San Francisco Archives - Page 2 of 6

The Curated Collection | Paulette Tavormina

Art is meant to elicit a response. To move you. To draw your attention to pain or beauty; to provoke thought or emotion. To filter the world into a more meaningful experience. To heighten and distill what is beautiful and unique in the world, and perhaps even make you gasp just a little bit.

“Figs and Morning Glories”

And food? Well food is sustenance. But much more than that, it is comfort. It is a means of expressing love. It is a way of showing honour and celebrating. It is the foraging and forming of nature into beauty and meaning for our bodies and our palettes. It is a way of making everyday life an art form in and of itself.

“Crabs”

Married together, these two forms of sustenance – food for both body and soul – meet in the stunning work of New York photographer Paulette Tavormina.

“Yellow Cherries and Crab Apples”

Weaving together a contemporary medium with an old world aesthetic, Tavormina’s dramatic photographs harken back to the sumptuous lighting and decadent details of 17th century Old Master still life paintings. The vibrant saturation and contrast in the images brings the masterfully styled food and flora to life, elevating the everyday to the status of extraordinary.

“Watermelon Radishes”

“Pears”

“I have long been fascinated by the magic of everyday objects, the majesty and delicacy of nature, and the world of culinary delight,” said Tavormina. “I have blended decades of photography and food styling with a love of 17th century Old Master paintings to create these still-life photographs. My greatest influences have been Francisco de Zurbaran, Adriaen Coorte and Giovanna Garzoni, in particular Zurbaran’s mysterious use of dramatic light, Coorte’s unique placement of treasured objects and Garzoni’s masterful composition and color palette. The works of these artists remind us of the irretrievable passing of time – tempus fugit.”

“Sour Cherries”

“Cranberry Beans”

Tavormina’s work can be found in museums, corporate and private collections and have been exhibited all of the world including shows in New York, Paris, London and Moscow. This current collection is showing at MARCH in San Francisco until June 1st and can be purchased by contacting owner and curator Sam Hamilton.

Wishing you a Monday filled with light and contrast and the time to drink in the sumptuous, decadent details in the everyday.

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|March 25th, 2013|2 Comments

When Sculpture Meets Sound | The iPhone Gramaphone

As you probably all know by now, I am a big fan of music. I’ve played the violin since I was two and have been a singer/songwriter for most of my life, so my ears have been tuned to decipher the delicate details that make a recording special. That’s why when my love of good design and my love of music combine, I get really, really excited.

Remember a few weeks ago when I shared the beautiful, Italian-designed iPhone Megaphone? The gorgeous ceramic sculpture’s simple, organic shape had us all swooning. But it’s hard {if not impossible} to find in Canada and the US, and shipping from Italy… Well, it just might not get here for Christmas!

I must confess that I’m not particularly fond of “substitutes.” I’ve always been a “real thing” kind of girl. But the wonderful news is that today’s design find is in fact no substitute at all. It’s the real thing, and the story behind it will no doubt win you over just as it has me.

Friends, meet the iPhone Gramaphone.

Not only is this a beautiful product, the story behind it is wonderful. Here’s just a bit of the lovely tale of the man behind the sculpture and sound.

Sometimes serendipity succeeds where school falls short. Matt Richmond could have traveled any one of several roads. His passion for the saxophone might have led to a career on stage, had the act of studying music not taken the fun out of playing his instrument. After shifting his focus to microbiology, he found that hours spend in the library overshadowed his love for tinkering in the lab. And finally, while industrial design tapped into his life-long desire to know how things work – “Since I was a kind, the first thing I’d do when I got something new was to take it apart” – his graduate studies deconstructing toasters and hair dryers proved not nearly as interesting as the modern furniture he began collecting on the side.

So ultimately, Matt left school and devoted himself to furniture design. But it wasn’t until he walked into an antique store near San Francisco that all of his interests and aptitudes finally – and brilliantly – converged.

“I found this old Victrola horn that had a shape I really loved and I thought, ‘How cool would it be if I could use this with my phone?’ I held up my phone to the opening on the speaker, and I could immediately tell it was something that would work.”

