Author: Sheri Baer

Words by Sheryl Nonnenberg

John and Sue Diekman did not set out to be art collectors. As young newlyweds, they took a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, where they happened upon a gallery and saw a painting titled Sonora Confluence by James Conaway. As Sue describes it, “We didn’t know anything about art, but we loved the color and the movement in this painting.” They purchased it for their first home in Palo Alto and, as John says with a smile, “We felt real grown up.”

John and Sue still have that painting and proudly show it off to anyone visiting their mid-Peninsula home. That initial purchase led to a lifetime of acquiring the art collection that now fills the rooms of their home. The idea of sequestering their art in storage has never appealed to the couple, so they display their whole collection around their residences and John’s San Francisco office. The collection has grown to over 100 pieces, each and every one steeped in stories and memories.

Although their collection has no specific theme or parameters (post-war American art, for example), the couple has stuck to one important requirement: they both have to like whatever they acquire. How do two people always agree on something as subjective as art? Sue admits, “There is usually someone who sparks first.” She offers the example of a watercolor that she fell in love with, Sentinels of the Goldfields by artist Judy Holding. John admits, “I was not completely sold on it at first,” adding that watercolor has never been his favorite medium. Upon further consideration, he realized that the landscape of the Australian Outback would be a good reminder of their travels. “We think of those wonderful trips every time we pass it in the hallway,” says Sue.

This is the glue, the foundation, of their very personal art collection. “That is the nice thing about specific pieces of art,” says Sue. “It reminds you of people, of places you have been and experiences you have had.”

Without knowing it, the couple has followed the age-old advice for art collecting: start small, buy what you love and educate your eye by visiting galleries and museums. Art of every media fills the cozy living room and, as they describe the various pieces, another fact comes to light—the importance of relationships with artists whose work they collect. Take two bronze sculptures by English artist Paul Day. On a vacation to Burgundy, France, they happened upon Day’s work in a gallery, bought several pieces, then became friends with the artist. Getting together with Day and his family has become part of their summer sojourns.

John also highlights California painter Roland Petersen’s boldly colorful San Francisco Rooftops, which has pride of place in the room. He has a special affinity for the artist’s signature brilliant cobalt blue paint and reminisces fondly about visiting the artist’s studio. “He is a character and a really good guy.”

While they have purchased art from galleries—Paul Thiebaud and Haines galleries in San Francisco, Crown Point Press and Pamela Walsh Gallery in Palo Alto, to name a few—the couple have never utilized the services of an art consultant and love to work directly with artists when they can.

There are several whose work they have collected in some depth. Like Wayne Thiebaud, who was the subject of a recent solo exhibition at the Legion of Honor Museum. They own numerous prints by the artist as well as one of his signature food paintings, Six Cakes. “If I could, I would buy a Thiebaud every day,” declares John.

They also have a great affinity for the work of Roy de Forest, who is known for his affiliation with the California Funk Movement of the 1970s. As dog lovers, Sue and John appreciate that canines are the subject matter of several of his colorful, almost psychedelic mixed-media works. They enjoy sharing how de Forest visited their home, saw a sculpture of his entitled Dog Bench and promptly decided it needed to be reworked. “He literally showed up one day, took the old one and made a new one,” John says with a laugh. It’s obvious that this quirky interaction only adds more value to the piece for the Diekmans.

English sculptor David Nash also holds special interest for the couple. “We met him when he had a residency at the Djerassi Resident Art Program,” explains John. The Diekmans own several of his early-work wood sculptures, all carved with a chainsaw and intended to be rough surfaced. John expresses amazement at the amount of control the artist has in carving out the various types of wood, including oak, madrone and walnut. Now friends with Nash, they also proudly display a collection of pastel Christmas cards sent from the artist over the years.

Every once in a while, a special work requires special accommodations. One of their largest pieces, a painting titled Above Fifth Avenue by Ben Aronson, which reminds them of enjoyable visits to New York City, required more space. So the couple remodeled a hallway, making it wider and higher for optimal viewing of the seven-foot-tall painting.

As the collection has continued to grow, the overflow of art has advanced outdoors. Large-scale works by Bruce Beasley, George Rickey, Gene Flores and Jesus Moroles grace the yard. Whenever possible, John and Sue allow the artists input as to where their work will be placed.

Sue points out a lovely bronze sculpture of a woman by former Stanford professor Nathan Oliveira, which stands outside the front door—a Christmas gift from her husband many years ago. John laughs as he remembers the effort it took to install the piece in a large cement plinth. “It’s never moving!”

Which raises the question of the collection’s future. After much discussion, selected works will be gifted to both Stanford University, where John and Sue met as graduate students, and to Princeton University, where John earned his undergraduate degree. Other pieces will be gifted to family members.

Are they still collecting? John replies, “Only if we have room.” Sue is quick to add, “We don’t, so the answer is no.” And yet, when asked if they could, perhaps, move things around to accommodate something new that they both really liked, neither said no.

The Diekmans clearly have enjoyed their collecting journey as well as incorporating art into their everyday life. “I don’t think of it as ‘acquiring art’ so much as having art that I love around me,” reflects Sue. “For me, art evokes memories and emotions that are relaxing. Art also makes me curious. I look at a piece of art and wonder what the artist was thinking and wanted to convey to the viewer. Most of all, art makes me smile.”

Words by Loureen Murphy

Long before high tech, amidst our region’s orchards, a 1937 adobe sported the latest in brick tech—12,000 “Bitudobe” blocks, comprising clay soil plus stabilizer. Over the decades, as newer innovations blossomed around it, the venerable home languished. Though its story could have ended in demolition, love saved and transformed it for the future.

Upon encountering this remarkable residence, the buyers recognized their forever family home. The classic adobe features—rugged wood beams, tile floors, wrought iron hardware—resonated with their beloved Mexican heritage and invited their whimsical touch. But its authenticity rendered it too rustic for 21st-century living. The homeowners depended on the corner fireplaces for heat, open windows for cooling, and basically camped indoors, living and working within the aging walls. To remedy this, they reached out to Fergus Garber Architects (FGA) about renovations.

Knowing their clients’ yen to preserve the home’s historic character while updating, Catharine “Cath” Fergus Garber, FGA’s founder, and Olivia Delbono, the project’s lead architect, spent the first few months assessing the full scope, then proceeded with sensitivity and savvy.

They addressed leaning walls, old, leaky plumbing and exposed electrical wiring, all obvious fixes. The surprise came when pulling up the original terra cotta floor tile revealed bare ground below. No foundation, no slab. A down-to-earth home, quite literally. Keeping the home’s signature look, Olivia and Cath hid all the new infrastructure, including heating and AC, beneath a new slab and tile as well as above lowered ceilings. Likewise, they achieved earthquake stability by drilling from the top down and inserting steel pins through the adobe bricks.

No question, the 1937 terra cotta roof had to come off, Olivia says, but “We reused the old tiles as much as possible, placing the historic tiles at the front to be seen street-side.” Solar panels now bask discreetly on the roof’s back slope.

Cath says one of the greatest challenges lay in the more subtle craft of creating adequate lighting. “We wanted to cut into the adobe as little as possible.” Illuminating client-architect conversations prompted a balance of sconces and lamps with natural light. In various rooms, artisan-crafted light fixtures complement the old.

