The art of home decorating and interior design requires more than just the skillful mixing of different elements. Like cooking, it comes down to using the best ingredients. Handmade ceramic tiles, modernist custom shelving and embroidered linens are all things that can enhance a space. You can now view these items, made by three Sonoma artisans, at the 43rd annual San Francisco Decorator Showcase.
Benefitting the financial aid program at University High School, this year’s showcase is housed in a 1930s Mediterranean-style home in San Francisco’s West Clay Park neighborhood. The home has been renovated, room by room, by over 20 top West Coast designers and, for the first time ever, the house tour will be presented virtually due to the pandemic. Here’s a peek at some of the Sonoma-made items featured in this year’s showcase.
Wine Room and Wet Bar
In the showcase’s Wine Room and Wet Bar, you will find illuminated acrylic wine racks, designed by Blake Miremont, owner of Architectural Plastics, Inc. in Petaluma.
San Francisco designer Eugene Nahemow has created this elegant space, with wine cellar walls covered in dark Shou Sugi Ban wood slabs, a charred wood which originated in 18th-century Japan as a flame-resistant solution during a time when fires plagued the country.
Nahemow wanted to create an effect of “floating” wine bottles, so he chose steel-lined acrylic cellars, creating a lightweight counterpoint to the deep and dramatic tone of the wood.
The acrylic wine racks are a regular offering of Architectural Plastics, which was founded in 1977 by Miremont’s father, Pierre. The company’s design and fabrication work appears in homes and wineries across the country. Even Hollywood has gotten wind of these luminous wonders—Miremont just finished lucite wine shelves to serve as semi-see-through partitions in Paris Hilton’s new home.
Architectural Plastics also creates museum and retail displays, and more recently, protective barriers due to the pandemic: within a week and a half of the shelter-in-place order, the Petaluma team designed, manufactured and delivered 20,000 reusable polyurethane face shields to Kaiser Permanente.
Azure Guest Bathroom
Another made-in-Sonoma element starring in this year’s showcase is a handmade tile by Sonoma Tilemakers that sets the tone for the Azure Bathroom, designed by Barbra Bright.
Sculptural waves of blue suggest the Meditteranean Sea by reflecting light and adding fluid dimension, creating a bathroom that’s both luxe and inviting. The bathroom also features black and white tile made by Da Vinci Marble in San Carlos.
Sonoma Tilemakers creates intricate designs, using quality clays and unique glazes. Their range of exquisite styles can be found in various dealers throughout the U.S. Each tile is handmade in a Windsor studio.
No Drama Llama Bathroom
Healdsburg designer Julia Berger’s swoon-worthy linens are featured in the wonderfully playful yet elegant No Drama Llama bathroom.
A Dina Bandman design, the “Jack and Jill bathroom” embraces maximalist style—mosaic tile in rainbow animal patterns, fanciful lampshades, a high-gloss red cabinet and red tile accents. Bandman anchors all the fun in classic style and tops the beauty off with scalloped-edge towels by Julia B Handmade for Life. Embroidered monogram lettering echoes the bamboo-style trim of the cabinet.
Bandman intends for the beauty of the Jack and Jill bathroom to ward off conflict that can occur between siblings, hence the name of this whimsical triumph. With all the beauty to take in at the 2020 showcase, things can be “no drama llama indeed” — at least while we’re watching.
The work of these Sonoma County artisans and others can be viewed at the 2020 Showcase Virtual Tour. Tickets are $25. For more information, visit: decoratorshowcase.org/virtual.