Author: punchwpadmin

Words by Loureen Murphy

When a Los Altos Hills couple dreamed of a perfect hideaway, they envisioned views blurring the lines between indoors and out. Creature comforts inviting long reads and delicious sips. Artwork stimulating imagination and conversation. They found the ideal spot right in their own backyard—for a detached ADU, designed by Roselle Curwen of Roselle Design.

As third-time clients, the homeowners trusted Roselle’s solid architectural background in planning the 800-square-foot accessory unit from the ground-up. With their college-age kids coming and going, the couple wanted the cottage to multitask as a guest house, hangout, home office and retreat as needed.

The designer started by slightly rotating the proposed footprint to capture the glorious hilltop view. Roselle then drew up plans for a main room/lounge, incorporating a built-in desk and storage cabinet to provide a tidy home office. Sharing space with the open kitchen, the main room is bookended by the primary bedroom and the bunk room, each with its own bath. The layout allows quiet and privacy for sleepers, two of the key emotional effects Roselle focused on in her design.

Intentional in every aspect, Roselle designed a sloped roof to accommodate solar panels and also evoke airiness in all the rooms, raising the eyes to the windows, while visually expanding the space. White oak millwork throughout the unit, in cabinets, nightstands, frames and flooring, further enhances the link to the native oaks outside, while creating cohesion within. Natural gray vibranium quartzite kitchen counters, with their flowing, swirling patterns, contrast with the room’s clean lines.

Roselle spent whole days in showrooms with her art-loving clients, hunting for fixtures, materials and finishes. “Seeing what they’re drawn to helped tremendously with this project,” she says. For example, in the main room, winglike sconces by Christopher Boots with backlit crystal edges flank a whimsical piece depicting flamingos flying from an ice cube tray. At Dolby Chadwick Gallery in San Francisco, they selected everything from the primary bedroom’s pastel sculptural Hunt Rettig piece to the commissioned work by Lela Shields hanging above the desk. The homeowners also invested hours in slab shopping for the kitchen and baths. The super-involved clients say they love all the little details highlighting the unit, like the Rocky Mountain Hardware fixtures that will patinate over time and the pyrite flecks in travertine stonework that sparkle like gold in the sunlight.

Though the clients gave Roselle complete creative freedom to curate everything inside, right down to the stemware, settling on all the project’s elements required plenty of back-and-forth. “They are very open to feedback as well as to me,” she says. “I balance items that might be very detailed or ornate with a simple, more raw form. You need a variation of materials to add depth and character to a space.“ To ensure everything progressed as they intended, Roselle did frequent walk-throughs with the homeowners.

Even so, the pathway to satisfaction held some obstacles. Achieving 99 percent blackout over the bedroom windows required a high level of collaboration among designer, clients, contractor and the shade company Desmond Johnson.

After Desmond Johnson sketched the initial concept, “we all collaborated with the contractor on how to make the face frame magnetic and functional while hiding the motorized roller shade when open,” Roselle explains. The wait and extra work proved worthwhile. Overnight guests can rest in a blanket of calming darkness.

Roselle says the homeowners relish the treehouse-like sense of seclusion their new hilltop nest offers and use it more than anticipated, even when their children are away. Calling her experience on this ADU “transformative,” she found satisfaction in entwining her design expertise with her clients’ tastes to create a unique personal space for them. The most fulfilling thing for her? “The way the vision comes to life.”

Words by Amber Turpin

Combine a pinch of Texas formality, a touch of Parisian elegance and some coastal Santa Barbara cool, and you end up with a refresh of a grand Mediterranean home in Hillsborough. Throw in a family of four, a contemporary art collection and a couple with a vast height variance, and what rises to the top of the design concept is a theme of customization.

The house was in need of an update and the team behind design firm Dimitra Anderson Home says that Hillsborough is one of their favorite communities to work in. The structures here tend to have some character, according to Principal Designer Dimitra Anderson, with homes lovingly restored rather than leveled—which is often the fate of older farmhouses or ranch homes farther down the Peninsula. “It feels a little like an extension of San Francisco,” she says. “There’s character and a bit of history.”

Senior Designer Shea Ross adds that in Hillsborough, “Every single home is different. You’ll find a Spanish home next to a modern home next to an Italian home. We like the challenge of working within an existing space.” This made the team especially excited to work with the family on a remodel of their 7,200-square-foot house built in 1981. The large home was ready for a change, and the family brought in Dimitra mid-construction to join Geiszler Architects in undertaking the renovation.

The specific challenge in this case was to transform the enormous space into a comfortable, timeless home that worked for the entire family, which includes two teens. Collaboration is a main tenet for Dimitra Anderson Home, and the design approach is similar with every client, whether an individual, couple or family. “It’s about identifying how they want to live in the space,” explains Dimitra. “For this particular client, she’s from Texas so there’s a little bit of a traditional vibe. We leaned into more formality in the living room and more casual in the family room.”

Beginning with floor plans, the collaboration process focused on maximizing the flow of the two key spaces, the large living room, with the goal of making it multi-functional and liveable, and the family room. The next step was to work together on high-level design schematics, with a shared Pinterest board and multiple meetings about the overall look and feel of the house.

