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OBSESSIONS. DECORATION. SALIENT FACTS. H ouston's Freya and Mirth have debuted a shared showroom and workspace called Sixteen Ten, located in a charming circa-1925 bungalow on Bissonnet. Formerly home to Carl Moore Antiques, the space is intimate with homey rooms and a staircase in the front, while the back has a large warehouse-style space with wide-plank wood floors. Linsay Radcliffe of Freya and Erin Breen and Katie McClure of Mirth consolidated offices under one 5,500-square-foot roof, with ample room for shopping, events, and photo shoots. Along with designer Susie Bowen Tucker, they painted the exterior a darker shade and landscaped and inside they added coats 22 House of Mirth and Freya The Road to Rockport: McKay Otto Trifecta Begins and coats of fresh paint. The result is a soothing, neutral backdrop for Freya's cool- girl organic Panama hats (open daily) and Mirth's earthy, breezy block-print caftans and resort wear (open by appointment). Look for Freya's newly released collection of hats crafted from innovative packable straw, as well as jewelry from Venezuelan designer Susana Vega, Wonder Valley olive oil-based skincare, and Maria Ida hand-blown glass objects from Vancouver. Mirth has released their first hand-knit Peruvian alpaca sweater, each requiring female knitters in Peru about 40 hours to create. Watch for Sixteen Ten's opening party Thursday, October 12, 5:30 to 8 pm. Sixteen Ten, 1610 Bissonnet St., thefreyabrand.com, mirthcaftanscom. Anne Lee Phillips JENNY ANTILL CLIFTON W e've been tracking the trajectory of Texas artist McKay Otto since the 1990s, even featuring him in the books Domestic Arts (for his Galveston aerie) and Texas Artists Today. Now the Wimberley-based painter/sculptor/assemblage-maker steps up this fall with a bold trio of exhibitions. Collectors and followers will want to trek to the reborn Rockport Center for the Arts early this month, when a retrospective of recent Otto works across all media unveils in the nonprofit's gleaming new $12.5 million campus (October 6 – November 19; artist reception Friday, October 13, 5 to 7 pm). Pay attention to a poignant new series, debuting in the "Ever Legacies Ever" exhibition, which pays tribute to departed Texas icons including Jesús Bautista Moroles, Ann Harithas, and Sissy Farenthold. The artist writes that his diverse media are united by one quality: "Light is at once absorbed, reflected, and refracted — perhaps metaphors for light as consciousness." Later in October, Houston Arts Alliance honors Otto as one of 20 featured headliners in its annual Add On Art Gala, an interactive two-day happening that reaches its apex with a grand fête Friday, October 20, at the Warehouse at Silver Street. (Word's out the artist plans an ethereal light box for HAA's benefit.) Finally, Otto's emphasis on the immaterial and ethereal is highlighted in canvases that hint at the cosmos, opening at Laura Rathe Fine Arts (River Oaks District) Thursday, November 16, in the two-person show "Beyond the Beyond" paired with Canadian abstract painter Janna Watson (through December 14). rockportartcenter. com, houstonartsalliance.com, laurarathe. com. Catherine D. Anspon McKay Otto's Ever Jesús Ever, 2023, at Rockport Center for the Arts Clockwise from above, top: Sixteen Ten; Erin Breen, Katie McClure, Linsay Radcliffe; Mirth at Sixteen Ten; Freya at Sixteen Ten.