The clients loved crossing eras and styles while staying true to the house, so Olivia and Cath engaged local and Mexican artisans to create new pieces and replicate the home’s non-salvageable ones. Painted cabinets bear brush marks, “charming imperfections,” as Olivia calls them. A Napa artist hand-painted a kitchen island and built-in hutch with flowers, highlighting its carved features. They also restored an interior mural depicting an ancestor panning for gold.

The couple display their contemporary art pieces from the custom picture rail in the dining room. There, and in bedrooms, antique-style tassels hang from vintage-inspired draperies from textile masters Zack + Fox. Custom-designed rods and finials, with a hand-hammered finish, harmonize with the home’s native hardware.

In the courtyard, a custom Talavera tile mural, based on a 1930s picture of the house, resides over the potting bench, with the current family dog added to the timeless image. Below the mural, an old stone sink sits on the salvaged-wood bench itself, which will grey with time, adding to the “always been there” effect.

The most dramatic makeover, the garage-turned-ADU, sparkles like a gem. Its sunlit kitchen, specifically designed for the wife’s baking, warms under strategic skylights. Behind the custom oven, the Moroccan backsplash tiles bear subtle inconsistencies conveying their handmade status. Cath says that though the unit still appears garage-like from the front, a more beautiful and functional door now hides two electric car chargers. On the other side, large French doors open to the back, blurring the indoor-outdoor divide.
Another practical change: the Halloween-loving homeowners wanted a second front gate to create an easy flow for trick-or-treaters and visitors of their festive October 31 display. Their community spirit has already proven a big hit with neighbors of all ages.

In 1937, the cutting-edge builders created a house that likely outlasted their intentions. Today, the renovated adobe embodies affection for the past, joy in the present and hope for the family’s future. No longer surrounded by orchards but an active neighborhood, the home is further embraced and nourished by a kitchen garden and flourishing fruit trees.

Cath calls the project, “a perfect job for us” because they love working hand-in-hand with their clients as they did here. “People choose to work with our firm, not because we have a specific style, but because we have a good collaborative style.”

remarkable revival – fg-arch.com

Words by Sheryl Nonnenberg

When Eilish Lancaster was growing up in Dublin, she made most of her own clothes. As one of six children—“a typical Irish family”—necessity dictated that she become handy with a sewing machine, she explains. From these humble beginnings came a love for anything handcrafted, which eventually led to a second career as the owner of Lark San Carlos.

A redhead with a lilting accent, Eilish studied computer science in college and left Dublin for a job with Microsoft. “I was lucky, because I got sent to San Francisco, rather than the headquarters in Seattle,” she says. She worked for the company from 2000 to 2011, then left for a short stint at Amazon, followed by a decade at Google. Eilish enjoyed her work, but says she was ready for a change.

After walking past a shop in San Mateo that offered classes in working with leather, Eilish explored it as a hobby. “I love working with my hands and learning by doing,” she says. When she enrolled in a class in leather crafting at Lark in downtown San Carlos, she met Angela Kalayjian, the store’s owner. Angela had recently announced plans to sell the business and Eilish jumped at the chance for a new career direction. “Opening a store wasn’t necessarily my plan, but I just took it as an opportunity,” she says. “I didn’t have to start from scratch and if I was ever going to do it, it was handed to me on a platter.”

In January, Eilish took over ownership of Lark and quickly began putting her own stamp on the gift shop by focusing on handcrafted goods made by local artists. Through her work on the board of Art Bias, an artist’s collaborative in Redwood City, Eilish was familiar with many artists in the area. She invited some of them to show their art at Lark and soon began hearing from other craftspeople. “Artists are very connected to each other through markets and fairs,” she explains. In less than a year, Eilish says that she has increased the number of artists represented at Lark from 10 to around 40.

Wander around the thoughtful displays that reveal a wealth of works in media including jewelry, ceramics, paintings, woodcrafts, photography and stationery. Eilish says she’s very willing to try things out to see if they will sell. Her experience in the last year has shown that while gallery art (which gets changed monthly) does not sell quickly, “table runners do really well.” Jewelry and other small items have also been very popular. She appears to be on the right track, since Lark was voted the best gift shop in the 2025 Best of San Mateo Awards.

As she gets to know her clientele and strives to offer the right items at the right price point, Eilish is determined to stay true to her goal of offering hand-made objects by local artists and running a store that is ecologically friendly. How does a small shop compete with online giants like Amazon and Etsy? Eilish concedes that trying to run a viable brick-and-mortar business is extremely challenging. “I am not trying to compete with online. I am trying to sell things that are unique and local … things you can’t buy elsewhere.”

Another challenge has been learning how to run a retail business largely on her own. Eilish is the sole person staffing the store every day except Sunday, when she hands it over to a part-time assistant “so I can have a cappuccino with my husband.” She is quick to point out that running the store alone does have its advantages. “I can change what I am doing and shift my focus without having to refer to anyone else. I can be independent and active, so it makes it quite fluid.”

Originally drawn to Lark for a leather workshop, Eilish says she was eager to expand the workshop program. “It fits with what I want the store to be about: meeting people and making things.” There is a regular schedule of classes held on Wednesday evenings, which include making leather totes with Eilish and watercolors with one of the artists whose work is sold in the store. The classes are held in a room behind the shop floor and are small in size, partly due to space considerations but also because she wants students to get individual attention. “It means it can be more personal,” Eilish says.

Recently, she has branched out with offerings that have a wellness focus, like sessions with a life coach and a healing sound bath experience.
Participants hear about the workshops through the store’s website and Instagram. Eilish’s former career in high tech has helped with getting the word out. “I know some of the tricks to getting yourself to show up in the search rankings,” she says with a smile.

Her first Christmas season running Lark will be a learning experience but Eilish plans to present the best in handcrafted goods to customers. “I don’t like waste and disposable things, so there will be some holiday items but things that can be used year-round.” She hopes people will make the trip to Lark with their shopping list. “You are supporting local artists and helping that community to grow and thrive.”

From learning how to sew as a teenager to working in high tech and, now, to owning a store full of handmade objects, Eilish says it feels like life has come full circle. With Lark, she’s able to share the joy of making things while offering a showcase for her fellow handcrafters and artisans. “Craft is important,” she says. “It helps us appreciate our hands as well as our brains.”

shop local – larksancarlos.com

Words by Loureen Murphy

A young San Carlos couple leveraged the adage, “It’s not what you know, but who you know,” to create their dream home. When they bought into the tight-knit White Oaks neighborhood, they envisioned razing and rebuilding. After their friends down the street remodeled, the couple admired the interiors, courtesy of the artful hand of Angela Scaletta of Angela Grace Design. They looked no further.

Because Angela’s new clients “were very aware of who I am, it was a natural fit,” she says. Together, they pursued creating a comfortable, beautiful, long-term home for the couple and their two young sons that fuses indoor and outdoor living, creating a peaceful retreat that inspires togetherness.

Intuitive Angela says that after talking with clients, she has a very good sense of what they want and a knack for making them feel heard. It’s to the point that some actually say, “We don’t even know what we need, but she does.” To keep the project fun and exciting for clients, Angela communicated frequently and remained well-organized. “We kept the process pretty structured,” so the homeowners knew what to expect, she says. Behind the scenes, her small, expert team managed the project’s many complexities.