The result of this collaboration was a major overhaul of the main floor, to optimize flow and function for the entire family. These elements include high-quality performance fabrics and materials, plus a main structural centerpoint of steel railroad tie beams in the ceiling of the family room and an entire wall of folding doors that create an open, inside-outside flow. A large L-shaped sofa and a neutral-toned Jaipur rug add texture and softness.

The living and dining room also evoke elegance. The homeowners wanted more formality and some nods to Paris, where they love to travel. This is seen in the built-in bar, topped with marble and enhanced by rich green cabinets with gold accents. The dining room features a metallic wallcovering paired with a crystal chandelier, with an antique dining table and contemporary chairs, added by Dimitra for a shift from the otherwise traditional space.

More antiques, from the owners’ extensive collection of silver, are on display in the kitchen, set within seeded glass flanking cabinets. A large center island, finished in a Farrow & Ball dark matte blue, was built for prep as well as for dining, with soft cushioned chairs set around it. White perimeter cabinets and walls create a timeless, clean feel.

Overall, the main priorities for Dimitra and her team were the interiors, the furniture and the space planning related to the furniture, since they came into this project when it was already under construction. “The home was so large, so it was about maximizing the space and creating multiple vignettes,” explains Shea. “Some prioritize form, some prioritize function; this client really cared about both.” Because the couple have a very big height difference (she tops out at 5 feet while he is 6-foot-5-inches tall), everything was custom. “There’s a lot of thought that goes into the decisions and furnishings that get made,” Shea says. “She really wanted to be involved with the shapes and fabrics, both form and function. It was challenging, in a good way.”

The design team singled out some favorite elements in the project, including the statement floral wallpaper in the powder room. But the atrium at the entrance of the home was a true standout for them. Flanked by steel doors, with stone floors and deep, geometrically patterned swivel chairs, the room is stunning. Shea also likes that this space pushed the formality boundary a bit, with the graphic fabric of the chairs. It also tied well to the owner’s contemporary art collection displayed throughout the house. Dimitra reflects, “For me personally, I love the atrium. When you walk into the home, the sightline just goes out to these views of the Bay. The floor is a beautiful tumbled stone that brings the outside in. It’s just a really beautiful space. You walk into that space and it’s definitely a ‘wow’ moment.”

As for the homeowners, the remodeling project is a win. “The finished space came together to meet our needs and personal style, whether we are all piled on the sofa watching a family movie together or hosting a party with adult friends,” they share.

custom creation  – dimitraanderson.com

Words by Sheryl Nonenberg

What is believed to be the last painting created by the famed Abstract Expressionist Joan Mitchell occupies almost an entire wall in the entryway of Komal Shah and husband Gaurav Garg’s hilltop home in Atherton. This canvas, a lively dance of swooping blue, magenta, yellow and crimson brushstrokes, usually serves as a starting point for any tour of their expansive art collection. “She was making these very expressive gestures,” Komal explains. “As she got older, she really came into her own.” The same can be said of Komal herself, a high-powered executive in the tech world who is now considered one of the most influential art collectors in the United States.

While some collectors are motivated by the prestige and social advantages that notable art acquisitions can afford them. Komal has always had a very specific focus—she wants to “shine a light” (a phrase she uses often) on women artists and artists of color. And just as she forged her way to success as an engineer at Oracle, Netscape and Yahoo, Komal is leading the charge for artists whom she feels are underappreciated or overlooked. It has, quite simply, become her mission in life.

One might assume that Komal’s passion for championing women artists was born out of a childhood where she herself faced limited options for the future. In fact, it was just the opposite. “I was so lucky to have a father who encouraged my interest in a career in computer science. In fact, he mortgaged our family home so that I could attend Stanford University,” she shares. He did this in spite of her uncles’ admonishment that “those funds should be used for her dowry.” She earned a master’s degree at Stanford, and then her MBA at University of California, Berkeley.

Her first foray into the arts came in 2011 when Komal joined the board of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. She already had an interest in it (her very first acquisition, in 2009, was a painting on paper by Indian artist Rina Banerjee) but found that her innate love of abstract art was leading her in a different direction. “I found that I felt more comfortable with North American artists of my generation,” she says, adding, “I was awestruck the moment I became a crazy collector.”

With some guidance from recognized experts in the art world like Gary Garrels, a former curator at SFMOMA, and art historian Mark Godfrey, Komal began the process of learning about contemporary art—and honing her eye in pursuit of her “mission.” She attended gallery and museum openings, went to artist studios and art fairs. This led to a “natural networking,” she says. Komal learned that Joan Mitchell had influenced a group of contemporary women artists, all working abstractly: Amy Sillman, Charline Von Heyl, Jacqueline Humphries and Laura Owens. She began to collect their work and get to know them personally, through visits to their studios. “My happiest days are when I can go to a studio and watch art being made,” she says. “It is the best part of collecting: the stories, the person.”

Art by these four women takes center stage in the first floor of the home, which is bathed in light and completely neutral in color, allowing the large, boldly colored art works to dominate. Walking from piece to piece, Komal speaks knowledgeably about each one, not in an art-history-lecture sort of way, but from personal experience—from the heart. Starting with what she calls “the cornerstone” of the collection, Joan Mitchell’s Untitled. “For contemporary women artists, she was one of the most influential.” And, Komal laughs, “she was a badass.”

