol Hill, and the Alibi Room in the Pike Place Market.
He did everything from creating logos and designing the interiors to swinging a hammer when construction time came.
Mr. von Oy, 35, died Friday (July 19) in a car accident on West Magnolia Boulevard in Seattle. Police said they don't know why his car veered across the road, striking a light post, now the scene of a impromptu memorial built by friends.
"His creativity and what he made was always just astounding, and people would look at the details and really be just amazed," said longtime friend and business partner Michael Klebeck.
Along with Mr. von Oy, Klebeck founded Paradiso in 1991, Bauhaus in 1993 and the Baltic Room (then called Kid Mohair) in 1996.
Everything Mr. von Oy touched turned out gorgeous, said Sidney Genette, founder of Sidney Genette Lighting Design, for whom Mr. von Oy had designed more than 100 lighting systems over the past 10 years, including those for Starbucks headquarters and the Pike Place Pub.
Mr. von Oy's latest project was for Dish D'lish, food consultant Kathy Casey's new restaurant in the Pike Place Market. Friends say that when it opens in the next month it will be unlike anything now at the Market and that Mr. von Oy's hope was that other merchants would look at it and think, "That's what I want."
"It's going to be a beautiful, beautiful space all full of Kris," Casey said.
Jennifer Duryee, who along with Mr. von Oy and Robin Chell started Seattle's Vivid Design Group in January, said, "He loved Seattle, this was his home, and he was so excited about doing a project in the Market."
Mr. von Oy grew up in Bellevue and attended the University of Washington, where he studied architecture and economics.
He was a great admirer of architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra and the art-deco and arts-and-crafts movements, tastes that came through in his designs, friends say.
"He was the jet-set renaissance man. He loved the tradition and culture of Europe, but he also loved the ultra-modern," said Scott Surdyke, a real-estate developer who for seven years was a close friend of Mr. von Oy's.
Friends and fellow designers say that above all, Mr. von Oy strove for design continuity in each of his many projects.
"He was all about making sure that if a building went into a place, it worked with the building next door. That if a shop went into a place, it worked with the shops on either side. He wanted to make things have harmony," Genette said.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. today at Green Funeral Home, 1215 S.E. 145th Place, Bellevue. His family asks that donations to charity be made in lieu of flowers.
He is survived by his mother, Karen Richardson, stepfather, Ralph Richardson, father, Bert von Oy, and stepmother, Donna von Oy, all of Bellevue; and younger brothers, David of Las Vegas, Greg and Jeff of Seattle, and Mike of Pullman; two grandmothers; and many nieces and nephews.
Eran Karmon: 206-464-2155 or ekarmon@seattletimes.com.