Bay Area Made is a community of values-driven makers from around the Bay dedicated to virtues such as craft, quality, good design, innovation, and sustainability. In addition to building community amongst local makers, we’re dedicated to educating and inspiring consumers to support local companies who create quality products that are better for the user, the community, and the planet. From the clothes we wear to the food we eat, to the products we use daily, WHAT WE MAKE locally and HOW WE MAKE IT really does matter.
One of the ways we showcase our community is through our annual exhibition during SF Design Week. This year our exhibition was hosted by Gantri lighting in their beautiful San Francisco SOMA studio. “Bay Area Made: Product Design Stories” featured products from 37 Bay Area Made members, and the stories behind them. The products represented standard, custom, and customized offerings from established and up-and-coming brands spanning home & garden, clothing & accessories, food & beverage, and body & bath, providing a behind the scenes glimpse into who creates the products, and how and why they are made.
In this series we’re featuring select exhibitors and their stories. Here is the fifth installment.
Check out Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3 & Part 4 of Product Design Stories.
KENLYNN
Knitwear. Silk, Linen + Silk, Baby Alpaca. 2024
Making, in my experience, is everything. It is as vital to the creative process as design. It takes magic or maybe more accurately a combination of math, artistry, craftsmanship and many hours of work to bring a concept to life from a thin strand of yarn.
Every item for my brand is made with my two hands and one of my five knitting machines. My technique is known as fully-fashioned knitwear because the garment pieces are shaped entirely by increasing and decreasing the stitches during the knitting process, which eliminates any material waste. The knit pieces are then hand assembled and every seam is hand stitched.
For me, knitting combines movement, texture, three-dimensional form, and color all into one expression, from a strand of yarn. I work almost entirely with color. My passion for color was concretized during a trip to Mongolia during the dead of winter. I saw how color could brighten and enliven an otherwise barren Siberian landscape. These days I use layers of color to complement a complexion, uplift a mood and in a small way, to make the world a brighter place. My yarns are meticulously selected for quality and sustainability. The majority of the yarns come from family-run mills in Italy and the alpaca yarns are imported from Peru.
I am intrigued with the movement and interplay between the body and the knitted silhouette. Craftsmanship and ultimately the appropriate design of the knit create movement and interplay with the body. My garments have to feel good on the body and against the skin. They should give the person a sense of luxury, comfort, and ease of wear. My designs are intended to be seasonless, timeless and yet modern and flattering for different body types.
I encourage my customers to wear their knits every day and not just save them for special occasions. I have a quote “knits for everyday play” and I love it when a customer puts on a piece and finds that playfulness. Getting dressed should be fun and I try to embody that in my work.
– Kenlynn Wilson, Designer/Maker/Owner
Alexandra Cicorschi
“I can’t do this | I’ve done this before”. Salvaged wood (redwood, tiger wood, Douglas fir, mahogany, birch) and oil color on repurposed plywood. 2022
My artworks are created out of repurposed and salvaged wood materials, without the use of stains. As I remove nails and strip away layers of varnish and paint from these found objects, I think about the passing of time and the natural origins of our urban surrounding. Salvaged objects carry within them previous lives, often dating back hundreds of years. For me, recycling is a way to connect to nature as well as people and their stories. Growing up in Romania during the last years of its communist regime, I internalized at an early age how limited resources can fuel creative reuse. When in need, people reach out for help, forming communities, offering support – and almost nothing gets discarded in this cycle. In the process of creating something new out of something old, I reflect on the rapid transition I have witnessed in my lifespan, between a mentality shaped by scarcity to one of abundance.
The practices of consumerism have replaced generations of traditions and crafts, while individuals are disconnected from their cultural heritage and a sense of belonging. When I moved from Germany to California in 2011, I was immediately struck by the old growth slabs of wood lying on sidewalks waiting to be hauled away. In my current art practice, I find it important to source my materials and upcycle them with the intention of not purchasing new lumber. The wood strips I create from found materials are like brushstrokes inside a canvas. The natural colors and small movements inside wood grains influence large movements in the composition. Open angles guide the fluidity of lines, telling a story of perpetual movement and transformation. Continuity is at the base of creation because everything evolves from something. My work is a reflection on the process of recirculating, which is a condition for life to exist, in the same way nature renews itself through the cycle of life and death.
– Alexandra Cicorschi, Artist
JOHI
Upcountry Koa Bench – Live Edge Bench Series. American white ash, brass hardware, hardwax oil finish. 2023
A discerning craftsman with a philosophical bend knows when to let the wood be the star of a design. To borrow some words from Mira Nakashima, “The wood is our muse and our palette; its shapes and colors speak to those who listen.” It is important to us that we always respect the material that we work with while pushing our design work to be imaginative and inventive. Slabs need not be filled with colorful resin to feel refreshing and modern.
Originally planted for commercial harvesting, this slab came from a Koa grove that ended up in the hands of a well-known guitar manufacturer. In their haste, and waste, they left plenty of beautiful high-quality timber in their wake. After some time forgotten on the ground, this slab found its way through our original workshop doors in upcountry Maui. Though the story of the bench begins there, it really takes shape in our California Central Coast workshop, where JOHI landed during the Covid pandemic, slab in tow.
Exploring ways to showcase both the wood and our craftsmanship together, we determined that creating a bench would be the ideal tribute to the Koa’s character and an opportunity to showcase mastery in our medium.
We selected white ash for the legs due to its availability, strength, and aesthetic quality. Designed to be a series of modern rounded forms, the legs are dimensioned to interact with irregularities in the slab. From there, each leg bends and reaches up to meet the backrest; supporting it with a comfortable and playful springiness. A form was used to guide six thinly sliced Ash veneers along the edge of the slab into a dramatic swoop.
These elements come together to blend our modern JOHI aesthetic with a nod to our origin story.
– JOHI Team: Raja Badr-El-Din, Holly Badr-El-Din, Nicole Gardner, Elijah Clancy
FOUND by Bashford Design
Gilby and Galm the Geometric Nightstands. 2024
At FOUND by Bashford I create reimagined furniture for interesting people.
I know that among the thousands of tons of furniture our society takes to landfill every day, there are some pieces that are innately interesting or beautiful. These pieces have “been around the block”, they’ve seen some things in their time, but with love and care, they will be irreplaceable. In this way they’re just like my favorite people, and I want to have them in my life.
I search (obsessively) for vintage and preloved quality furniture pieces then reimagine them. The result is a menagerie of completely unique items with mysterious pasts and stories to tell. Each time a piece is brought back to life, it waits for just the right interesting person to appreciate it and give it a new home.
The first thing I noticed about these nightstands was their light color and their angular structure. Like Nordic twins perching on a precipice, they sat high on a shelf in a warehouse of old and forgotten furniture. I reached up to pull one down for a better look. They were so heavy! These were definitely solid chaps. Naturally, they had some scars from a life spent working in a harsh climate and the occasional battle. They each needed a well cut modern gray suit with some colorful accents that would show off their natural oak color but give them some panache. They asked for similar styles but with some details so that everyone could tell them apart. Gilby and Galm are now dressed in dashing geometric patterns and await their next adventure.
– Sarah Bashford, Designer/Maker
Photos by Medium Small
View the KENLYNN profile
View the Alexandra Cicorschi profile
View the JOHI profile
View the FOUND by Bashford Design profile