But it is not just contemporary women artists who have earned Komal’s admiration. She has a special place in her heart for older women who may not have received the attention they deserve. She cites a small sculpture by Sue Fuller entitled String Composition #552. Komal explains that the artist began as an abstract painter and then decided to replace paint with simple colored thread pulled in geometric configurations, which are then encased in Lucite. It looks very sleek and modern, even though it was created in 1965. Komal says she enjoys art by women who were “ahead of their time.”

Unfortunately, that often means that the artist doesn’t enjoy the recognition that a male artist would have received. A good example is Janet Sobel, who is represented by a small mixed-media painting, Untitled. Komal points out that it is done in a drip style and dated 1946—three years before Jackson Pollock would use the technique that brought him into worldwide prominence.

Why does a person whose career has been defined by numbers, objectives and computers find all of this wild, abstract art so compelling? Komal replies without hesitation, “These artists are unbounded by their creativity and imagination—they can go anywhere.”

Today, Komal has a foundational collection, serves on the boards of prestigious institutions—SFMOMA, the Hammer in Los Angeles and the Acquisition Committee of the Studio Museum in Harlem—and created Artists on the Future: The Komal Shah and Guarav Garg Conversation Series at Stanford. Now she’s decided she wants to focus her efforts on making the collection more accessible to people beyond the Bay Area.

Working with curators from SFMOMA, Komal created a 432-page catalog called Making Their Mark: Art by Women in the Shah Garg Collection. The book includes images of works by 136 artists plus eight scholarly essays and short texts by a variety of contributing artists and is available on Amazon. She would love to see it become required or recommended reading at universities.

Last year, a large-scale exhibition devoted to the Shah Garg Collection opened to rave reviews in New York City. The show comes to the West Coast this fall at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, opening on October 26 and running through April 20, 2025. The exhibition coincides with the launch of the Shah Garg Women Artists Research Fund, which will support new scholarship in the form of public programs, publications and exhibitions featuring female artists at the Berkeley museum.

Acknowledging that art collectors are merely temporary custodians for objects that she hopes will live on, Komal declares that what she is doing right now is more fulfilling than anything she’s undertaken before. “I was a workaholic in the tech world and now I spend 60 hours a week around art,” she says. “I can make a much bigger impact in the arts. This is where my heart is.”

ART APPRECIATION

Starting this fall, contemporary art aficionados can view over 70 works from the Shah Garg Collection when the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive displays Making Their Mark. The exhibition runs October 26 through April 20, 2025. bampfa.org

Words by Johanna Harlow

Over the summer, a dozen woolen landscapes warmed the walls of M Stark Gallery, an airy art haven on the edge of downtown Half Moon Bay. The show—dedicated to the work of needle-felting artist Birgitta Bower—is called Wild and Wooly, a fitting title for fleece scenes so full of texture and motion they almost feel alive. Birgitta knows how to tease wisps of wool into drifting clouds and creeping fog. How to use spiral stitching to create a roiling sea and how to thicken the wool at the crest of waves so the surf seems likely to slosh from the canvas.

Photos of Birgitta’s work don’t do these tangible tableaus justice. In one, a husky’s snout protrudes from the canvas. Its beaded eyes hold a life-like shine—something you’d likely miss if not for the light pouring through the gallery door. The afternoon sun also illuminates a solitary silver thread, shimmering across the horizon of a Redondo Beach scene. “Silver lining, I call it,” Birgitta beams.

After showing her work at the Coastal Arts League, the Falkirk Cultural Center in San Rafael and the Marin Society of Artists, Birgitta’s art caught the eye of Marianna Stark, the curator and owner of M Stark Gallery (and self-described “cool hunter” of contemporary art). Right away, she recognized its mastery. “I show artists who live on the Peninsula, who I think are doing exquisite, interesting, original work,” Marianna describes. Not just traditional landscapes, but artwork that “hits me in the solar plexus.”

Birgitta first found felting through figurines, which she sold at the annual Swedish Christmas Fair in San Francisco. The El Grenada local turned to needle felting over a decade ago and describes the medium as “kind of painting and sculpting at the same time.” Her main source of wool is from Romney sheep that graze on the weeds of a Sonoma vineyard. Though the coarseness of the material would make for an awfully itchy sweater, it gives the tiny barbs of Birgitta’s felting needle something to latch onto, making it easier to jab bits of wool through the canvas. She also sources finer fleece from Alpacas by the Sea, a herd raised in Montara. “The alpaca wool is whiter than the Romney so it’s good for clouds and waves,” Birgitta notes.

When Birgitta first became interested in this malleable medium, she ran across a Craigslist post for free fleece from shorn sheep and raced off to the Russian River region to pick it up. “I packed it into our SUV. I just filled it!” she recalls. Back at home, she poured hours into the laborious process of cleaning it and cutting out foxtails, dirt and sheep droppings (or “vegetable matter,” as it’s delicately called in fleece circles). “It takes a lot of time, but the process makes you ‘bond with your wool,’” Brigitta says. Her spouse, returning from a trip, came home to find a frothy white cloud in their living room. “My husband thought, ‘Did you take the insulation off the attic?’”

