Comments on the style saloniste: Modern in San Francisco

LOVE the b/w photo ! Genius post, absolutely bril...

2009-09-17T06:30:05.306-07:00

LOVE the b/w photo ! Genius post, absolutely brilliant ! Loving your whole blog. Thank you & best wishes...

Hi! I think we figured it out! this is the first...

2009-09-16T11:44:53.246-07:00

Hi! I think we figured it out! this is the first time I have been able to leave a comment!

Penny

Hello, Catherine- About Marcolini-please be sure t...

2009-09-15T10:38:40.485-07:00

Hello, Catherine-
About Marcolini-please be sure to send me a report on a taste test (perhaps with your chef husband as well). I think his chocolates are superior--and so elegant and refined. He has the most unusual origins--a single fazenda in northern Brazil, for example--so you are tasting truly rare and beautiful chocolate.
In terms of regional style: yes, you are right that SF is not alone in its preference for traditional styles. Everyone, it seems, dreams of living in a Tuscan villa, a Palladian villa, or a French farmhouse. I can't help wondering if Realtors are partly to blame--by telling clients what will sell and what they will make most money on. Not modern, i am guessing.
Lynne: than you for your insider comments. Yes, you, as a fabulous decorative artist, see the best houses and the best architecture. We know that it is unlikely that you would be called into decorate a modern interior, but still...you are right that innovation in business is one matter, and a living room or house style is quite another. Everyone--almost--wants a house that looks familiar, that looks like their idea of 'home', and especially an aspirational idea, an enhanced concept of heritage, old-world elegance, and the implication of culture and riches.

Well presented as always, Diane, and I agree that ...

2009-09-14T19:25:48.158-07:00

Well presented as always, Diane, and I agree that about the residential design market here tending towards the traditional rather than the modern or contemporary styles. There are some notable exceptions of course, in commercial interiors mainly.
Just as the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles seems to have been all but completely overlooked in the Bay Area when the post-gold rush era barons embraced the Beaux-Arts/ neoclassical styles so they could appear more "established," I think the high tech crowd admire innovative design in electronic products but not so much in their bedrooms. When they give up the urban loft condo for a real house it seems they also want the comfort of a traditional interior. Even so, as I do a lot of "historical" style work, I am often (and happily) surprised by the juxtapositions of old and new we can achieve when called upon to add some old world atmosphere to a new space.

Hello Diane, Thanks so much for your tip on the Ma...

2009-09-14T07:57:48.470-07:00

Hello Diane,
Thanks so much for your tip on the Marcolini chocolates. I've just discovered that he has a shop in NYC which I will try to visit on my trip there this week. I can hardly wait to be surrounded by the great architecture of New York...so much is new since my last visit. (I lived there for 10 years.)Amusingly,where I live now people can't seem to decide whether they want a chateau or a tuscan villa and so they mix it together. Of course, neither belong here. Oh well, to each his own!
Will catch up with you on my return,
Catherine

Dear Dumbwit- Thank you for your kind comment. Yo...

2009-09-13T16:01:51.793-07:00

Dear Dumbwit-

Thank you for your kind comment.
Your insight is astute.
Yes, in fact, the same problems arose in Seattle after the Microsoft millionaires were building and acquiring their residences...no Ando or Meier there, either.
What is true: the venture capital execs and sometimes the marketing side and business side of Google and Kleiner Perkins or Oracle or eBay so call the top designers in San Francisco, like Steven Volpe or Paul Wiseman or Martha Angus. But it's unlikely if our dear Google founders have ever cracked a book on Herzog deMeuron or Piano.
And great...it is best that way, so that they can drive and guide Google and Blogger. A personal anecdote: When I was about to launch THE STYLE SALONISTE, I was at a private dinner and Larry Page and Sergey Brin were guests. I was chatting to Larry Page, and he said, 'So what have you been doing lately?' I said, 'I am starting my blog'...and he said "Great, be sure it's on Blogger and we can share the profits.' I assured him that I was working on Blogger. (At this point I do not take advertising.)
Dumbwit:
The reality is that modern --in the 21st century--has only recently become understood and liked and used by Americans in general. And that's a kind of oxymoron. America, the land of invention and promise and enterprise and advanced thinking--and 98 per cent of all furniture sold is 'traditional in inspiration'....
San Francisco, land of the avant-garde, is no different after all.

Diane such a thought provoking, informative post. ...

2009-09-13T13:14:39.421-07:00

Diane such a thought provoking, informative post. When you dissect those who work/live in San Francisco & would have the fortunes to hire a talent modern residential architect, it is no great surprise that modern is not what these innovators of high tech are drawn to. I've lived with and have friends who are engineers, & computer "geeks" (I mean that in a positive light) and I agree, their brains are typically not hard-wired to worship modern design. Style obsessed they are not. I grew up in Seattle & much applies the same there & in Portland, OR. Terrific post as always Diane. Many thanks ~

Diane- Such an interesting post as it is surprisin...

2009-09-11T05:51:19.232-07:00

Diane- Such an interesting post as it is surprising that people who are at the vanguard of technology do not embrace modern, cutting edge design. So nice to see that things are slowly starting to change.