In this case, Angela prioritized durability because these homeowners, like many of her clients, have young kids. “Any sofa of ours is an outdoor-friendly fabric that you can clean with soap and water,” she explains. Likewise, durable counters, like non-porous, heat- and stain-resistant quartzite in the kitchen and quartz in the boys’ bathroom, are easy upkeep choices for this home.

Angela says she sources from local manufacturers and materials whenever possible. For this project, David Vant Voort of Ripon Woodworks designed and built all the custom cabinets from his East Bay workshop. The advantage? “You get to meet the person and support their business. It’s so much more meaningful,” Angela says.

Describing their relationship as “highly collaborative,” Angela and her clients shared pictures and inspirations over text messages. “We gave the clients options so they had agency in the creative decisions.” Yet they avoided avalanching the homeowners with possibilities by providing just enough to let their tastes and preferences reign.

Though she often curates, Angela sent the couple to Da Vinci Marble in San Carlos, where they found a slab they loved, and made it into the counter and backsplash in their accessory dwelling unit’s bar. Striking a contrast with Benjamin Moore’s deep Essex Green paint on the bar cabinets, it’s now one of the homeowners’ favorite “show and tell” features.

Angela took the architectural indoor-outdoor theme and further personalized it for the family. Light pours into the kitchen from three sides, and the over-sink awning window creates a pass-through to the outdoor counter-bar. It’s perfect for guests or for kids who’d rather stay outside for lunch.

A subtle gem, the media room is framed by steel and glass doors and windows, balancing light with coziness, plush with natural wood accents. The deep blue velvet sofa invites a long sit, and custom cabinets swathed in blue-gray create the viewing screen’s backdrop. On a warm day, the room can open to the backyard. In cooler weather, “it’s like a warm hug,” says Angela.

Nearby, the versatile main floor playroom offers plenty of floor space for children, plus a built-in desk big enough for a parent. The bonus? What appears to be a simple bookcase actually swivels around and drops down as the base of a Murphy bed. The home office upstairs, with its ample cabinets and L-shaped desk, is also a multitasker that will provide a welcoming space for projects and homework when the boys get older.

Missing no opportunities, Angela rendered the home’s most private places unique and memorable. In the main floor’s powder room, a timeless travertine vessel sink is offset by the smooth curves of the Brassy Gold Organik Mirror from Ethnik Living and the bubbly whimsy of the Orbet 5-Light Pendant from Visual Comfort. Wrapped in San Francisco-based Color Atelier’s Natural Linen Limewash, the room evokes a Mediterranean vibe.

The ADU’s powder room also makes a statement with its ribbed black sink above two-toned diamond flooring surrounded by Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter walls. And in the top floor’s primary bath, Angela highlighted the dramatic western view—think sunsets over mountains—aptly placing the soaking tub and shower to maximize refreshment of body and spirit. It’s a client favorite.

Even more than lovely spaces, Angela relishes the relationships she builds over the course of a project and its many conversations. In this instance, she
drew close to the clients as she fulfilled their vision for a comfortable, multi-functional home. With such designer-client synergy, their dream of “a home the kids can grow into” became a solid reality.

growing room – angelagracedesign.com

Words by Johanna Harlow

As a child, Susan McConnell fondly recounts visits to a colony of wood rats who’d taken up residence in a collapsed barn near her family’s home. “I spent hours as a little girl watching them,” Susan recalls, a twinkle in her eyes. “They were so interesting—all their behaviors!” Ardent about creatures great and small, she devoured animal books like Black Beauty and Old Yeller, and cared for a plethora of pets (hamsters, gerbils, parakeets, canaries, fish, lizards, dogs, horses … anything her parents would allow). It’s no great shock that Susan became a wildlife photographer. When she’s not plunging into the jungles of Central America, the savannas of sub-Saharan Africa or the tundra of the high Arctic to capture images of the wild and the wonderful, she works as a neuroscientist and biology professor at Stanford University.

Susan’s images invite you in—from a pair of tussling fox cubs or a horde of sea lions jockeying for position on the rocks to a baby elephant trundling beside its mother’s legs or a cheetah solemnly locking eyes with the viewer. And she doesn’t shy away from nature’s visceral side with her unflinching depictions of the hunt. On an upcoming trip to Tanzania’s Nyerere National Park to encounter newborn impalas, Susan notes, “It’s a big buffet for predators, for wild dogs, for lions, for leopards. I know, it’s sad. But it’s a wonderful time of year. Everything’s green and very pretty, and the animals are very active because life is everywhere.”

Field Trips

For several years, Susan served as a docent at Año Nuevo. “It’s such a soap opera,” she says of all those elephant seals galumphing up the shore for the breeding and birthing seasons. But she notes a particular fondness for the slow days during the off-season. “For me, it was amazing to feel the rhythm of the tide,” she says—the literal rise and fall of the water, but also the daily rituals of the animals, like the coyote who would trot down the beach looking for lunch around the same time every day.

Susan’s deep fascination with creatures and their habits produces a trait that’s crucial for wildlife photography: patience. Waiting for hours to capture the right moment isn’t a chore for her. “The more time you spend in the field, the better the images you are able to get,” Susan explains. “A lot of the best images are going to happen within a heartbeat. The more you understand animal behavior, the more you can predict when those things might happen and be ready for it.”

What does Susan hope to elicit with these glimpses into the wild life? “To try to give people a sense of connection, empathy, respect, awe for these incredible animals, whether it is a dung beetle or a leopard, a red-eyed tree frog or an elephant,” she shares. “Stephen J. Gould, I think said it best … ‘We will not fight to save what we do not love.’”

A New Lens on Life

Susan didn’t always aspire to be a photographer. It took a trip to the high Arctic for her to fully warm up to the idea. “I was really ambivalent about having the box—the camera—in front of my face, and whether that was distancing me from the experience or bringing me into the experience,” she recalls. While on a voyage to Svalbard 20 years ago, Susan spotted polar bears jumping from ice flow to ice flow. Joining other photographers on the deck with her recently bought digital camera, she started snapping away—and couldn’t seem to stop. That day, Susan discovered there was an art to timing the shot, to pressing the shutter down just as the polar bear rocked back her weight and made the leap. “My lens kept fogging up and my fingers were so numb from cold that I couldn’t actually feel the shutter button anymore. And despite all of that, there was this moment where I just had this epiphany: That I have never been happier in my entire life,” she recalls.

Since then, Susan’s images have been used by National Geographic (in the magazine, books and website). Another of her photos of a young bull elephant—ears fanned out, eyes alert as he observes his observers safely ensconced in their concrete bunker—made the cover of Smithsonian Magazine.

This powerful pachyderm picture resulted from a collaboration with Stanford ecologist and author Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell on a feature story about the relationships of bull elephants in Namibia. “It was the first time that I’ve gotten a formal assignment from a magazine, first and last really,” says Susan, explaining that photographers who do this kind of work full-time can spend months, even years, developing a story. “It takes a level of devotion and commitment that I cannot tell you how much I admire,” she says. But it’s not what drives her. “What I really love is working with conservation organizations and teaching,” she reflects.