These days, Birgitta works out of her studio—namely, her converted dining room. “I’m always trying to figure out how to fit in it,” she chuckles. She sorts dyed wool of all colors into heavy-duty metal cubbies that used to hold bolts of fabric. “It’s the antithesis of light, fluffy wool!” she observes with a smile.

As Birgitta adds layers to her wooly works-in-progress, she starts texturing them—adding white beads for flecks of sea foam, incorporating real seashells beside felt sea stars and sand dollars, crafting the tentacles of a sea anemone from yarn she found at Fengari, a shop in Half Moon Bay.

She also stitches in details, the embroidery adding a greater sense of dimension. “You can do these optical tricks that make you feel depth,” Birgitta explains. In one image, she brings swaying stalks of tall grass to the foreground of a scene where cows graze in the distance. In another, she draws the eye to snarled fishing nets on the docks off Pillar Point Harbor.

Like a bird collecting for her nest, Birgitta gathers up strings of all colors, textures and sizes. While contemplating a field in need of individual blades of grass, she’ll mentally flip through her inventory, then suddenly straighten. “Oh, I think I have that green somewhere,” she’ll say—and off she’ll flit, bringing back just the right one for the job. “Embroidery thread is so bright,” she notes appreciatively.

For future projects, Birgitta would like to try free-motion sewing with a machine. “It’s a bit of a learning curve,” she notes. “You have to sort of get it into your hands somehow.”

When not fabricating her next landscape, you’ll find Birgitta outdoors. She’s happiest hiking the nearby trails with her dog, photographing nature and plunging into bodies of water. This last activity is inspired by summers in Sweden, where she grew up. “There’s lakes everywhere and everyone goes swimming!” Birgitta explains.

Despite her affinity for the great outdoors, the gallery also seems to be this artist’s natural habitat. “I don’t put my art under glass,” Birgitta notes as she stands beside the scene depicting the boisterous sea. The freedom suits these wild, wooly landscapes and their adventurous creator.

string theory – wildandwoolyworld.com

Words by Jennifer Jory

Fender guitars hang on the walls. Professional sound studios line the interior. Stage lighting illuminates the open floor plan, casting a glow throughout the 10,000-square-foot music club in downtown Redwood City. Sound Union, a new concept for making music and meeting musicians in a club-like atmosphere, is redefining the typical band practice.

The masterminds behind this marvel? Local entrepreneurs John Avilla and Tom Zazueta, who let their innovative spirits run wild, opening their longtime dream of a “health club” for musicians in March. “I had friends who went to country clubs to work out,” reflects John. “I realized there is not a club like that for musicians. We wanted to create a place where members build cohesive groups and further their skills.”

Say goodbye to jam sessions in dingy garages. Sound Union provides a number of comfy studio spaces where instrumentalists from folk to funk can play and meet with other artists. “A lot of musicians have been playing in their garages or bedrooms,” reflects Tom. “There was nowhere to go to meet other potential band members.” The partners also welcome the not-so-musically inclined for frequent house concerts held in the Loft space. “The big thing here is the community,” Tom emphasizes.

Sound Union’s crown jewels are its state-of-the-art sound studios and instruments. “People can pull off the shelf and play top-of-the-line equipment,” says John. The studios are kitted out with all types of guitars, amplifiers, drums, basses, ukuleles, pianos and keyboards. Members can play music and rehearse in one of three large recording-quality studios, two smaller music rooms or a songwriter’s collaboration studio. There’s also a podcast room, a cozy concert venue and even a full kitchen.

While the club is designed with members in mind, any music lover can check out the local talent when its studios open for monthly Third Thursday events. “We typically have all three studios jamming with members and prospective members,” shares John.

Tom and John created Sound Union to also serve as a music-inspired co-working space, offering an alternative to the kitchen table or the office. “When members want to take a break from work, they can go in and play music,” Tom explains. “Members enjoy ample places to mingle and often just come in to talk to other musicians.”

John and Tom first formed a friendship through their careers in branding and marketing. “It is a typical Silicon Valley story,” says John. “We worked on some of the first websites for Fortune 500 companies.” After decades of working together, the creative duo dreamed of creating a venue that would provide musicians with the connections and collaborations needed to take their talents to the next level.

Through developing Sound Union, John and Tom hope to make an impact on the Peninsula music scene. “I am a lifetime musician in my spare time and that’s how I recharge my batteries,” says John. “We wanted to affect people in a very positive way. We hope our members will go out into the world and make good things happen because their creative juices are flowing.” The two men see music as a cure for isolation. “When you talk about loneliness, music is a way to break that down,” John reflects. “You can step into a studio and let your hands do the talking and it is nonverbal, but it is community.”

John knows a little something about collaboration, having grown up in a musical household that Tom jokingly describes as the “Partridge Family.” Largely self-taught, John and his eight siblings would often make music together. At one point, he and six of his siblings played in the aptly named Avilla Family Band. “Music has always been a part of my well-being,” John says. “I started as an eight-year-old singing in the family band. We played for family and friends at parties for a few years. That experience ignited a lifelong passion for music.” In his Santa Clara County hometown of San Martin, he joined the high school jazz band, played the snare drum in the marching band and percussion in the orchestra. “I grew up with a very competitive school band experience. We won national band championships,” he reveals. “I also played in the jazz band at UCLA.”

