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Leather Luxe
Born in Vienna, Austria,
Marianne Fellner has had an
infatuation with horses and a lifetime passion for the West since childhood. Both were fueled even more by a
memorable family trail ride in the Grand
Tetons. Fellner first learned leather craft skills
as a teenage seamstress. After a career in graphic
design, she returned to her first love. In 2003, she
created Stellar Ranch, which specializes in custom-made
leather garments and accessories with a vintage Western
flair. She eventually relocated to Tumalo, Oregon, a quaint town
nestled at the foot of the Cascade Mountains, outside of Bend. The Stellar Ranch lines include custom leather furniture pieces,
custom chaps and chinks, home accessories, purses, portfolios, and flasks. Fellner takes great pleasure in matching colors with
horses, boots, jewelry, and hats for these one-of-a-kind pieces. And she always has new products in mind — these stainless steel
leather-covered flasks are available in a series of six and come in solid or inlayed patterns.
FYI: (541) 318-8131; www.stellarranch.com
— Guy de Galard
Cowgirl Charm
Jewelry designer Coreen Cordova has charmed more than a few people
with her custom-made necklaces. It all began some years ago when the
Mexican artist handcrafted a chunky charm necklace for herself and
received requests from friends and family for their own custom creations. Today, Cordova creates made-to-order charm necklaces along
with semiprecious stone necklaces and bracelets using sterling silver,
turquoise, jade, batik bone, shell, and coral, among other materials, from
her shop in Kentfield, California. “The charms are made from little
objects I pick up all over the world — from China, Africa, Japan,
and other places,” Cordova says. Each detachable charm or pendant is encased in sterling silver and made with a special design
hook so it can be worn on a necklace, bracelet, or even a zipper pull. A Western
Heart (shown) is a sterling silver bracelet with detachable charms in bone, shell,
glass, cinnabar, horn, coral, and turquoise. Her jewelry is available from retailers nationwide.
FYI: (415) 455-8805; www.coreencordova.com
— Kathleen Fritsche
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october 2007
stellar ranch Photography: Guy de galard Necklace Photography: Shelle Neese
Photo ©BOB WADE.COM
High-Desert Oasis
With its natural beauty and abundant sunshine,
the high desert of Central Oregon affords endless
year-round recreational opportunities. So it is not
surprising that the area was named among the top 50
golf destinations in the world by Golf Digest magazine
and that Central Oregon is home to one of the finest
golf communities in the West — the Pronghorn Club
in Bend. Located on 640 acres, the private residential
resort is surrounded by 20,000 acres of protected land
and boasts two world-class courses designed by Tom
Fazio and Jack Nicklaus — named among the best new
courses by Travel + Leisure Golf and Golf Digest. Along
with the top-rated golf courses, Pronghorn members can enjoy world-class hiking, biking, fly-fishing, and whitewater rafting.
And with the recent opening of the 55,000-square-foot Clubhouse at Pronghorn, members can enjoy regional cuisine from the
Pacific Northwest at the club’s five-star restaurant as well as personal wine storage and sumptuous locker
rooms. “Many of our clients fly into the private Bend airport, and what awaits them at Pronghorn is
just a few miles up the road,” says Nancy Melrose, owner and principal broker of Melrose Realty in
Bend. Real estate samplings include 289 half-acre to one-acre home sites, 16 villas, and 76 fractional
villas at the Residence Club.
FYI: (877) 318-5171; www.Melrose-realty.com; www.pronghornclub.com
— Kathleen Fritsche
Vintage West
Playing cowboys and Indians never looked as good as it does in vintage-print fabric tepees by
Barn Dandys. The company designs and manufactures vintage-style fabrics — there are more than
40 prints to choose from — and children’s products, which are sold nationwide and through
Barn Dandys’ online “general store.” Patterns from the new Way-Out West Fabric Collection
include Western States, Jack and Jillaroo, Geronimo, and Cowboys and Indians, and will be
used in various accessories in the Barn Dandys line. Polly Wilson, who lives on a cattle
ranch in Oklahoma and is the owner and founder of Barn Dandys, says she created the
handmade line by marrying inspiration from her own lifestyle with classic WesternAmerican themes. The Western-themed collection presents vintage-print children’s
items, including tepees, dinner dishes, tents, sleeping bags, and TV trays for both
boys and girls designed exclusively by Wilson.
FYI: (918) 396-2800; www.barndandys.com
— Kathleen Fritsche
Cowb oys & Ind i ans
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