Untamed Encounters

Venturing into out-of-the-way places for encounters with the untamed comes with a level of unpredictability. “With wildlife, it’s their world and their rules,” Susan emphasizes. “The last thing we want to do is disrupt the animals’ lives, disturb their behavior.” Even so, close calls come with the territory. On a horseback safari, “[we were] treated by a pride of lions as if we were buffalo,” Susan recalls. “I’ve been chased in vehicles by elephants and by rhinos. I’ve been chased in a canoe by a hippo. That was a heart-pounder.” Susan says it’s imperative to find a guide with a healthy respect for the wild and the expertise to keep both you and the animals safe.

Environment also plays a factor. “There are certain parts of Alaska, like Lake Clark and Brooks Falls, where there’s a lot of food around and the bears don’t really care about people and you can get really close,” Susan says. Take that assumption elsewhere, however, and you could find yourself in a sticky situation.

Respecting nature’s wildness is also crucial out in the briny deep. Susan brings up another anecdote, this one a tale about a whale. “Some of the whales can be quite … playful?” Susan chuckles as she recalls swimming with humpbacks and their calves in Tonga. “There was this one female whale who wanted to play with us. She was like a big puppy—and it was terrifying. We were like, ‘Get us out of the water now. We do not want to play with the whale!” The whale had Susan so preoccupied, she was unaware that another one was headed her way. “I ended up being directly in his path,” she says. Looking down, she saw a semi-truck-sized body passing inches beneath her. “I tucked into a cannonball and he swam his entire body length right underneath me!” If the whale had chosen to dive and struck Susan with its tail, the impact could have been lethal. Instead, “very gently, he lifted his left fluke and tapped my thigh,” she says. Just a gentle greeting from a friendly giant.

Nature Vs. Nurture

Susan’s life isn’t all grand adventures and close calls. When she’s not heading out on safari, she’s teaching classes at Stanford or studying neural circuits and brain development. She’s always found herself intrigued by the age-old question of nature versus nurture. (“What things do you just do because it’s programmed? And what things do we have to be taught?”)

“I think about these two parts of my life as two different trees that have grown out of the same root system, and that’s a love of animal behavior,” muses Susan, who has also achieved the honor of being elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences. The class she finds most rewarding to teach is conservation photography and she’s led three-week conservation courses overseas through Stanford, helping students get hands-on as they head into the field. “Getting people to care and to be curious,” Susan says, is the best way to ensure that wildlife survives and thrives.

Inspiring Stories

While her love for animals certainly drives her, there’s another influence that’s impacted Susan’s trajectory, this one human. “When I was little, I discovered a stack of National Geographic magazines piled up next to my grandparents’ television set,” she recalls. In those pages, Susan came across Jane Goodall, the primatologist studying chimpanzee societies and behavior in remote Tanzania. “For me, that was one of the most romantic things,” Susan says. “She is the reason that I’m a scientist.” She adds, “I didn’t have any scientists in my family. It had never occurred to me that this was even an option.”

She’s certainly made her parents proud. In 2012, Susan and her mom visited the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where one of Susan’s photos was displayed. The image—a touching moment of a baby elephant being rescued from a water trough through the combined efforts of mother and aunts—was selected by Windland Smith Rice International Awards for the Nature’s Best Photography contest. “It was so much fun because we’d be lurking in the gallery to see who might interact with my photo,” Susan chuckles. “Every time [my mom] saw someone who would stop and look at my photo, she would spring up from the bench that we were sitting on and rush over and say, ‘My daughter took that photo and she’s sitting right there!’”

wild at heart – susankmcconnell.com

Words by Johanna Harlow

Located a stone’s throw from Stanford University’s Rodin Sculpture Garden and the Cantor Arts Center, a testament to finding beauty among the ruins is tucked away in a grove of trees. Stone River, a series of stones winding along a trench carved in the earth, was created in 2001 by British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy using debris from the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes. Andy paid a visit to Stanford’s “boneyard,” a place off Old Page Mill Road where the college housed the rubble of university buildings destroyed by this terrible twosome of natural disasters. With the assistance of eight “wallers” skilled in the ancient craft of laying stonework without mortar (called dry-stone), Andy took 128 tons of rock and transformed it into this 320-foot-long art installation in 2001. The top of the wall is at ground level and situated along an east-west orientation, creating a constant shift of shadow and light playing off the golden hue of the sandstone. The earthbound design is meant to look like an archaeological excavation and there’s certainly something primeval about the way Stone River narrows at its peak, like the spine of a massive snake. The stonework tapers gradually at both ends, submerging into the dust whence it came. “My use of the stone has in some ways returned the stone to the earth—another leg of its journey,” the artist wrote in his journal.

This brooding ocean scene was captured by photographer Tony Corso, who says that he loved shooting the torrential storms of Texas before he moved to California. He’s transfered that passion to the high surf advisories here on the West Coast. “Living less than 15 minutes away from the shores near Pacifica, I love having the opportunity to watch the violent surf come breaking in and crashing over the pier and rocks nearby. To those who like to photograph such things, no two waves are the same.”

Image by Tony Corso / tonycorsoimages.com / @tonycorsoimages

Calling all Shutterbugs: If you’ve captured a unique perspective of the Peninsula, we’d love to see your Perfect Shot. Email us at hello@punchmonthly.com to be considered for publication.

Words by Johanna Harlow

“When you get close, you can really see the intricacy of the work,” says Stephanie Martin, pointing out tiny hidden faces in the painting of a tiger at a solo exhibition dedicated to the ephemeral yet earthy works of Steven Spazuk. The Studio Shop Gallery’s new director crosses to another work with swooping swallows. “When the light hits it, like right now, it’s illuminated.” And truly, the gold leaf adorning the image does seem to glow.

Stephanie is the latest in a long legacy of gallery directors who have overseen this 110-year-old institution. Both an art gallery and a picture-framing shop, it’s been around almost as long as Burlingame has. (It opened seven years after the city incorporated in 1908.) Founded by Dorothy and Ralph Crawford to unite Ralph’s art supply and picture-framing services with his wife’s photography studio, the shop stayed in the family until 1955, when it was sold to the parents of its most recent owners, Carl and Janet Martin. They continued that tradition by entrusting it to daughter-in-law Stephanie in January.

Cover Photo: Annie Barnett / Historic Photo: Studio Shop Gallery

Originally from Austria, Stephanie grew up surrounded by the arts. Her father was both a photographer and a painter—and she and her grandfather shared his shutterbug ways. “[My grandpa] would go to the Formula One races and take photos of Niki Lauda and all the big Formula One people. I would see these all framed in our hallway,” recalls Stephanie. After moving to San Francisco as an au pair, Stephanie met Carl and Janet’s son on a trip to the beach, and the two later married. After bookkeeping at the Martins’ gallery, Stephanie discovered a passion for the work. She continued taking on new responsibilities until assuming her role as gallery director.

“I am thrilled beyond belief that Stephanie’s taking over and it’s staying in the family,” Janet says. That’s not to say the decision to step back was easy. Janet has swept the gallery’s floors since she was old enough to hold a broom and used to bike there with her sisters to spend time with their dad.

Photo: Annie Barnett 

After taking over the gallery from her parents John and Martha Benson, she dedicated decades of her career to this place and formed countless relationships. “I’ve said it was easier to let go of my kids,” Janet laughs. “It raised me, fed me—and it’s going to do the same for Stephanie.” Janet mulls over how best to put in words what this place means to her. “It’s my life, it’s not a business,” she says finally. “And Stephanie treats it like it’s her life and not a business.”