Tom brings technical expertise to the partnership and focuses on sound engineering for Sound Union members. “We have a good yin and yang,” says John. “Tom is the guy who will figure out a tech solution faster than most people I know.” Having Apple Computer headquarters in his backyard inspired Tom to pursue his interest in computers, and he spent the early part of his career at Apple and eBay. “In our neighborhood, we were surrounded by tech entrepreneurs. I was playing with a Mac before it was released,” reflects Tom. “I got excited about what was happening in the Valley. I was hooked.”

Tom and John searched for 18 months until they found Sound Union’s current location in the heart of downtown Redwood City. They spent six months completely renovating the space and manufacturing the custom sound studios. “Our soundproof studios are the most impressive element in our clubhouse,” John adds. “They are the recording and broadcast industry standard used at KQED in San Francisco and SiriusXM in Florida and Nashville.”

While the founders completed the renovation and finishing touches, adding color, texture and soundproofing, they hosted soft-launch jam nightly sessions for new members. “We were putting the wings on the plane as it was taking off,” John laughs. “When we opened, we sold 10 lifetime memberships to people who believe in what we are doing and want to be a part of it.”

Since opening its doors just six months ago, Sound Union’s growing group of members and guests have enjoyed a number of live performances from touring professionals. “We’ve hosted several Grammy winners,” says Tom. “Members get to interact with and meet the band. You can sit three feet away and talk with the band members.” Traveling musicians, some who have toured internationally, are responding enthusiastically to Sound Union’s first-class hospitality. “When bands come here, it’s not a dive bar. They see what is going on and get the vibe. It’s fun to see their reaction.”

Sound Union musicians perform for the public as well. “The newly created musical alliances have taken on a life of their own,” says Tom. Members have created events to showcase the music they are working on, with more performances in the works. “We have started to create this community where our culture embraces all talent levels,” John explains. “We have people from 25 to 75. Everyone gets in a room and they jam together.” Both founders say they enjoy a broad range of musicians and genres but agree their favorite Spotify channel currently is “Sound Union Artists and Musical Performers.”

Through the expertise of the club’s sound engineers and musicians, founding member Andy Swanson recently achieved a lifelong goal of writing and recording an original song. “I started to think about my son going off to college and what I wanted to tell him,” explains Andy. “I had a riff and a chorus. I brought the idea to Sound Union and collaborated with vocals, eight guitar tracks, drums and a gold record-sound producer that helped for the love of making music.”

Andy’s wife Aimee Swanson praises the creative, inclusive environment. She describes a recent night at Sound Union after an event ended and an impromptu session began organically. “All of a sudden there were seven musicians, including a bongo player, jamming together with a small audience!” Patrick Murphy, a Sound Union drummer who practices regularly in the studios, also notes the welcoming feel: “If I was practicing solo and someone walked by and I recognized them, I would invite them to play.”

On most evenings, members can participate in workshops and discussions on topics such as personal performance style. A recent two-hour jazz masterclass was conducted by a multiple Grammy-nominated jazz trumpeter and music educator Mike Rocha. At the weekly acoustic guitar night, Sound Union staff create a campfire atmosphere, where the lights go down and twinkle lights sparkle with the music. There’s a Sound Union app to learn about events and find other members to round out an ensemble.
What’s next? John and Tom hope to introduce the Sound Union concept in other cities throughout California and the U.S. “We want to be the place where people make the best music of their lives,” John declares. “That is a seminal part of our mission. We hope to touch a lot of lives with this.”

make a sound – soundunion.com

For photographer Devin Roberts, you couldn’t ask for a better Bay Area outlook than Mussel Rock Park on the border of Pacifica and Daly City. “The rocky coastline, sandy beaches and white-capped waves strike me as quintessential Northern California,” Devin says. On this particular day, he captured a plucky paraglider riding the updrafts. “I love the bright colors of the paraglider juxtaposed with the muted tones of the landscape, creating an image that I hope portrays the beauty and wildness of the California coast.”

Image by Devin Roberts / @devoroberts / devorobertsphotography.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.

Words by Esther Young

In third grade, Shannon Haley made her most vivid feelings known in songs she wrote on piano and guitar. As a teen, she developed a big, operatic voice—and a morning ritual of singing along to the country radio station 95.3 KRTY before school. She ended her days rehearsing rigorously with Los Altos High School’s elite choir, the Main Street Singers.

In perfect harmony, just one town over in Palo Alto, Ryan Michaels absorbed songwriting inspiration from his dad, a pedal steel guitarist. Growing up in his family’s Sunnyvale music store where his parents worked, music and soccer were the only two things that mattered to him. During his teen years, he flunked out of one local high school after another, until Ryan got to Mid-Peninsula High. His guidance counselor, Heidi Scheissler, took notice of the solo trips he was making to Nashville. She submitted his songs to be graded as English projects, which enabled him to graduate early and win a full-ride soccer scholarship to Nashville’s Belmont University, a school known for its music business program.

Meanwhile, Shannon took a full-ride scholarship as an opera major at UCLA. Throughout the week, she focused on repertoire and performance. But on the weekends, she went to country bars to play her own songs. Slowly, she realized the dream driving her wasn’t singing opera at the Met. It was songwriting. Seeking a like-minded community, she started taking trips to Nashville and recorded her first demos. A friend advised her to connect with a guy there who “knew everybody.”

