We are fortunate to have a deep pool of talented designers, makers and artists in our Bay Area Made community, whose creations adorn a variety of interior spaces. Here is Part 1 of a selection of recent projects showcasing their work.
Galanter & Jones
Their heated furniture isn’t only suitable for your patio, deck or garden. It’s just as enjoyable indoors. For proof, here’s the Helios Lounge in the beautiful Stahl + Band showroom in Los Angeles, and in the Orange Room at the exuberant Color Factory in San Francisco.
Fyrn
The San Francisco chair makers provided seating for Charles Phan’s Rice and Bones café at the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design (where Charles is an alumni), designed by Lundberg Design.
Concreteworks
The Alameda-based designers and fabricators specializing in cast concrete collaborated with interior designers Studio O + A to create the “Pacific Desk Project”, an incredible twenty-foot-long reception desk for a downtown San Francisco office.
In addition to the challenge of creating a sculptural work that would function as a reception desk and provide seating, it had to be built in small parts that could fit inside the elevator and be assembled onsite at its fifth floor location. No mean feat. Check out the short video of the process here.
Jason Lees Design
Founded in 1979 by the San Francisco Zen Center, Greens Restaurant at Fort Mason was influential in establishing vegetarian cooking as a cuisine in America, and for their pioneering dedication to local, sustainable, and organic – decades before they became buzzwords. Produce is grown at their organic Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in Marin County.
Oakland master craftsman Paul Discoe built the original woodworking. In the dining room is a monolithic sculpture/seating area carved from a gigantic redwood burl by legendary Marin County sculptor J.B. Blunk.
So I was honored when Greens approached me to design a new counter, bakery case, and shelving for the “Greens To Go” area, and to create a new host stand and service station for the dining room.
The design challenge was to respect the history and character of Greens while freshening it up and improving functionality. Organic shapes echo the curved wall of the space and are a nod to California Handcrafted Modernism and the nautical forms of the San Francisco Marina seen from the dining room.
The backsplash tiles are from Bay Area Made member Heath Ceramics, another iconic and pioneering business whose dinnerware Greens has served on for decades.
Photos by Peter Prato
Hannah Beatrice Quinn
The coffee table was made during the San Francisco-based designer and woodworker’s residency at San Francisco’s Shaper Tools, testing out their Origin router, the world’s first handheld CNC machine. It has an elm top that is patched to stabilize the natural bark inclusion, and powder coated scrap steel legs.
A collaborative effort with Oakland-based ceramicist Rachel Steiner, the planter stands have legs made of powder coated steel rebar. Photos were taken in the lounge area of Shaper Tools office in an old warehouse in San Francisco’s Mission District.
Susan R. Kirshenbaum
The San Francisco artist talks about her inspiration and process for the site-specific installation she created during her Summer Art Residency at the Troll House at Pier 26 on the San Francisco Embarcadero.
“I start by drawing a live model in short poses on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil. At the Troll House I worked in an unconventional, high, open space. On the Bay with the bright summer sunlight streaming in through giant windows facing the Embarcadero, there was always an audience outside and another audience within. These were factors in arriving at the concept and form for this site-specific installation.”
“The bright heat of summer drove me to work in sheers and overlays to see the sun and the outdoors come through the pieces. I created five giant gauzy sheer panels in jewel tones to hang from the ceiling in overlapping panels, barely touching a 6’ head, but easy enough to walk around. Called “banderas”, like flags, they are fluid and move gently. They form new color combinations as they overlap, depending upon the light and time of day.”
“Each panel is imprinted with a monolithic gesture drawing – powerful, yet light and graceful female figures. They fill the room with their presence. They are emblems, representing a moral truth. I felt a need to create a strong vertical force to penetrate the co-working space dominated by this group of young male techies, who had to weave their way through the art to get to their loft workspace, experiencing the sensation of moving through a roomful of naked women.”