What has Stephanie learned from Janet? “Everything!” Stephanie declares. “She’s been an incredible mentor for me … and she knows everybody in Burlingame.” Those relationships are why Janet will continue to play a supporting role at the gallery. “I have clients that I’ve worked with for 30 years. They’re going to want to work with me, I’m going to want to work with them,” Janet says. “ I know every wall in every house they have and what piece of art’s on it or what frame is on the art.”

Photo: Annie Barnett 

That generational legacy is the glue that keeps this place going strong, Stephanie points out. “Clients were friends with John and Martha, and then their kids would come and work with Janet, and now the next generation comes in and they work with me!” Stephanie says she meets people whose parents collected art from Janet and Carl, and that she’s honored to be able to introduce their children to incredible art.

Just because Studio Shop Gallery is over a century old doesn’t mean it’s dated. “You constantly have to reinvent yourself,” Stephanie says, emphasizing a motto that Janet and Carl drilled into her. “We can never become the ‘old lady gallery!’” Which is why, when the place next door recently became available, they expanded, knocking through the wall and brightening the interior with bold accent walls and modern furniture.

Photo: Annie Barnett 

The Studio Shop Gallery also pivoted during the pandemic. “Everyone was at home, no one could travel—and so people were actually finally staring at their walls,” Stephanie recalls. The gallery created an art rental program so homeowners could fill those empty spaces. “We’d bring it out to your house with our gloves and our masks and our booties on,” Janet says. Many people ended up buying the rented art. Studio Shop also supported artists by hosting a series of solo shows: 10 artists over 10 weeks. Almost all of them sold out.

There’s a sense of awe to the way Stephanie describes matching the right art with the right owner. “Art is so personal,” she says. “I call it the soul of the house.” She motions to a couch “where you can bask in the presence of the art” and explains how their large onsite inventory allows the shop to easily introduce collectors to a wide range of pieces. “Having that immediacy and being able to show people different things is really important,” she reflects. At the gallery, they never try to force that process. “It needs to come from the heart. You know when it’s the right piece.”

Photo: Annie Barnett 

GETTING FRAMED

The Studio Shop Gallery takes its framing services seriously and has even done framing projects for museum exhibitions in Europe. “A  frame can make or break a piece of art,” Janet maintains. Take a Rembrandt out of its original frame, replace it with a flimsy contemporary frame and “it wouldn’t be the masterpiece that it is.”

Does the gallery’s director have a favorite piece at home? Stephanie mentions a figurative abstract by Melinda Matyas, titled I’ve Shaken Off the Dust of the Lands, “which is kind of a reference to getting rid of negativity,” she describes. “It’s in my bedroom, so when I wake up in the morning, I can see it and it always reminds me, ‘Keep going.’”

The sentiment holds for the Studio Shop Gallery, too. It has persevered through two pandemics (COVID and the Spanish Flu), the Great Depression, the Great Recession and two World Wars. And if Stephanie has anything to say about it, there will be many more years to come.

picture this – studioshopgallery.com

Words by Jennifer Jory

Peninsula home builder David Edwards likes to go the extra mile. Lots of extra miles, in fact. He spent his last summer vacation cycling through Europe, logging 1,000 miles that included every mountain pass featured on the Tour de France. Next, he hiked the mountains in Chamonix, then rode his bike from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean with his son. With a love for monumental challenges, David’s decision to switch careers and start a green building company shouldn’t come as a surprise. “You only get one life and you don’t know how long you get,” he says. “Every day is a gift, as my mom said.”

David’s career pivot took shape after working in the biotech industry left him feeling unfulfilled. “As a counterpoint to graduate school and my post-doctorate, I began remodeling homes,” the biochemist recounts. “You can work and do research and have nothing to show for it after years. But good building, remodeling and working with your hands, is the exact opposite. Every day, you get to see what you’ve done and it’s super fulfilling.” When the biotech company he worked for went under and a colleague hired him to build a new house, David’s leap into building homes was complete.

David’s passion to use his expertise to transform the building industry comes from a deeply personal place. “I went to graduate school as a biochemist because my mom got cancer and died when I was 25,” he says. “I feel like every moment you have is limited. You can’t take anything for granted, and we have a responsibility to leave the world a better place.”

With a mission to make a difference, David founded Earth Bound Homes and began building green, energy-efficient houses using nontoxic building materials and sustainable strategies. David confesses that, having never worked for or hired a construction company when he started the business, he had a significant learning curve. “Our focus was always green building,” he points out. “But then we really started focusing on material health and indoor air quality … zero-energy houses. What we found is that when you focused on health, building efficiency came as a byproduct without added cost.”

Being a home builder with a background in biochemistry gives David a unique way of thinking about how to live more sustainably and healthily in our homes. “I want to make sure that whatever time I have on the planet, I use to try to help people,” he explains. Many Earth Bound Homes clients have sensitivity to common allergens, hay fever, asthma or emphysema. “They’re all dramatically helped by airtight houses and air filtration systems,” he says.

The Peninsula is where David has raised his three children with his wife Amy, and it’s where Earth Bound Homes has built a number of passive houses. The term refers to homes that use 90% less energy than typical houses and are highly efficient, as well as comfortable and ecologically sound.

A recent Palo Alto project taps into the company’s decades of experience in green and healthy building. “This house is much more quiet, comfortable, durable and energy-efficient,” David says. “It also has better indoor air quality than most custom homes built these days.” To achieve that, David’s team installed straw panel walls, cork insulation and plaster wall coverings.

“This home will be so quiet and comfortable, you can sit next to the enormous windows on the coldest days and feel fine,” David says. The house uses almost no toxic chemicals in any of its building materials and is nearly airtight. It has a fresh air system that features heavily filtered air to keep the home healthy even on the worst wildfire smoke days. “It’s like being outside on that perfect spring day when the air is fresh, clean and the temperature is just right,” David describes. Even the concrete used by the construction team was produced with 60 percent less energy, by using waste products from coal-fired power plants and steel smelting factories.

In San Mateo, Earth Bound’s project, dubbed the Asymmetrical House, highlights the importance of a home’s crawl space as a foundation for wellness. Unlike many houses around the Bay Area, its crawl space is a sealed, insulated and conditioned zone that plays an important role in the home’s performance. If a crawl space is untreated, it can impact a house’s air quality and introduce mold and chemicals such as radon, David says.
But buildings aren’t the only kind of local impact Earth Bound Homes is making. To promote wellness and sustainability to the entire building industry, David created the Bay Area Building Science Collaborative.

Through it, he shares research and information with builders, architects, designers and trades workers. “I try to be a teacher who protects people’s health,” he says. “Especially against cancer-causing chemicals.” He creates educational videos for his YouTube channel, “Building a Better Way,” to help homeowners and builders learn state-of-the-art techniques. Recently, David and his team developed a stamp called Healthy Building Approved, which they’ll use to verify individual materials as safe based on their chemical content.

As David spreads his vision for healthier homes by giving talks, creating videos and working with the collaborative he created, he reflects on what drives him. “The great joy is to be able to do a job that you’re passionate about, that you love and you think makes a difference in the world,” he says.