He crafted the base for that first horn – a clean-lined piece of hardwood, carved with a slot for his phone, a hole for the horn, and an internal channel to conduct sound from one to the other, with no plug or battery required. The result was elegantly simple, and amazingly functional – a witty juxtaposition of vintage and modern technology that brought something new to each. A sculpture that made music.

Everyone who saw the original wanted one of their own. Soon, by virtue of word of mouth and the Internet, Matt had more orders than he could possibly fill. After handcrafting nearly a hundred, Matt refined the design and determined exactly the combination of horn shape and wood type that works best, and that would allow him to replicated it on a larger scale.

{words by Laura Cavaluzzo}

Enter Restoration Hardware, the iconic home furnishings purveyor who will make all your Gramaphone Christmas wishes come true by bringing Matt’s brilliant design to market on a larger scale. Based on that very first horn that Matt found in an East Bay antique store {a Magnavox metal speaker from the 20’s} the base is crafted from solid walnut and the metal horn offers bright, balanced, full-range sonics. The horn is of course directional, so you can keep the sound subtle and in the background or point it into a corner and fill the entire room with music.

“There’s something about listening to a record on an old phonograph,” says Matt, “it doesn’t have the fidelity of a CD or MP3, but it evokes a feeling. It’s about eliciting a feeling.”

Matt’s story is for all of us late bloomers. It’s for those of us who have taken a winding path to finding ourselves. It’s a reminder to keep dreaming and creating and inventing and trying. And his beautifully designed product is for all the audiophiles on our Christmas lists this year. Available in an iPad version as well, my guess is it will be the most talked-about gift under the tree.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|November 16th, 2012|0 Comments

The Ferry Building Marketplace | San Francisco

Image via www.cooltownstudios.com

Image via www.sftours.com

By now my love of markets should come as no surprise to you. I love the happy hum of shopkeepers and shoppers alike, greeting each other whilst being bathed in golden morning light, admiring beautiful produce and delectable baked goods, making warm and happy small talk amongst their careful selections. I love the variety, colour and artisinal goodness represented by each unique vendor. And I love the possibilities and creative opportunity their wares offer a humble shopper like me.

If you are in San Francisco and love all the sensory splendour to be beheld at a market, then you simply must make a trip to the Ferry Building Marketplace. Located right on the water at the foot of Market Street, this historic and beautiful building opened in 1898. The port for commuters crossing the San Francisco Bay, it is also a natural home to the delightful market. The Farmer’s Market {see the photos of produce above} rolls in to set up shop on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, taking up residence in temporary outdoor stalls. The permanent shops nestled in the Nave of the building are there 7 days a week.

Here are some of my favourites from the beautiful space inside:

HEATH CERAMICS

As you’ll know from yesterday’s post, I have a sincere fondness for ceramics. I think it’s something about the purity of the process that enchants me. It’s a real collaboration between human hands and machine to create something truly beautiful. There is a joy in making things by hand that is so clearly reflected in Heath’s product. I adore their colour palette – vibrant and fashion-forward – met with their subdued matte finish. Beautiful art for everyday living. Take a look at their beautiful process and beautiful product in this delightful video. If I didn’t already love them for their product, I’m head-over-heels knowing the integrity and community that stand behind it.

Heath Ceramics: An impressive view from within from Heath Ceramics on Vimeo.

MIETTE

Setting foot into Miette is a bit like taking a step back in time to a picture-perfect 1950’s pastry shop. There is something charmingly traditional and authentically American in each cake and confection they create, with a serious dollop vintage perfection on top. I think it is safe to say that the owner Meg is as much an architect as she is a pastry chef, very carefully crafting each concept into California-playful-meets-perfect. She even has a gorgeous, scalloped-edge cookbook, published by Chronicle Books {of course}!

Miette: A Video from San Francisco’s Most Charming Pastry Shop from 4SP Films on Vimeo.

McEVOY RANCH

Last but not least, the truly remarkable organic and sustainably farmed olive oil from McEvoy Ranch is award-winning for a reason. Crafted in the Tuscan tradition and capitalizing on the good earth of Norther California, their product is truly exceptional.