Artistic Oklahoma City family runs quartet of businesses

They rarely bicker, and personal conversations are as plentiful as talk about business.

They communicate electronically though their offices are only steps apart, and sometimes all four are running out the door at the same time.

Yet it all works for this creative family whose talents have fashioned so many inspiring homes and landscapes.

Under one roof on N Western Avenue, Ken and Linda Howell, and daughters Laura Howell Tirrell and Leigh Howell Love, operate a fine art gallery, an interior design business, a landscape design company and an architecture firm.

Color, light, space and precise detail are components of each person’s career, and they credit a love and appreciation of art for their independent yet intertwined business ventures.

A colorful tradition

"It’s amazing how long we have been doing all this,” Ken Howell said.

"Our family was always interested in art,” Linda Howell said, and the determined University of Oklahoma graduate with a minor in art history jumped right into work after graduation.

She first worked for longtime local interior designer Kenneth Fruit before buying out his business in 1972.

Kenneth Howell worked at local architectural firms doing mostly commercial work before starting Howell Associates Architects in 1980, focusing on the more personal residential building and expanding projects.

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