The latest shops, goods, and happenings in the Bay Area and beyond.
Designer Playground
Worshippers at the altar of Eames are already making the pilgrimage to the new Design Within Reach showroom, which—at an awesome 20,000 square feet—is a midcentury style mecca of religious proportions. Take initiation rites at the Design Library’s two Swatch Walls, each with 300 colors and textures for your consideration (above), and then sink into 30 full-room vignettes and try out 70 different chairs in the Dining Test Lab. (Potrero)
Fresh Pressed
Profane meets profound in the limited-edition release of the Fucking Brilliant journal and Fan-fucking-tastic notecards ($10–15 from Chronicle Books). The set is designed by Linus Boman, the master of “exquisite expletives” at London stationer Calligraphuck. - Allison McCarthy
Perfect 100
Salvatore Ferragamo is celebrating its 100th anniversary in molto style, with a shiny new Post Street address. The store is stocked with spring fashions and It bags, such as this Lucite-and-snakeskin clutch ($2,650), designed exclusively for San Francisco. (Union Square)
Ultimate Oakland Guide
Longtime East Bay resident Melissa Davis makes a case for the new Brooklyn in her book, This Is Oakland: A Guide to the City’s Most Interesting Places, due out this May. Davis shares her favorite haunts, including Piedmont’s “impossibly cool” home store Neighbor; Marrow, for cheeseburgers and crispy potato salad; and Temescal’s Elder & Pine, where she picks up “cool grooming products, lumberjack wear, and camping gear” for her husband. ($35)
Local Bazaar
BaBoo, a newcomer to Sacramento Street’s boutique row, is a taste of Tel Aviv by way of New York. Owned by Israeli native Galit Chay, the shop evokes a love for travel off the beaten path, with treasures such as Tovi Farber’s rough-hewn gold jewelry and Gaga and Design’s playful woven COD chair ($1,155, pictured). (Presidio Heights)
Green Acres
Leave it to high-profile partners Gavin Newsom, Gordon Getty, and John Conover to put their all into Odette Estate, a LEED-certified winery on the Silverado Trail, designed by rising starchitect Juancarlos Fernandez and set to open this May. In addition to a knockout debut cabernet release, don’t miss the 18,000-square-foot retrofitted cave with a living roof. For those who can’t wait, the tasting room is open now. (Napa)
Ring Leaders
Rachel Gant and Andrew Deming might cringe if we called them techies—but the duo behind Yield Design Co. are now making casts for their minimalist Endswell rings using a 3-D printer. From their studio at Page and Franklin Streets, they downplay the method’s novelty, noting it’s “just a tool” for exploring form. And true enough: The resulting white-, yellow-, and rose-gold rings (starting at $295) are more fluid, organic sculpture than high-tech heavy metal. (Hayes Valley), available by appointment and online.
This article was published in 7x7's March issue. Click here to subscribe.
