(Photography by Christopher Stark)
Our favorite room at this year's SF Decorator Showcase? Tineke Triggs' mezcal bar, of course!
03 September 2020
"Now with Covid, I think everybody needs a bar in their house." That's interior designer Tineke Triggs, who is clearly a very wise and sane woman with her finger on the zeitgeist.
Perhaps we are biased—we also love mezcal and Mexico, two of the San Francisco design maven's favorite things (since shelter in place, we have no qualms about shaking up a mezcal margarita when 5pm rolls around, or maybe earlier, don't judge)—but we're ready to call it for Cala Mezcal as the most inspired room in the 43rd Annual San Francisco Decorator Showcase.
Built in 1926, the 6,500-square-foot manse in the Outer Richmond's tony West Clay Park has five bedrooms and five-and-a-half baths spanning three levels. In total, 27 spaces—including a media room, reading room, and wine cellar—have gotten the midas touch from 21 Bay Area designers for the annual benefit for SF University High School's financial aid program. The showcase house will make its all-virtual debut to the public on Saturday, September 5th.
But back to Cala Mezcal. As Triggs says, when you have a house this large, "you need a space that feels like your own nightclub"—a sexy "getaway club that's very sophisticated and interesting…with the underbelly of the Latin culture." We're listening.
From the home's media room called the Liquid Lounge—an '80s-chic hangout, also designed by Triggs, with low-slung furnishings and geometric patterns galore—you'll get a tease of a view into Cala Mezcal through a gold chain curtain. Pull it back and ta-da!—your very own cocktail lounge that has the plushness of a Mexico City nightspot, the rustic hipster vibes of a San José del Cabo cantina, and floating shelves for all your artisanal Oaxacan spirits.
A mural of the Mexican desert planted with shadowy agave, by the decorative painter Caroline Lizarraga, sets a moody tone, relinquishing all the pop to a rosy velvet banquette and a one-of-a-kind, melting digital artwork by the Spaniard Daniel Canogar. In the bar portion of the space, ipe wood panels climb the wall and curve over the ceiling with the intent of hugging you in while you take your shots. Speaking of which, if you've ever thrown one back from a jug with a snake it at La Revolución, you know that the serpent is inextricable from Mexican culture and lore, both drinking and otherwise. Slithering across the table here is a mighty bejeweled reptile, also hand-painted by Lizarraga and "affectionately named Shakira."
Find more photos and details of Triggs' Cala Mezcal and Liquid Lounge in the slideshow below. When the Decorator Showcase goes live, also look out for the fabulous, art-filled living room by Applegate Tran and the luxurious Listening Room by Chad Dorsey Design.
*UPDATE Sept. 21: You may now shop furniture, accessories, and art from the SF Decorator Showcase via Chairish!
(Photography by Christopher Stark)
Called the Liquid Lounge, the Tineke Triggs–designed media room takes its cue from the Memphis design movement founded in the early 1980s by the legendary Milanese designer Ettore Sottsass. The mood is light and bright with lots of texture, modern art, and geometric patterns. The room's anchors include a custom sectional sofa by Arden Home; a Jean de Merry sideboard sourced at Coup D'Etat; Birnam Wood Studio's geometric coffee table; and David Trubridge's Navicula chandelier.
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(Photography by Christopher Stark)
Bay Area artist Ryan Bucko's "Linear Interplay" and "Neutra II" frame the corner of the Liquid Lounge, where a metal chain curtain from Kriskadecor signals the entrance from the Liquid Lounge to Cala Mezcal. This yellow area rug hails from Scott Group Studio.
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(Photography by Christopher Stark)
The art here is on point, from the paper sculptures at left by San Anselmo artist Christopher West to Daniel Canogar's "Amalgama," a digital piece that uses an algorithm to seemingly liquify archival works of art in an ever-changing trippy display.
▲(Photography by Christopher Stark)
Beneath a Cliff Hersh Skylon chandelier, Stephen Antonson's sculptural plaster table seems to have grown out of the very Mexican desert depicted in the mural here, by decorative painter Caroline Lizarraga. The custom banquette is also by Arden Home.
▲(Photography by Christopher Stark)
If ever there were a shrine to artisanal Mexican spirits, Cala Mezcal is it. Ipe panels bring warmth to the shadowy desert while bottles and trinkets seem to float on the marble-topped custom bar by Go Build Studio.
▲(Photography by Christopher Stark)
Pull up a Token bar stool to admire the snake—an important symbol both in Mexican heritage and popular drinking culture—hand-painted by Caroline Lizarraga.
▲// The 43rd Annual San Francisco Decorator Showcase launches live online Saturday, Sept. 5. Admission ($25) includes access to a virtual video tour, self-guided 3D tours, and video interviews with designers. For more info and tickets, go to decoratorshowcase.org.
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