A few years earlier, Ryan had started a rock band that was touring nationally. He had made a name for himself, but not just in music. Having gone to countless open houses while watching his parents manage investment properties, he had developed a keen interest in real estate. Ryan obtained a real estate license and earned a reputation in Nashville circles. He was juggling both business and creative pursuits when he got a Facebook message from Shannon, asking to connect.

As Ryan describes their coffee shop meeting, “I walked in, Shannon’s sitting there and that was it.” He knew they would get married. While Shannon was a few dates away from reaching the same conclusion, both recognized that they had serious musical chemistry. “I believed in our musical connection so much that I just didn’t want both things to fall apart because we were trying to do both,” she shares. Ryan invited her to perform a song with his band at the Roxy Theatre that weekend in Los Angeles.

“When she came out to do one song with me, no one in the audience wanted to see the band anymore,” Ryan laughs. “They just wanted that: the duo.”

Instinctively, Shannon sent her producer the first song she and Ryan wrote together. Ironically, “The Price I Pay” was a breakup song, but it blended their styles perfectly. Each of their managers and producers agreed that this duo was written in the stars, but it took years to refine their sound. For their first few collaborations, they were still two separate artists singing together. “You really have to, as an artist, shed yourself,” Ryan explains, “and prioritize your artistry in this group.” Their art eventually evolved as they did—from lyrics that felt like watered-down versions of their personalities to bodies of work that truly reflected them both. These days, their synergy on stage is undeniable. It’s in the way they meet each other’s eyes while singing and the way they sway in tandem as they strum their guitars. As they found their rhythm, they caught the attention of Danny Strick, then the co-president of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and he opened a record label for Haley & Michaels.

Ryan and Shannon got married in 2015 at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga. They compiled clips of their wedding ceremony into a music video for “Giving It All (To You),” a hit single they later played live for co-host Hoda Kotb on the Today Show. Their sweetest surprise was hearing the song on a radio in a tiki bar during their Hawaii honeymoon.

Navigating the music industry and its hurdles, they charted an independent route. They produced other artists, including father-daughter duo Mat and Savannah Shaw, whose Christmas album hit No. 1 on Billboard. Haley & Michaels also released their single “Hail Mary,” which was featured in the Netflix film Walk. Ride. Rodeo. and its music video was produced by the San Francisco 49ers and shot at Levi’s Stadium. The couple traveled to 200 cities as they promoted their first full-length album and played shows across Europe and the U.S.

When the pandemic started, they were in England opening for the likes of Darius Rucker and Eric Church. The pandemic shutdown hit while they were at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. When they finally arrived home in Nashville, it gave them time to think. “We were just so in the grind,” Shannon remembers. “If you lose perspective—even the notion that it is possible to do something else—there is no time for that.”

Later that same fateful year, the couple had their first child, Keira, welcoming her into the world with “Born Yesterday,” a sweet song that features their baby’s heartbeat while still in the womb. Two years later, little Liam followed. “Having [children] didn’t change our love of music or our desire to play concerts,” Ryan says, “but it became so easy to let go of so many things and reprioritize.” They decided that being closer to their family was most important.

Back in the Bay Area, Shannon and Ryan are among their family and childhood friends. They enjoy their favorite spots: strolling Saratoga’s Hakone Gardens on holidays, enjoying dinners at Hobee’s or an upscale evening at La Forêt in San Jose, and bringing the kids to Linden Tree Books in Los Altos, a place Shannon loved as a child.

Ryan joined The Agency, a boutique real estate and lifestyle company. “Helping people, that’s the point of our music,” he says, “and you can also do that by helping people get into their homes.” His new Los Altos office on Main Street is just blocks away from The Post, where—years before they met—Ryan and Shannon had each sat at the bar, watching halftime shows, not realizing that one day, they would be the ones performing in a stadium.

Words by Loureen Murphy

A pair of Franco-Californians stood at the threshold of a new era in their lives, as he retired and she pursued her European wine import business. When they opened the door to Kanika Design to remodel their 1977 Los Altos Hills home, they welcomed in a world of change.

Kanika Bakshi-Khurana came to the project with more than just design experience. She spent her first 10 years of life in India, and later, with husband/managing partner Adi Khurana, traveled to 60-plus countries, immersing herself in the different colors, cuisines and people. The homeowners loved Kanika’s quick response to their inquiry and the designer’s willingness to meet with them personally from the outset.
“It’s not the materials. What makes a house beautiful is you,” Kanika explains to clients. “It’s your energy.” So the right milieu for creative collaboration begins with connection. “For me, it’s mainly listening,” says the naturally shy designer. “I observe a lot,” assessing the visuals conveying their likes and wants: in short, their style. “They may say, ‘I don’t have a style.’ But we all have a style.”

Initial conversations brought these Los Altos Hills clients to a unifying theme for the whole project: open space and natural light. With this, they sought to honor their French heritage and their current lifestyle in every aspect of the remodeling.

