Making a House Your Home:
SFDC’s Design Studio Team Helps Consumers
Discover the wonderful world of antiques

In the best homes, you can sense the owners’ individuality right from the front door. There’s a special something – perhaps a small Biedermeier chest, a set of old Japanese wagon wheels, a pair of Louis XVI chairs unexpectedly upholstered in cowhide, a 19th-century Serapi rug from Persia or a little Russian sleigh seat – that sets a home apart, rescuing it from the generic.

Helping design enthusiasts discover what they love, helping them discover treasures that will allow them to create a home environment that truly reflects their taste and style, is one of the specialties of the San Francisco Design Center’s Design Studio team. Design Studio members, a group of interior design professionals with extensive expertise in everything from finding the right decorative touch to managing a full-scale construction project, offer complimentary tours of SFDC for consumers interested in interior design and home remodeling.

The design professionals who show visitors around SFDC’s three buildings in San Francisco’s South of Market design district are virtually walking encyclopedias of interior design products and resources. They help design enthusiasts navigate SFDC’s 100 showrooms, which represent more than 2,000 lines of fine home furnishings and accessories.

“We created the Design Studio to introduce the public to this wonderful resource and to the design process itself," notes Tim Treadway, SFDC CEO. “Having an informed navigator as an SFDC guide helps the public learn what’s available to help them create an environment that’s unique to them.”

Design Studio member Alia Meyer of Jessica Hall Associates in Larkspur, California, likes to help clients put as much of themselves into their homes as possible. “Rooms are about emotions – restful, cozy, lively, exotic. The furniture you choose should help you express the mood you are trying to evoke,” says Meyer. Antiques, she finds, with their unique characteristics, help her do just that. “Whatever your taste, it’s easy to find an antique that speaks to your style.”


For Meyer, rooms that are all of a kind, all of one style, quickly get stale. Adding an antique piece can add a touch of whimsy and fun or ground a room with a sense of history and authenticity. “Antiques are art that can enrich your space and add value to your home,” comments Meyer. “Shopping for antiques is like going to a museum, but a museum where you can buy the exhibits and take them home.”

One of the showrooms that Meyer likes to visit on her Design Studio tours is Garden Court Antiques in the Showplace building at Two Henry Adams. She describes their one-of-a-kind treasures as “exclamation points.” Showroom manager Jim Gallagher loves to tell the tales of his wares, from a 19th-century Swiss woodworkers bench that would add a rustic presence to a Carmel Valley hideaway to the European campaign chandeliers designed to fold flat for packing so British officers and their entourage could head to the mountains of northern India – in style – to escape the stifling lowland heat.

“I encourage people to come by and have a look. We are a quirky, elegant, unexpected kind of place – not at all your grandmother’s antique shop,” laughs Gallagher. “We try to make antiques really accessible.” He avoids fussy formal furniture and accessories, preferring pieces with an intriguing shape, an appealing look and rich patina. “Great antiques have great soul. People have been touching them for all those years,” he explains. “Customers often rub their hands across the furniture as they walk through the showroom. They are literally getting a feel for the piece.”

Diane Einstein of Diane Einstein Interiors in San Francisco often chooses antiques for the warmth and interest they add to a room. One of her favorite approaches to using antiques is to buy a chair with a wonderful frame and cover it with a contemporary fabric. “You can completely spice up a room by bringing in just one antique item – a small table, a candlestick or a chair. It can be so unexpected,” says Einstein. She points out that there’s no need to be afraid of incorporating antiques, even in a house with children. “Antiques seem to get better with age.”

On Design Studio tours Einstein likes to introduce visitors to Urban Chateau, which specializes in French antiques from many periods. She also stops at Tansu Design with its collection of Asian antiques and accessories and Alexander’s Decorative Rugs, which boasts a fine selection of late 19th-century rugs.

“We have something for everyone – the entire price range and pieces that would complement any interior,” notes Terry Gross, owner of Urban Chateau in SFDC’s Galleria at 101 Henry Adams. Urban Chateau displays both authentic period pieces and 19th-century furniture “in the style of” – reproductions of furniture from an even earlier era that are now antiques themselves. Gross is delighted to explain the details – carved barley-twist legs on a table and ornate X-shaped stretchers supporting the legs of a chair – as she shows off her treasures. For her, one of the joys of owning antiques is that each piece is unique. “You can’t order more of them,” she says.


Unique to Urban Chateau are a pair of Parisian chairs with carved wood frames and leather seats with gold stenciling. One room showcases a collection of Biedermeier pieces with their characteristically showy decorative veneers and black trims. In the same room sits an art deco piece from 1930 that beautifully complements the older German tables and chests. “Good pieces mix well over time,” notes Gross. “Oscar Wilde said that all things beautiful belong to the same age. If pieces are of a similar quality, they can live together easily.” Gross’ many small decorative accessories – lamps, clocks, statues and carved figures – can live well in any décor.

Inja Yang of Tansu Design travels to Asia several times a year to buy antiques from Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam and India. Her Japanese chests – tansus – translate easily into dressers, armoires and side tables. She also features Japanese accessories like folding screens, bronze candle stands, lacquer hibachis and decorative wooden transoms that are often made into entry tables. “You don’t need a whole house filled with antiques,” comments Yang. “One or two pieces make a statement.” Tansu Design does a lot of custom work, translating 19th- and early 20th-century Asian furnishings into contemporary American pieces.

According to Design Studio member Diane Einstein, buying an antique Persian or Turkish rug is a wonderful way to introduce an antique element to a home. “These rugs have been used for generations,” she says. “You don’t have to worry about children or dogs.” Jerome Singer of Alexander’s Decorative Rugs notes that the majority of fine old rugs on sale today are from the turn of the last century. “The value of an antique rug is defined by its condition, its popularity and its color palette,” explains Singer. “Nothing compares to the patina of a fine old rug. They are beautiful. You can feel the heart of the weaver.”

To discover the wonderful world of antiques and the even wider world of interior design at the San Francisco Design Center, make an appointment for a Design Studio tour by calling the SFDC concierge desk at 415.490.5800. All tours are by appointment only. While Design Studio tours are complimentary, Design Studio members suggest that visitors make a minimum $25 donation to Philanthropy by Design, which offers pro bono design services to local nonprofits like homeless shelters.
 

Resources

The Design Studio at SFDC
Two and 101 Henry Adams
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.490.5888
www.sfdesigncenter.com


Alexander’s Decorative Rugs
Two Henry Adams, Showplace #330
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.626.8430
www.alexandersrugs.com


Garden Court Antiques
Two Henry Adams, Showplace #100
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.355.1690
www.gardencourtantiques.com


Tansu Design
101 Henry Adams, Galleria #320
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.255.2204
www.tansudesign.com


Urban Chateau Antiquités et Décoration
101 Henry Adams, Galleria #321
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.673.8026
www.urbanchateau.com