Esoteric Survey

Design Series Six: Growing Small  Every year Heath Clay Studio Director, Tung Chiang designs and produces a series of work based on a theme. This year, it's small objects "cast and formed by hand, for treasuring in the hand". "Extracted from molds in basic form, pieces are hand-altered and individually enhanced, resulting in a collection of related, yet one-of-a-kind objects that celebrate the skillful art of mold-making, while questioning the boundary between one-offs and editions." September 22–28: Show on view at Heath SF, during showroom hours September 28: Show opens for sale September 28: Artist talk by Tung Chiang from 5–6 pm More information  here . As you can see, Tung is insanely talented. This bottle kills me! In addition to creating a line of 125 small sculptures in clay, Tung designed flatware for Heath. It was hand-tooled and crafted in New York by Sherrill Manufacturing. Sherril is the only compa...

The Centro Cultural Tijuana - CECUT is getting some work done. Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and Manuel Rosen Morrison designed the center, which opened in 1982. Source: CECUT MX They're hand chiseling the surface. They're removing the seven layers of paint that have been applied over the years. For some reason I got yelled at for taking pictures of them working. It wasn't the first time I've been busted for taking photos.  The scaffolding during the initial construction looks pretty wild.  Source:  CECUT MX

Los Angeles Modern Auctions  has a sale this Sunday, September 30th California Hard-Edge-land More at LAMA The John McLaughlin painting on the top is from 1948. It's a great example from the period right before he went full hard edge minimal and focused just on rectangles.  The bottom piece is a paper and tape collage with graphite from the early 1970s. Nakashima  George Nakashima frame holding a Ben Shahn print Oskar Fischinger Eames! June Schwarcz enamel on a wood box by Espenet Claire Falkenstein Early wood disc feet Flag Halyard chair by Hans Wegner. And check out all the Warhols.  Did you think there wouldn't be any Walter Lamb? They tried to hide it behind that monster David Cressey pot. Check out the sale here .

Bill Lam adjustable height coffee table. I've wanted one of these for a long time. Sorry. I had to. More about Bill,  here . I also picked up this bowl by Up & Up. 

Ken Nack / Michael Arntz Santa Barbara: 1960s - 1980s September 22 - November 3, 2018 Opening Reception: Saturday September 22, 4-8pm More information at The Landing Monumental Arntz From the Creative Directors of Daft Punk, JF Chen presents Hervet Manufacturier, a limited edition collection of furniture created by cousins Cedric and Nico Hervet. Each piece is an edition of 12, and made in France, the two Hervet cousins design furniture under meticulous respect for the traditional techniques of carpentry.

Harrison McIntosh glass vases, both hand-signed and dated 1980 and Timo Sarpaneva "Saturna" John Follis for Architectural Pottery and a Clay Michie for Knoll lamp Peter Hvidt for Nissen interlocking tables.  This is the I sold them before I got home photo. Milo Baughman for Mode Furniture in Los Angeles (1951). This is the first time I've seen this line outside of a few period sources.  Here is the desk from the group in "canyon brown"

This weekend I picked up a book on window decorating. There were several photos of windows by Gump's of San Francisco, including this one featuring chairs by  Van Keppel Green . After 157 years in business, Gump's is shutting the doors on their San Francisco storefront. Founded in 1861 by the Gump's family, they were established to cater to the new millionaire class resulting from the gold rush. The focus was on luxury and imported items until World War II made it difficult to import from international vendors. At that point, Gump's began looking to domestic artists and craftspeople, such as Edith Heath... Gump's buyer, Bill Brewer, saw Edith's work on display at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. The contents of the show were consigned to Gump's after the show ended and sold well. Brewer then offered her a space they had been using on Clay St. (no joke) that they had been using to host ceramic workshops. Gump's subsidised the r...

Alvar Aalto stool, George Nelson Chronopak clock, Bill Curry for Design Line pedestal, fire tools and a Japanese lamp.  Design Line bookends and an interesting Martz covered vessel. 

I drive by this building almost once a month and finally stopped to get a closer look. The East Bay Center for Warehouse Union (1965) was designed by Oakland architect Herbert T Johnson (1909-1989). The two parabolic arches support the center section of the structure. The mosaic panels are by Beniamino "Benny" Bufano. There's also a Bufano inside. Source: Yelp It still operates as the Warehouse Union Local 6 I don't know the story on the totem. Herbert T Johnson was born in Alameda. He worked for Irving F Morrow on the Golden Gate Bridge project, which was completed in 1937. Johnson is credited with designing the original toll plaza. In 1942, he set up his architecture practice in Oakland and continued working on projects in the Bay Area.  Source: Open SF History Johnson designed the Leona Lodge in Oakland. Source: Leona Lodge He was at it again with the exterior roof supports. Source:  Leona Lodge Source:...