After presenting the timeline and all costs up front, Kanika hit a snag when she and the general contractor from Lasal Construction carried out an inspection for earthquake insurance purposes. Finding significant degradation in foundational elements, Kanika helped her clients prioritize the home’s physical stability and longevity. “Our clients were happy with this proactive approach,” she says.

That done, they moved on to design matters. The entryway swallowed light, negating the impact of a single porch sconce. The massive double door was dark and used only on one side. Inside, it thwarted the airy feel that the owners sought. The solution? A lighter-toned door with a generous sidelite. Flanked by two sleek new sconces, it welcomes visitors.

The existing kitchen, though functional for the avid cooks, cried out for a style and functionality upgrade. Increasing the window size augmented the natural light from the skylight and opened up greater views onto their beautiful back garden. Widening the window meant removing the cabinets and installing a vertically textured Italian marble backsplash. The wide-grouted tile gave way to neutral quartz countertops with a larger peninsula creating more prep space. Maple cabinets below balanced the new white ones above. Their need for higher baking temperatures called for a pair of Gaggenau ovens.

Crediting her travels with an increased appreciation and knowledge of craftsmanship, Kanika introduced a show-stopper right above the new stove—an Italian hand-cut mosaic backsplash in black, white and shell, highlighted by 24K gold glass. “When it comes to quality design, no one can beat the Italians!” she says. Kanika also replaced the terracotta floor tiles in the eat-in kitchen with classic Italian porcelain checkerboard tile. The now-timeless and elegant kitchen has greatly increased functionality with dedicated places for baking sheets, spice racks and utensils within easy reach.

In the adjacent dining room, Kanika updated the recessed lighting and installed a custom oak built-in where the outdated one had occupied the end of the room. Set atop the salvaged original kitchen floor tiles, the solid oak piece serves as a prep and buffet area for entertaining. A wine cooler hides behind one of the cabinet doors, and stylish black hardware on the new unit matches that of the kitchen, tying the two rooms together. Above the built-in, free-floating shelves hold memorabilia from the homeowners’ travels. A vibrant ocean blue covers the walls, immersing the space in beauty and calm.

To achieve the overall goal, Kanika focused on the house’s common areas, removing walls between the kitchen and living space, eliminating a dark, cramped passageway and allowing a free flow between them. Enlarging the small windows invited more natural light and enhanced the home’s stunning hillside views.

Kanika says that once her clients have moved into their renovated space, she usually takes them to dinner. In this case, the delighted couple insisted on hosting her and Adi. While the aroma of a freshly baked baguette filled the house, the homeowners emphasized how much they like the subtlety of the design. And when the husband remarked with great satisfaction that it looked exactly like the rendering, Kanika thought, “We did our job right.”
“Bringing them what they’ll love is very important to me,” Kanika says. She compares the challenge of merging people’s different design styles to a marriage. “You’ve got to make both of the clients happy. At the end of the day, it’s both of their homes.” And not just a home, but a timeless haven.

seamless style – kanikadesign.com

Coastside Collective woodworker and resident artist at Palo Alto’s Cubberley Community Center shares cherished pieces, tools of the trade and his ardor for lumber.

Do you have a favorite type of wood?
I most enjoy working with reclaimed woods that have a history and story to tell.

Can you share a little-known fact about woodworking?
I think people are surprised at the efforts required to sustain the illusion of wood seamlessly wrapping a curve. Wood prefers to be tall, straight and strong. That’s why we build buildings with it. But there are techniques and illusions that can be used to bend the will of the wood and various tricks to hide the evidence.

What’s something in your life that brings you joy?
I’ve been the proud pet-parent of four Rottweilers throughout my life: Onyx, Roxy, Zaxon and Xylo. Each one has been a uniquely cuddly, clumsy, dorky, stubborn and intelligent companion.

What’s your claim to fame?
My grilled cheese. I would share the secret, but what would that leave me with?

How do you spend a typical day at your Cubberley studio?
On a good day, I can get six to eight hours in at the bench. Progress is slow, as it should be. Every project is unique, and each step is brought as close to perfection as I dare, one shaving at a time. When things go wrong, I take the dog for a walk. He gets a lot of walks. At the end of the day, I sweep my shop and clear my workbench.

Tell us about your favorite tool.
In the hand-tool category, the Lie-Nielsen round bottom spokeshave is exquisitely beautiful to see and to use.

What was your first job?
I was a fundraising telemarketer selling trash bags and frozen pizzas—which was probably the worst possible job for a socially awkward, introverted 15-year-old.

How would you describe your aesthetic sense?
I’m fascinated with iconic forms from art deco architecture, mid-century interiors and have a special fondness for atomic age appliances. I can only guess the latter comes from watching the Jetsons and visiting a lot of garage sales over the summers.

What is your most cherished possession?
My series of pieces inspired by the iconic designs of early radio receivers.

How about your biggest pet peeve?
The Oxford comma. Specifically, the absence of it.

Are you instructing aspiring woodworkers?
I enjoy teaching, mentoring and leading workshops. My favorite workshops are the ones for children, like building a birdhouse, a wooden robot or “Frankenstuffies” where attendees give new life to donated stuffies by dissecting and reassembling new, and sometimes creepy, creations. I also enjoy teaching introductory machine tool classes and introductory hand tool classes at the Palo Alto Adult School.

What do you collect?
Scraps of wood that are too valuable to throw away and too small to be useful.