For David, in work and in life, it seems there’s always another mountain to climb. He’s set his sights on conquering the Alps and Dolomites next year. “If I can get 1 percent better at the things I do every day, that makes me a better mentor, educator, father, boss and human being.”

clean living – earthboundhome.com

Words by Loureen Murphy

In a house on a quiet Los Altos street, a woman swings from the great room chandelier. In the nearby hallway, another dangles a lyre on her foot, unaware of dinner guests’ admiring looks. The remodeled home’s eye-catching aesthetic exudes an exuberance infused with peace—the combined work of Michael and Daphneé Metiu of Atelier Ma and interior designer Gaye Ferrara of Ferraras Interiors.

Having clicked with the homeowners from the first interview, Michael and Daphneé reinforced and expanded on Gaye’s and the clients’ vision: Create a backdrop for art, transforming the chateau-style home into a fun, gracious place to live and host.

“It’s not often that you get clients with such a love for art and such a varied collection,” says Michael. Drawn to the Limbo Chandelier because it reminded the homeowner of her fun-loving self, she bought it with no clue where she’d use it. So when they settled on placement, Michael raised the great room ceiling, knocking out the attic framing and engineering a coffered ceiling while accommodating the existing skylights. Today, the handwoven-wire aerialist “performs” between the two skylights; at night, the chandelier lights the room.

And the lady with the lute? She’s the luminous nude in Carlo Maria Mariani’s “Monument to Poetry,” which the homeowners had sold off with a previous home. At Gaye’s insistence, they bought it back, placing it opposite the dining room. Michael says it’s his favorite space in the home.

“I love a house where you can get light from three different sides,” Michael says. Here, light pours in from the side yard through the steel and glass doors, the skylights and from the light fixture. It renders a soft light without glare and creates a calm, beautiful space. They achieved this effortless look with extra framing, installed to suspend the fixture with its huge escutcheon between the skylights Michael made.

The home also features a custom Lutron lighting system that operates fixtures and shades, to set scenes. While it sounds theatrical, its modes create natural ambience for Cooking, Entertaining, Relaxing, even Cleaning.
A custom fixture runs the length of the hall, illuminating the home’s gallery, flanked by a freeform neon piece, and a Mickey and Minnie work by Mr. Brainwash. Near the dining room, giant multi-colored metal Chiclets spill from a three-foot box, and various paintings bedeck the walls.

Daphneé’s preferred room, the corridor, calls for visitors to slow down and pause, rather than rush right through. Michael refers to it as the “spine” of the home, delineating the private spaces—bedrooms and offices are on one side, public rooms on the other—and creating a grounding balance in an otherwise open floor plan.

In addition to staging their prized artworks, the homeowners requested more green space and greater connectivity to the outdoors. Light-loving Michael says the size of the house enabled them to use a lot of glass corners and bifold doors. From the bar between the great room and the dining room, guests can sip aperitifs to the soothing sight and sound of the water feature that Daphneé designed. Its contrasting shades of slate slabs invite the eye, and the gentle spillway invokes serenity. Guests can step through the doors and use the fountain as a bench, breathing in the natural scents of the surrounding grass and shrubs that replaced redwood mulch and pavers.

Together, Gaye, Daphneé and Michael designed the outdoor seating around the fire pit, and the wainscoting on the guest house. Daphneé and Michael also designed a pass-through from the outdoor bar to the kitchen, among other home-garden connections.

The homeowners prefer to let a house speak to them and always start fresh without bringing any furnishings from a previous home, notes Gaye. Thanks to everyone’s adaptability, creativity and artistic sense, together they utterly reimagined the house from the inside-out—without changing the roof. “Every square inch of that house I know and have thought about,” Gaye says. The result? An intentional and cohesive design with improved flow and delighted clients. The teams also credit their contractor, Pete Moffat Construction, in the project’s success. “If we could think it, they could build it,” says Michael.

Reflecting on the lovely sight lines, the energetic and calm spaces and the team’s synergy, Michael concludes, “This project captures the principles most important to us as designers.”

art of living  – ateliermadesign.com

The mighty redwoods of Big Basin can evoke all kinds of reactions. Awe at their primeval enormity, delight in their verdant beauty and inspiration from their resilience. Photographer Frances Freyberg was out hiking with friends in the state park when this ethereal scene caught her eye. “Big Basin was always a favorite of my local open spaces because of its beautiful trails through old-growth redwood forest, along creeks and waterfalls, all the way out to the ocean.” While the CZU wildfire devastated much of the park’s manmade infrastructure in 2020, most of its redwoods endured, a testament to the resilience of California’s iconic state tree.

Image by Frances Freyberg / francesfreyberg.com

Calling all Shutterbugs: If you’ve captured a unique perspective of the Peninsula, we’d love to see your Perfect Shot. Email us at hello@punchmonthly.com to be considered for publication.

The owner of architectural salvaging company Placemakers talks about favorite finds, repurposing strategies and the spookiest place he’s worked.

When did you begin collecting interesting items?
One of my first salvage jobs was at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Los Altos, built in 1924. I was able to salvage some of the cast stone ornamentation from the facade, including statuettes of several disciples and of Jesus Christ himself! It seemed like a sign.

What are some favorite finds over the years?
Solon and Schemmel tiles from the Steinhardt Aquarium, a two-ton marble bathtub from a 10th floor apartment, bronze doors from the Temple Emanu-el in San Francisco, a piece of Stanford Stadium, a pipe organ from 1914. I’ve also collected items from Carolands Mansion in Hillsborough and Mapes Hotel in Reno.

Is there a period in history that interests you most?
I find current events plenty interesting. Amazing changes are happening all around us, on a daily basis.

What is your most cherished possession?
My wedding ring.

Where are your favorite places to go hunting for new items?
I really don’t look for anything. They find me! In the late ‘90s, I travelled across the country a few times “picking” with a friend. It was fun, but I realized my skills really were better suited to a jobsite. I started working as a demolition contractor and figured it was better to get paid to take away “garbage” than to go around and pay for stuff.

Who do you look up to?
I try to look up to everyone. There are lots of unsung heroes, trying their best every day.

Is it true that you acquired some items from an old asylum?
Yes, the Agnews Development Center East in Santa Clara. I worked with a great team at Swinerton Builders to recover some of the notable architectural details before they built three new schools on the site. It was kind of fun—but kind of creepy too!

Any mishaps on the job that you can laugh about now?
When I was at the Agnews Development Center, I got locked in after-hours. I had to break out through the cyclone fencing, and all I had was a Leatherman tool.

Do you have any phobias?
Pickles.

Do you have any items connected to renowned Palo Alto architect and artist Pedro de Lemos?
Yes, I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time, working at the Hacienda de Lemos. The owners were incredibly kind, and entrusted me to steward some of his light fixtures and tiles to their next assignment.

What is something on your bucket list?
The 2027 full solar eclipse in Luxor, Egypt.

What’s your favorite quote?
Measure twice, cut once.

What are people always surprised to learn about you?
That I’m colorblind. I don’t know why that is surprising, but it has gotten me out of many, many meetings on tile and paint colors.

Words by Johanna Harlow

It’s hard not to get swept up in the verdant splendor of Filoli’s blossoming cherry trees, daffodil meadow, succulent-lined sunken garden and seemingly endless flurry of flowers—but the historic manor at the center of these gardens deserves your attention too. Will you come explore as we step into this 54,000-square-foot Georgian masterpiece and unlock its stories?

