PINTEREST has New Color Boards by INSTUDIO
A rainbow of living color has been developed as Pin Boards by INSTUDIO Design Directors. Pinterest has become an INSTUDIO gallery exhibiting inspirations, furniture, art, lighting, design, products, textiles and accessories that matches the Design Directors unique style. Previously similar items were grouped together on Pin Boards by period, style, item or product. The new [...]
Calder Red for a Palm Springs Family Room
INSTUDIO Design Directors have an annual design direction meeting in Palm Springs, California with clients who purchased a furnished vacation condominium. Each year the clients replaced existing furnishings with a combination of mid century, contemporary, vintage, local and used furniture, art and accessories to match their personal style. The clients developed a palette of sandy [...]
Artistic Collaboration Created at Big Umbrella Studios
Works by artists who are part of art collectives is the innovative thought behind the current exhibit at Big Umbrella Studios. The idea of collaboration is the foundation of the art collective’s shared gallery, studio and workspace which were created by visual art graduates of the University of San Francisco in 2007. Artists can be [...]
Chairish Your Fine Home Furnishings
Lynne Gillan was the first of the INSTUDIO Design Directors to discover “Chairish” the online consignment marketplace for design obsessed people to buy and sell exceptional pre-owned home furnishings. The three Design Directors work in the studio as a team to conceptualize and review each interior design project on a regular basis. Over time each [...]
Artist Michael Ross is Drawing Living Houses
A portrait of a house is usually thought of as the perfectly rendered ideal drawing of a home as envisioned by an architect or builder. Bay Area artist Michael Ross uses a vivid complementary color palette of artist crayons along with his free form drawing style to capture a deeper life of home. Michael’s imaginary [...]
Vintage Restyled in Palm Springs California
In the 1970’s a stylish Midwestern lady decided that it was time to escape long lasting winter weather. She started a family tradition of yearly sojourns to Palm Springs California when she and her husband purchased a condominium to enjoy the warmth of the desert sun. She decorated her winter home with a neutral color [...]
The Secret Life of Plants Exposed!
San Francisco artist Ron M. Saunders expresses his interests and talents in three diverse ways: landscape architecture, photography and as an artist. He is a professional landscape architect who creates his visions through the natural world with horticulture. His fascination with photography developed into an interest in creating photograms. (A nineteenth-century photographic process which captures [...]
Modernist Blonds Are Coming Home
Classic Modernist furnishings by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto were first introduced in blond woods and have stayed true to their blond roots. Light colored woods drift in and out of style trends in the United States. Beautiful blonds now have staying power as modernist classics by architect Charles Eames and sculptor Isamu Noguchi have recently [...]
Black Power
Black is used by Interior Designers, industrial designers and furniture designers for its ability to capture the eye. Black forms draw attention to their sculptural shapes by defining and creating silhouettes against contrasting surroundings or colors. Black is the darkest color. It refuses to absorb light and demands to stand on its own as a [...]
Design Direction for the Green Room
In movies set designers take artistic liberties when developing interiors for real and fictionalized stories to make us believe in the characters that are portrayed on the silver screen. INSTUDIO Design Directors used their imagination to develop the story of an urban movie loving couple who decided to turn their small home media room into [...]
The Art of a Spiritual Evolution
San Francisco Artist William Rhodes expresses his spiritual evolution through his works of art. His solo exhibit, “What is Your Spiritual Evolution?”, at the Sargent Johnson Gallery of the African American Art & Culture Complex asks about yours. Rhodes is an Artist, Wood Carver, Craftsman and Furniture Maker who combines his talents with his interest [...]
Magnificent Mud Room in San Francisco
INSTUDIO provided Design Direction for a basement to attic remodel of a Victorian home adjacent to San Francisco’s Duboce Park. A young family of four needed their home to reflect their active lifestyle with the addition of modern conveniences. The homeowners wanted to retain the look of classical details that were original to the house [...]
