Monday, January 30, 2017

Designer I Love: Eche Martinez

San Francisco interior designer Eche Martinez deploys artful color, graphics, and modern simplicity with verve.

Eche Martinez grew up and studied design in Buenos Aires, and worked on design in Paris. His cosmopolitan approach to style and his confident interplay of textures and colors have captured the imagination of clients throughout California.

Martinez has become the new favorite of young families, tech couples, and leading talents in the financial and art worlds.





“I always ask myself as a designer, ‘What’s next?’. I enjoy trying to figure out in which direction our taste and our industry are evolving, and discovering items that seem to be unrelated end up having a big impact in how we see and design spaces.”—Eche Martinez


Photo by Christopher Stark.

The versatile Martinez is currently working with Charlie Barnett Associates, Architects on a spectacular remodel of a Spanish colonial house in the Berkeley Hills that’s almost a hundred years old.

“It has proven to be a challenging project, in the best possible way, through a great collaboration with Charlie, his team and the clients,” said Martinez. “The level of restoration taking place in that project would make any historian proud.”

The designer is taking an eclectic approach and a more experimental style with elements like lighting.

“This house will see another hundred years, thanks to a very dynamic collaboration with the clients and Charlie,” said Martinez.


Photo by Christopher Stark.

Photo by Christopher Stark.

Photo by Christopher Stark.


“Early in my career I worked at branding and advertising agencies,” said Martinez. “This made me develop a deep interest for tools usually exclusive to graphic and web designers. I’m inspired by the use of typefaces, for example. It’s usually in new apps or websites where I spot the genesis of trends that end up having bigger impacts on design and fashion. I’m watching bold graphic statements through black and white, and ombré effects as visual backdrops. I admire the use of simple geometries like perfect cubes and spheres in contemporary lighting designs.” — Eche Martinez, January 2017

Martinez said that when he launched his design firm, Eche, in 2014, he wanted to be true to both architecture and design, combining them into a singular approach. His designs are informed by classical design juxtaposed with bold contemporary art.

“I want my work to be superbly planned and with lasting style. I love to reflect a fun, almost naughty and irreverent approach to life,” said the designer, whose studio is located in the heart of San Francisco’s design district. “ I believe that the everyday should be imbued with bit of theatricality and playfulness. Color should feel fresh and uplifting. Design should not be too serious or precious. Life and design should be joyful.” 


Interiors of a new apartment at the Millennium Tower  in San Francisco. Design by Martha Angus, styling by Eche Martinez.

Interiors of a new apartment at the Millennium Tower  in San Francisco. Design by Martha Angus, styling by Eche Martinez.

Interiors of a new apartment at the Millennium Tower  in San Francisco. Design by Martha Angus, styling by Eche Martinez.

Interiors of a new apartment at the Millennium Tower  in San Francisco. Design by Martha Angus, styling by Eche Martinez.


Martinez said that his design is also informed by his travels.

“After I attended design and business schools in Buenos Aires and Paris, I was hired to shape brands and interiors for premier real estate developments and homes in Europe and The Americas. My passion for bold graphical elements became apparent and to this day I use the tools I learnt in those early days of my career.”

For Martinez, experiencing a wide range of top-level design concepts enriched his ideas. 







Martinez said he finds endless inspiration in the work of French thirties designer, Jean-Michel Frank.

“I love his constant experimentation and use of unconventional materials like rye-straw marquetry, glove leather, mica, or parchment to create design with luxurious austerity,” he said.

French designers fire his imagination.

“Among the great contemporaries, Jean-Louis Deniot is the ultimate rock star in our industry,” said Martinez. “ I saw his work for the first time almost fifteen years ago and up to this day I am still amazed at his talent when it comes to compositions. He doesn’t lock himself up into any particular point of view and he keeps pushing boundaries constantly. I am to do that myself in my work.”







Carefully considered color and sensual textures are key elements for Martinez.

“Given my modernist aesthetic, I prefer staying away from pattern, which I usually consider a distraction taking away from the key elements in a room,” he said. “Growing up in South America had a deep impact in how I see and interpret color, making me tend for a bolder sense of color and contrast when coming up with palettes. Though people notice I am not afraid of bold accents in my designs I also gravitate towards subtle neutral palettes with softer accents.”


Vivid and inspiring children’s playroom with custom-made teepees, at a recent San Francisco Decorator Showcase, designed by Martha Angus with Eche Martinez.

Vivid and inspiring children’s playroom with custom-made teepees, at a recent San Francisco Decorator Showcase, designed by Martha Angus with Eche Martinez.

Vivid and inspiring children’s playroom with custom-made teepees, at a recent San Francisco Decorator Showcase, designed by Martha Angus with Eche Martinez.

Vivid and inspiring children’s playroom with custom-made teepees, at a recent San Francisco Decorator Showcase, designed by Martha Angus with Eche Martinez.


“Some of my fondest memories growing up in Argentina were spending afternoons at my grandfather’s test kitchen. He had trained in London and was an incredibly talented pastry chef,” said Martinez. “My grandmother, an unbelievably chic and smart woman was passionate about design, and my mother went back to school and pursued a major in interior design. Though she never practiced as a designer she had a deep impact in the development of my career interests.”

Today, his days buzz with new projects, travels, collaborations, study and discoveries.

“Always an optimist, I believe this is the best moment and place to be a designer,” said Martinez. “Today, through technology I can connect and collaborate with artisans from all over the world, working in an easy and efficient way. We can help create work for artisans and their immediate communities in places that would otherwise seem isolated. All while creating a beautiful space/environment that celebrates that global connection. Count me in.” 




Images with kind permission of Eche Martinez. Some photography, as noted, is by Christopher Stark 
(http://christopherstarkphoto.com).

Eche’s office is located in the Design District of San Francisco:

2021 Seventeenth St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
eche@echemartinez.com

5 comments:

Susan Vanasco-Howell said...

Fabulous talent! Ever growing. A very nice long article and all the photos! Wow. What a very interesting mind you havre Eche Martinez! It shows.

Philip Bewley said...

His work is up to the minute in every way. Love seeing these rooms incorporating superb art collections. I think his connection between graphic design, typefaces, to wider influences in design is fascinating and spot on.
Loved this.

Diane Dorrans Saeks said...

Philip-



I totally agree.

Thank you for your astute comment and observations.

Yes...his rooms and designs averred current...but show a keen awareness of design history.

and you are right...he works well with art. He is also super-nice and always bright and cheerful.

Lucky are the clients and talents and art curators and everyone who works with him.

yes...we are lucky to work with him in San Francisco--DIANE

columnist said...

Very crisp, and I especially like the monochromatic scheme in the first photo, and sympathise with the wayward ceiling lines in another monochromatic scheme; I have that problem here too, and deal with it the same way - aligning the pictures with the furniture beneath.

Diane Dorrans Saeks said...

Hello, Columnist and friends...


COLUMNIST...you have been reading THE STYLE SALONISTE from the beginning...9 years...wow...

thank you for your observations and great presence...

yes..ECHE is a wonderful person...just got married this week...and he has such a fine-tuned design/ architecture concept and ideas.
he is going to have a fantastic career--DIANE