Cover Photo: Courtesy of Larissa Clevland Photography - Filoli / Photo: Courtesy of Liberte Reilly - Filoli

Agnes & the Architect

To acquaint yourself with the Filoli mansion, you need to understand the hands that shaped it and the minds that imagined it. Constructed between 1915 and 1917 in Woodside, this 56-room home was built for the aging and affluent Agnes and William Bourn, who forged their fortune from the Empire Gold Mine and Spring Valley Water Company. “They said, ‘A place to grow young,’” says Willa Brock, interim director of collections and interpretation at Filoli. She notes that this wasn’t the couple’s first house—it was their sixth. “Their move down the Peninsula was in line with this fashion for a lot of wealthy San Franciscan families to build country estates where there was more land.” It was also an escape from the “chaos of the city” after the 1906 earthquake and fire.

The Bourns turned to their friend and renowned architect Willis Polk, who had already designed several buildings on their behalf, including a home on Webster Street in San Francisco. That previous project “is in this heavy, dark, clinker brick style that’s very different from Filoli,” Willa notes. Not one to be tied down by just one aesthetic, “Willis was willing to mix and match styles to create something new.” He styled this new home as a Georgian mansion with California sensibilities (like its “Flemish bond” brickwork and Spanish tile roof).

Photo: Courtesy of Filoli

Equally influential in the building’s conception was the lady of the manor. “We talk a lot about Agnes, actually,” Willa says. “I know often, when you’re hearing about grand estates, you hear about the male founder who’s made the money, but Filoli was really Agnes’s vision in a lot of ways.” Agnes worked closely with Willis on the details of the home—and whenever Willis’ design schemes spiraled into extravagance, it was often Agnes who kept him in check. “Polk came in with these very grand designs,” Willa notes. “The Bourns had a slightly humbler vision.”

What makes for a “humble” mansion? Willa points to the entry as a prime example. “You’re not immediately greeted by a very impressive horseshoe staircase as you might get in some other grand estates,” she explains. “The stairs are actually off to the side, which just doesn’t feel as over-the-top or in-your-face.”

Photo: Courtesy of Filoli

That’s not to say that their mansion lacked luxury. The reception room had a lady’s and gentleman’s cloakroom where guests could freshen up before being ushered into the entertaining space by the Bourns’ English butler (“at the time, very fashionable,” Willa notes).

The couple insisted on a modern manor. William, a forward-thinking man, made sure the home was fully wired for electricity. “That was very William Bourn. He wanted the best. He was always looking to be ahead of the game,” Willa says. “The electrical system still is going strong.”

Photo: Courtesy of Jeff Bartee - Filoli

Resplendent Rooms

You need only peek into Filoli’s rooms to recognize their artistry and attention to detail.

Take the Gentleman’s Lounge. Only recently restored based on a black-and-white photo and a scrap of the original wallpaper, the room’s walls display a striking botanical design with large peonies and playful dark wood bowties are inlaid in the oak floor. “Now you walk in and you really get a dose of William Bourn’s personality, I think—which maybe challenges our assumptions of what a gentleman’s lounge might look,” Willa says.

Visitors should look next in the library. “Apparently at the time, you could purchase a replica of a whole room and they would come and install it for you,” Willa says. Filoli emulates the book haven at Buckinghamshire’s Denham Place. “It’s very striking. You walk in and it’s all-around wood paneling,” she describes. The room boasts showstopping floral borders carved into black American walnut and a fireplace with a Tavernelle marble mantel. Some of the Bourns’ books still inhabit its floor-to-ceiling shelves.

Photo: Courtesy of Mike James - Filoli

Just down the hall is the belle of all ballrooms. “It’s the most glam, glitzy space in the house,” Willa says, describing the chandeliers and Versailles-inspired fireplace. The room also features pastoral wall paintings by Ernest Peixotto. They might look like murals, but they’re actually very large canvases depicting Muckross House. This Irish estate, idyllically situated beside a lake and mountains, was a beloved retreat for the Bourns and a huge inspiration for Filoli’s natural surroundings. “They originally wanted to put Filoli right on the edge of the Crystal Springs reservoirs, but weren’t allowed to get that close,” says Willa, adding that “before these trees grew in later years, you would’ve had a clear view of the water from the second floor of the house and from the top of the garden.”

Photo: Courtesy of Jeff Bartee - Filoli

Nurturing Nature

Nature guided the Bourns’ design decisions in numerous ways. Beyond its gorgeous gardens that even world leaders come to see, “Agnes and William wanted [a home] that felt more of the land than on top of the land,” Willa explains. “You arrive at Filoli by riding in on this curvy road through the woods and through the orchards—and you come up around the side of Filoli, you don’t come down one straight path that’s designed to blow you away with this vista of the house. You kind of happen upon it.”

Before the indoor-outdoor concept really took off, the Bourns were adamant about bringing the garden into their grand halls. “The one staff space that’s not tucked away in the south wing is the floral arranging room,” Willa says, noting its central location between the foyer and main staircase. “It is right in the heart of the home.” For this couple, “having live flowers throughout their house was really important—and that’s reflected in the literal architecture of the house.”

Photo: Courtesy of Jamie Kingham - Abe Froman Producions - Filoli

That outdoor appreciation extended to the home’s siting. The house is aligned with the mountain range rather than a more traditional north-south orientation, Willa describes. “All the windows of the main rooms in the house open up and look out on the Santa Cruz Mountains … Imagine them open on a beautiful day and the scents of the garden coming in.”

meandering the manor – filoli.org

Words by Sheryl Nonnenberg

For most people, having a successful and fulfilling career is a life goal. But what if you are lucky enough to have the time, talent and courage to embark upon a second career? Portola Valley Ranch resident Lee Middleman has done just that and the proof can be found in the exquisite ceramics he produces in his home studio.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Lee studied physics at Johns Hopkins University and then at Stanford University, launching his career in making analytical and medical instruments. Years of long hours and extensive travel paid off—Lee holds over 40 patents and was promoted to vice president. But when his company was bought by a large pharmaceutical firm, Lee came to a hard realization—he no longer enjoyed his job.

Lee opted to take a nine-month break and travel, thanks to a “golden parachute” and the support of his wife, Donnie. But something kept calling him back to all the ceramics classes he’d recently taken at the Palo Alto Art Center and Lee realized that the medium he wanted to work with was clay. “I always liked to draw, and I loved watching my father, who was a mechanical engineer, drawing and tinkering,” he explains. “I grew up surrounded by family members who were painters, potters and musicians, so there was encouragement for the arts in the family.”

But why clay? “It’s physical, it’s creative and you can make things that are functional, sculptural or decorative,” says Lee. His favorite way to work is a style he refers to as decorative/functional.

At the end of his break, Lee and Donnie agreed to take a leap. Instead of going back to work, Lee would focus on becoming a professional ceramicist. That was more than two decades ago and the couple hasn’t looked back since.

Lee took his new vocation seriously, attending classes, going to workshops and traveling the globe to learn techniques from recognized masters, many of them in Asia. He soon found his own working method and signature style, which is characterized by classic forms and carefully carved textures. As one might expect from a physicist, Lee’s work is beautifully ordered and carefully finished. “I like things precise; some people call it control, but I call it mastery.”

