Esoteric Survey

  WEBSITE UPDATE New items have been added to the shop . Sorry I skipped a month. Pacific Iron Products At just 26 years old, Stanford L. Optner made a move that would place him at the center of postwar California design. Optner combined his technical training with entrepreneurial vision when he acquired and transformed a small South Pasadena firm into Pacific Iron Products. Read more on the website. MARKETS The Good Flea June 27-28, 2026 The return of the Vintage Market at Heath Ceramics in San Francisco. Details forthcoming.

Jerry Johnson for Landes storage unit, Designed for Moderns table, and John Keal for Pacific Iron Shelf  Smalls One of the best David Stewart pieces, I think.  Dansk and Po-Mo Poul Kjærholm PK 71 set and Milo Baughman for Murray desk Japanese There's always room for pie. This is heading to my favorite pie shop, Fat & Flour.

  Before the holidays I received an email from Tom Delavan, the design and interiors director of the New York Times T Magazine. One of his recurring columns is called Style Detective. Readers submit a design mystery and Tom solves it.  He was asking about a Pacific Iron chair. Specifically, he wanted to know where one could get the Milo Baughman chair seen in the photo above. He didn't give me too much background, send me the photo, or even mention exactly why he was asking — other than it was related to his column. After reading  the article , I found out it was related to a 1952 Julius Shulman photo of the Robson & Helen Chambers Residence in Palm Springs. It was Robson's own house. The photo is after Chambers enclosed the dining patio. Chambers went to USC School of Architecture and was working in the Albert Frey and John Porter Clark office at the time, but this was a solo project.  Photo: New York Times According to the article, Tom contacted Alexandra Cunni...

 Harrison McIntosh house, designed by Claremont architect Fred McDowell. It was part of a tour by  Claremont Heritage . Ikebana arrangement by my friend Auralynn Nguyễn . In a McIntosh ceramic of course. In addition to the many McIntosh pieces, there are quite of few pieces by Sam Maloof.  Huge lantern by Harrison.    Soleri Bell = In the know . Karl Benjamin house, also by Fred McDowell. This and the McIntosh home are owned by the artist's children. They are doing a wonderful job preserving the legacy and so kind to open up their homes. Another  arrangement by  Auralynn Nguyễn .  This one too. Studies by Benjamin. I was pretty excited to see that Karl Benjamin was a Pacific Iron fan. Milo Baughman I couldn't figure this one out at first. I'm not sure about these pieces in particular but Karl traded a painting for some of his furniture. They made out on that deal.  I'm pretty sure it's this Pacific Iron daybed that has been reconfigured ...

Pacific Iron Products table, Soleri bell, Howard Miller clock, Isamu Noguchi, Japanese lamps and Italian ceramics. Rick Dillingham and Doyle Lane

Milo Baughman for Pacific Iron Products This is my favorite Pacific Iron chair design. I also picked up this Milo Baughman for Pacific Iron Products table.Great timing. Dan Johnson for Hayden Hall Iron tables Ephemera, including a Saul Bass Bell Systems logo belt buckle. 

Stan Hawk, Alvar Aalto and Eames Good books Signed by Esther McCoy and includes annotations by Sim Bruce Richards. Milo Baughman for Pacific Iron Products Dean Santner jewelry box Japan