Contemporary Custom Lighting with a Vintage Vibe
SOMA, or South of Market in San Francisco, has been known for cultivating artistic talents for decades. Creativity can be seen in galleries, shops and manufacturing businesses where interior designers source one of a kind items for their clients. INSTUDIO Design Directors frequent The Malder Company where a wide range of custom lighting design, services [...]
BLOBS by San Francisco Artist LUCAS SEVEN
Lucas Seven’s new “BLOBS” series of eight by ten inch stretched canvas acrylic paintings were developed with a few key words in mind: Shape, Color & Fun. The black background of the paintings shows the character’s carefully thought out details and is a great contrast to the BLOBS bright colors. The playful characters created from [...]
MUJI Moves Minimal Modern Style to San Francisco
When products are sold at the Museum of Modern Art STORE inNew York City it’s safe to say that the items selected for the store are destined to become internationally known design classics. INSTUDIO Interior Design Director Samuel Fleming Lewis has purchased iconic items from the MoMA STORE since the 1980’s that he continues to [...]
Evan gets ACCESS to INSTUDIO Design Direction
San Francisco is well known for quirky apartments carved out of grand Victorian homes. Two young professionals recently from Washington D.C. admitted that their dog Evan sealed the deal for their securing a unique garden apartment. When their future landlord saw images of him via email the apartment was soon theirs. A small private garden [...]
White Marble Enhances any Style of Bathroom
Whether your personal style is classic or contemporary white marble is a versatile, luxurious material that can enhance any bathroom. Purists may insist on Italian Carrara for its white background and gray veining. A wide range of subtle color can be found in a variety of white marbles. The timeless appeal of the stone is [...]
The Award Winning Octagon Table Realized
As a celebration of its one hundredth year of creating fine hand-made furniture in North Carolina; Hickory Chair Furniture Company launched a Centennial Design Challenge. San Francisco furniture and interior designer Samuel Fleming Lewis of INSTUDIO submitted a table design inspired by an Asian influenced Frank Lloyd Wright designed candlestick. Lewis’s Octagon Table won the [...]
A Functional Fetching Foyer for Bike Riders
The transition space between the front door and the living room of an apartment or home can be called a Foyer, Vestibule, Entrance Hall, or Ante-room. Traditionally the Foyer was a space reserved for a coat tree, umbrella stand, mirror, console table, a graceful chandelier, a beautiful rug and a bouquet of flowers. These items [...]
Food for Thought: Dining and Design
Eating in a formal dining room may only occur during special occasions, holidays or because of dinner invitations. INSTUDIO Design Directors recently began looking for a special dining room table/suite for a family who considers it mandatory for their young children to be seated at the table for daily meals as well as for family [...]
Design Direction for a San Francisco Remodel
Living in a recently purchased house for six months to a year can often be the best way for homeowners to figure out what is needed to mold their house into a home. A San Francisco family of four found a house that suited them but did very little to it except for a change [...]
The Chair Reinvented by Ward Bennett
Ward Bennett’s contribution to chair design was well known to designers of luxury corporate office interiors of the 1970’s and 1980’s. Bennett designed more than 150 chairs, many of which have become classics. Simplicity and comfort were always his goals. The designs that were realized by furniture manufacturer Brickell were always refined and elegant. Interior [...]
Unofficial Open Studios at INSTUDIO
INSTUDIO invites art & interior design enthusiast to visit their new studio at “Unofficial Open Studios”, Saturday & Sunday, November 3 – 4, 2012 from 11am to 6pm. The Design Directors of INSTUDIO are equally fine artists and interior designers. INSTUDIO interior design clients often select works that were created by the Design Directors to [...]
Getting Graphic in the Bedroom
Pop art influenced interior design of 1960’s bedrooms. Bold graphics and color were being printed on bedding for the first time. Solid pastel bedding gave way to an art movement; the canvas was our beds. Artist Vera Neumann, Graphic Designer Peter Max and Finnish company Marimekko brought bold textiles and graphic prints to American homes. [...]
