Reading about the young Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, this link to an earlier film about her life appeared. Watching it I was struck by her shy smile, the rushing waters where she lived in northern Pakistan and the inescapable violence that surrounded her. But I was also fascinated by her parents–the never photographed mother [...]
I grew up in a farmhouse where most of the rooms were covered in wallpaper. Flocked wallpaper in the entryway became the backdrop for my wedding photos. Big orange and white panels of wallpaper led the way to my bedroom. Fish swam on bathroom walls and English gardens bloomed in the kitchen. In my grown-up [...]
Last Friday I put together my Friday Things post and stepped away from my desk to meet a friend for lunch. Twenty minutes later I was hit by a car as I was crossing the street to meet her. Yes, I was in the crosswalk. And no, I hadn’t looked both ways before crossing. I [...]
All that’s gold glitters and shimmers (matte is in!) at this year’s San Francisco Decorator Showcase. Held in a grand 1907 brick mansion in Presidio Heights, this showcase house offers the chance to see some of the best Bay Area designers showcasing their best work. The show runs through May 26–go to www.decoratorshowcase.org for tickets. [...]
San Francisco’s McRosky Mattress Company has been promising a good night’s sleep to their customers for 115 years. Recently, they asked designer Brian Dittmar to create an eye-opening bedscape for their Market Street store window. “With Twitter and other tech innovators nearby, they wanted something that would attract the younger crowd that’s rejuvenating this area [...]
While I was in Jackson Hole last weekend, I had a few hours between wedding events to check out some new-to-me sights. First up—the National Museum of Wildlife Art. This hillside museum features American and European wildlife paintings and sculpture–the kind of art you might find covering the walls in National Park Lodges or Sun [...]
Last weekend I traveled to Jackson Hole for my cousin Anna’s mountaintop wedding. Walking out of the airport, smelling the crisp air and looking at the snow covered Teton range, I immediately felt at home. Though I grew up on the other side of the Tetons, the frosty high altitude setting is so deeply imbedded [...]
Quilts are more than bedcoverings, they’re also works of art. Marie Strait, President of the Board of Directors for the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles recently told me that “quiltmaking has always been a way for women to practice art while doing something practical.” Strait, an avid quilter and quilting teacher, was one [...]
Happy Valentine’s Day! A few weeks ago I was stuck on a muddy road outside Tarma, Peru waiting over an hour for construction to clear. Was I frustrated? Of course. But after awhile I stopped fussing about getting to our destination and started focusing on the unexpected beauty around me. I saw a good [...]
On a not-so-blue-skies day last week I popped into Design San Francisco to catch Suzanne Tucker’s gracious presentation about her design practice illustrated with projects from her new book “The Romance of Design”. (Read more of what Tucker had to say in my BANG profile this weekend.) After she’d finished, I took a closer look at the [...]