To create one of his pieces, Lee starts by throwing clay on a pottery wheel and crafting a cylinder shape. He creates the textured exterior using knives, small balls of clay and other objects. Once the deeply rendered impressions are in place, he has to avoid touching the outside again. Working with his hand inside of the pot, he creates the shape he envisions by maintaining a careful balance between the textured exterior and the thickness of the clay wall.

“The most difficult thing is making the edges meet,” Lee says. “The whole process requires a careful feel that I have honed over time.” His favorite shape is one he calls “oblate,” like his piece, “Desert Sunflower.” “The wall is very thin and it is a challenge to get it just right,” he notes.

After the initial firing, the pots are glazed and fired again. Lee says he has his technique down to a science, using just five different glazes that he applies by spraying. His palette leans towards earthy hues of brown, gold, rust and celadon. But even with all of his experience and precision, sometimes things go wrong. “I try things and they won’t work, but I just move on.”

Lee is quick to explain that he never anticipated making a living doing ceramics, but he aspired to be successful enough to allow him and Donnie to travel around the world in search of new ideas and techniques. That goal has been met as the couple has taken multiple trips to Africa, China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. One unexpected result of these adventures is that Lee felt a need to reciprocate the kindness and welcome he experienced while working abroad with fellow potters.

Lee initiated an informal residency program. Potters—usually two at a time—come to California and stay at his home. For a two-week period, the visiting artists work in his studio and discuss and share techniques. Many of the visitors had never been to the United States and some did not speak much English. Lee and his wife provided room and board and, when not working in the studio, they would show them around the Bay Area. Lee estimates that he and Donnie have hosted around 30 people so far, although the Covid epidemic put a temporary halt to their home-stay program.
As one might expect, it was a learning experience for everyone involved. “A lot of Asian potters also love to cook,” says Lee, so the first field trip with guests is usually to a Korean grocery market where they stock up. Lee and Donnie are planning a trip to China in the fall and hope to reestablish their artistic residency program after they return.

Looking around his tidy, well-organized studio and the adjacent, well-lit gallery space where examples of his work are beautifully displayed, Lee notes that the amount of time he’s spent working with pottery now almost equals his time in tech. While he has leveraged his previous experience in marketing to sell his work through his website as well as on Etsy, Lee says that most of his pieces find buyers through word of mouth. In summer, you can find him at the annual Palo Alto Glass and Clay show, where he’s been a regular participant. He also holds two open houses a year in his studio, with the next one set for December 6 and 7.

In Japan, the concept of Kakko Nintei, or Living National Treasure, has been formalized into a coveted honor for a select group who not only excel at a traditional art form but also dedicate themselves to teaching it to apprentices. The designation comes with an annual grant from the Japanese government to help artisans devote themselves to their crafts. Lee says that he has met a few of these living legends on his travels. “They were interesting men and not arrogant, as one might expect,” he recalls. “Mainly, they feel the need to share and pass on their knowledge.”
Is that a designation he would like for himself? Lee just laughs.

The artist shares that one of the best consequences of his decision to become a full-time potter has been the wonderful experiences he and Donnie have shared on their travels. During a recent trip to Iceland, a region not really known for ceramics, he visited a shop that mainly sold functional pieces. Surprisingly, there were a number of pots that were made using a “crater” technique of glazing that he has experimented with in his own work. He met the artist and she shared her glazing formulas, a generous gesture that he did not expect.

“Making ceramics is a bond,” explains Lee. “My wife says we can’t go anywhere in the world where I don’t have friends or won’t make new friends.”

portola potter – leemiddleman.com

Words by Loureen Murphy

Perhaps the custom handle and lock on the front door tipped her off. Or maybe it was the diamond-shaped stained glass inset above it. Either way, when designer Jennifer Wundrow entered this 1930s Hillsborough beauty, she found original charm worth preserving while she restored the Mediterranean Revival’s youth.

Her clients wanted to infuse their new surroundings with color and pattern, use their personal pieces and still honor the home’s original character, explains Jennifer, the principal of her eponymous firm, Jennifer Wundrow Interior Design. The homeowners sought an elevated-yet-livable vibe that worked for all the members of their young family.

They faced the immediate challenges of inaccurate floor plans plus a short timeline. Sometimes you don’t find out the plans are inaccurate until you try to place furniture that should fit but doesn’t, Jennifer says. Well-versed in designing remote projects sight unseen, the designer and her team simply took their own measurements and proceeded.

Despite the obstacles, this project flowed smoothly. From the onset, Jennifer synced with the clients, who found her online. Because designers and clients work so closely together, fluid communication and mutual understanding are key. “There’s a designer for everybody. Find the person who fits best with your style and personality,” Jennifer advises.

Open the front door today and tucked in the stairway curve, you’ll see the clients’ desk repurposed as an entry table holding images of a beloved dachshund—a nod to family history. The graceful staircase and its ornate cast-iron railing are untouched and speak to the home’s previous decades.
To one side of the entry, a glorious stained glass picture window frames both the garden and the memories still to be made in the home’s family room. On the neutral sofa, throw pillows in leafy upholstery and an earth-toned blanket echo the garden view. Both here and in the living room, fun and sophisticated indoor-outdoor fabrics can withstand daily use without sacrificing elegance. As a mother herself, Jennifer says she has insight into what materials work well for young families.

Visible through a living room arch, the dining room broadcasts its “fresh take” in every detail. Weeping Pine wallpaper by Schumacher reinforces the airiness created by the French doors and windows at the far end. A solid wood table and plush, deep-colored chairs ground the room and invite you to linger over dessert and engaging conversation.

In the nearby powder room, a mini destination unto itself, lush Indigo Garden wallpaper by Borastapeter envelopes the space, complemented by the dark counter and contrasting with the warm wood vanity and terra cotta-hued custom floor tiles.

For the family-focused clients, Jennifer and team created a 547-square-foot accessory unit attached to the back of the garage. The one-bed, one-bath living space sports a well-equipped kitchen, a comfortable living area touched by earthy greens and browns, and a dining area adjacent to the kitchen. It adds up to a place that the clients’ out-of-state parents can call home no matter how long their stay. With three entrances, including two sets of French doors that infuse the place with light, “it looks like it has been there all along,” Jennifer notes.

Besides that addition, Jennifer retained the existing floor plan with one vital exception. Schlepping laundry from the garage to the bedrooms upstairs proved impractical. So Jennifer took space from the primary bedroom’s closet to create a place to set the wash cycle on “easy.” She also warmed up the bedroom itself with a bold floral textured wallpaper and bedding and furnishings in natural shades of blue and green. White drapes allow for privacy while keeping the ambience light.
Down the hall, soft comfort fills the nursery, where a nubby swivel-rocker and hassock call for cozy story times and rainy afternoon cuddles under the wicker-shaded lamp.

Throughout the home, Jennifer heightened the effect of original features like arched stained glass windows, niches and through-ways with the accents around them. Original hardwood floors remain, while added Roman shades and wall coverings with playful prints, sconces and vintage-look carpets render the nonagenarian home young, fresh and livable.

The revived home reflects her clients’ personalities and the homeowner-designer synergy. “I love when clients feel heard,” Jennifer says. Particularly satisfying in this case? “These clients weren’t afraid to express themselves in texture and pattern.” As always, Jennifer and team didn’t restrict themselves to any particular style or aesthetic, because they like to stretch their imaginations. “All design can be beautiful if you put the thought in,” concludes Jennifer.

lively refresh – jenniferwundrow.com