Design Comes First • Innovative Design That Is.

Ernest Hemingway said "Cut out the ornamentation and design as straight as you can" - he was speaking of the written word. I see what he meant. I have this thing with clean lines. I have this thing with order. I definitely have a thing with innovative designers who see those lines, who seek risk, who champion ambition, who push beyond the ordinary - whose vision is to draw you in, to startle you into an emotional response that you don't expect. 

I step into a space, and before all else I anchor my feet solidly on the ground. I take it all in. I actually cannot take a seat until I have taken it all in. I take in the vision, the intent, the originality. I take in the beauty, the experimentation, the chance taken, the genius. I relish the moment.
Only after I have this this all in - once I am more than a little dizzy with awe - will I then sit down - or simply continue looking.

Each of the places below stopped me in my tracks. Each one has inspired me from the very moment I stepped on its threshold. Take a road trip, stay close to home - it does not matter. Look. See. Risk. Design. Create. Be the catalyst. Take a chance. And look again.

•  Presqu'île Winery • Orcutt •

ØL Beer Café & Bottle Shop • Walnut Creek •

•  Sans Liège Wine Bar • Pismo Beach •

•  Sir Francis Drake Hotel • San Francisco •

•  Museum of Modern Art • San Francisco •

•  Preserve • Winters •

•  Frank Lloyd Wright Civic Center • San Rafael •

•  Calicraft Brewing Company • Walnut Creek •

• Lincoln Park Wine Bar • San Anselmo •

I have added the links to each place. There are so many stunning spaces that speak to my sense of aesthetics - my curiosity for the unique. My list just wants to grow.

My older daughter has caught the bug. She has a unique way of capturing modern spaces, ageless spaces. I can see that she is moved by them.

Remember to stand still, to look up, to look around - don't just eat the food drink the drink view the art spend the night file the forms. Take it ALL in. You will see very quickly how good it is for the soul. 

Enjoy as always, Adeline

China on my mind…

Malaysian Airline Flight 370 has been on my mind quite a bit these past days. Like many people, there are a myriad of reasons why some of us are affected by this tragic mysterious loss. Unexplained losses are the hardest.

I spent all my high school years in Singapore, with the last two in boarding school as my parents moved to Malaysia. I have fond memories of a train journey from Singapore through Malaysia onto Thailand with three classmates. Over the course of several years, I took similar flight paths as MA 370. I returned to Thailand when my parents were stationed there. I travelled to Hong Kong and Macau. I went on to mainland China to Guang Zhou. I returned to Singapore twelve years after my high school graduation to re-edit and retrace the steps of The Secret Map of Singapore which my parents had designed, and I was left speechless at the grandeur of the Wall of China a couple of years ago.

Now, living in Northern California, I am often drawn to San Francisco's Chinatown. I always sense a pull from all my years and travels in the Far East. With passengers from the flight being from many corners of the globe, by far the biggest loss is the Chinese. I honor them today with this small collection of colorful photos, which wrap themselves around my fanciful taste for Chinoiserie, whose colors blend with the vignettes of Provence in my home.

A rural home ~ a poem by Mei Yaochen (1002-1060)

The cock crows three times; the sky is almost light.

Someone's lined up bowls of rice, along with flasks of tea.
Anxiously, the peasants rush to start the ploughing early,
I pull aside the willow shutter and gaze at the morning stars.

• the last emperor of China, Pu Yi •

Off to the side of the main palaces in The Forbidden City in Beijing, I discovered stunning large photographs framed in Chinese lacquer red surrounding a small intimate courtyard .

 How nice it would be to sit there today, and reflect on the lives of all the people of flight MA370.

Indeed that would be … very good for the soul.

 Adeline

San Francisco: Cafés and lists

January in northern California has been exquisite. It's been a month of unseasonably mild sunny weather - day in, day out. I keep opening the windows. I look at  the sky, not a cloud in sight. As the month will soon roll into February, I revisit New Year's resolutions that have zigzagged through my mind; I love honoring new beginnings. 

I have a thing for lists. I make them at work; I make them at home; I make them in my head; I make them all the time. I tell my girls to make lists. Lists are good.

I do not have a lot of solo time. There is a place in San Francisco where I like to return to time and again. I can quietly contemplate my lists, and edit them to my heart's content. There is something quite lovely to me about the Café de La Presse on the edge of Chinatown, in the French Quarter. I easily tune out the locals, the tourists, the demanding toddlers, the bustling waiters. With my camera never far away, I notice details in the worn grain of my table, in the fold of the window curtain shielding the traffic beyond its panels. I gather a few crumbs from the flaky croissant. I ponder. I linger. I love the earth tones. The coffee is strong.

Still in the city at twilight? Another café to contemplate those resolutions. Lingering over the distressed copper-top tables and warm lights of Café Flore in the Castro District will definitely do the trick as well. Mind you by then, it's not coffee that will be on the table; and lists will be perfectly folded and tucked away!

Later I will cross the Golden Gate Bridge, updated lists in hand, invigorated, and rejoiced!

The Café De La Presse is at the gateway of Chinatown. The Lunar New Year starts early this year - on January 31st. The Year of the Horse will be celebrated. Time to ring in the New Year all over again! Does that mean new lists? New resolutions?! Definitely a new blog post is in order… with perhaps a hop across the ocean to China!

A quiet space ~ a simple list or two ~ it is always good for the soul. 

San Francisco...circa 2012

A New Year's eve outing on the San Francisco Bay...

The early morning light softly lit up the bay; the waters were peaceful; the sky was painting its own beauty, the skyline slowly etched itself, waiting for me to get closer.

On one side, the many islands, the famous bridges, the proud pyramid, the seasoned sailors and surfers, the beautiful Mount Tamalpais, the lazy houseboats.

On the other side, a farmers' market... old wooden crates, loosely woven baskets, rusty buckets, colorful trays, used canning jars, all filled with a myriad of fresh seasonal produce, locally made cheeses, sweet temptations, raffia wrapped flower bouquets...

Angel Island, Treasure Island, Alcatraz Island...each one with its own legend, 

and just a few fingertips away

an unexpected farmers' market bounty

a Happy New year it is bound to be

no resolutions • only more of the same  •  it is good for the soul