Words by Jennifer Jory

Perched high in an aerial lift, Harumo Sato paints bold designs and geometric shapes that weave a colorful story across a Google building in Sunnyvale. “I always wanted to be a ninja when I was younger,” admits the artist. “Climbing up to paint feels magical because at one point, I had a disabled body.” Through personal hardship and perseverance, Harumo’s murals, paintings and sculptures now grace buildings and collections across the Bay Area and U.S., revealing her salient message about culture, history and our current moment.

The daughter of two ancient civilization history teachers, Harumo grew up in Japan and spent her youth traveling to Greece, Egypt and Europe, where she visited many prehistoric sites. “There was no time to enjoy pizza in Italy, only to visit ruins in places like Palermo,” recalls Harumo. After extensive global travel with her parents, time spent living in France and month-long visits to Tunisia and Morocco, she began to notice similarities in early art from different civilizations. Many cultures seemed to have animistic images in common. “Everything has a soul,” she emphasizes. Harumo’s organic, dream-like images are as playful as they are steeped with meaning. Through her art, she gives voice to her historical observations—and lessons learned by overcoming major life challenges.

Cover Photo: Lanny Nguyen / Painting Photo: Harumo Sato

Harumo’s trials began while working at an advertising agency in Tokyo. One day, the muscles in her right arm suddenly and inexplicably stopped functioning, leaving her without the use of her dominant hand. Doctors couldn’t find a cure. Unable to work, she returned to her hometown outside of Tokyo in Tochigi Prefecture for a six-month leave. Several months later, a 9.0 earthquake hit Fukushima, the prefecture next to her own. It leveled centuries-old temples, caused a devastating tsunami and triggered a nuclear plant meltdown. Although she knew she was fortunate to be alive, Harumo says she felt hopeless without having the use of her arm.

A silver lining emerged when her former art teacher, Shusei, offered Harumo work as an apprentice and the opportunity to rehabilitate her arm through drawing. Having weathered a similar condition as the result of a stroke, Shusei took Harumo under his wing and coached her back to a fully functioning body. “He said there is always a way to rewire the brain so you can use your arm again,” she recounts. “I started to move a little bit and I thought, why not do what I love and study art in the States? As the eldest daughter, I had so much pressure to be successful. In Japan, being an artist is not a real option I could choose.” Harumo landed at the University at Buffalo in New York where she earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. While there, she secured a scholarship to study at New York’s Parsons School of Design for a summer.

Photo: Courtesy of Lanny Nguyen

Even in the face of adversity, Harumo says she strives to appreciate each day and paints with joyful hues. “Color is a symbol of life and celebration,” she emphasizes. “After experiencing disaster, I learned to appreciate the moment I am in.” Now as a wife and the mother of three-year-old Gio, being present takes on new meaning as she finds inspiration for her work in her son and his friends.

Today, you can find Harumo at the Cubberley Artist Studio Program in Palo Alto where she is working full-time on multiple commissioned pieces. Currently, she’s planning an upcoming mural in Mountain View and creating a bronze sculpture for the NFTA Metro in New York. Her mural and art installation commissions span from government agencies in Washington, D.C., to Meta offices, the University of Buffalo and beyond. Harumo also produces hand-pulled screen prints and shows her prolific collection of paintings at exhibitions across the country.

By creating art for public spaces, she aims to bring awareness to the history of a place and ignite viewers’ curiosity. “Public art is a way to commemorate where we are and what we are doing to recreate narratives,” Harumo asserts. “It tells newcomers to share that narrative.”

Photo: Courtesy of Harumo Sato

In San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, her colorful mural titled We Used To Be Held brings life to a gray building and offers a hopeful message to a struggling population. “I was caring for my seven-month-old baby when I painted my first mural in the Tenderloin,” says Harumo. “I reflected on the fact that people who are on the street were babies who were held by someone who sustained their life before something unfortunate happened.”

As a multicultural artist, Harumo strives to bring people together by highlighting common ground. She cites the famous East-West trade route of antiquity as one example of how cultures have come together throughout history. “Observing the patterns of the design of import and export on the Silk Road helps me believe in a greater humanity that can unite,” she reflects. “I see patterns from Egypt that evolved as they traveled the Silk Road and Japanese flower patterns in Italian art. Culture is not one entity. We are weaving together, all of the time.”

living color – harumosato.com

Words by Loureen Murphy

A dad-crafted, red-roofed dollhouse started it all. Interior designer Melinda Mandell says she had just as much fun arranging a tiny blue teapot in that mini kitchen as she does now when accessorizing the quartzite counter in a renovated ranch home.

Melinda’s prescient parents, seeing her affinity for colors, shapes and furnishings, urged her toward interior design. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Seattle Pacific University and four years working under a Pasadena principal designer, she returned to the Peninsula to launch Melinda Mandell Interior Design in 2011. She’s been flourishing ever since.
Fusing the creative and the technical, Melinda renders designs unique to each client’s personality. “I think of the spaces that we create as works of art,” she says, but “not the stand-back, don’t-touch, museum kind of art.” Art to live in. When personalizing a wall or nook, she considers the whole composition—materials, textures and lines—and how her clients will interact with it.

Cover Photo: Courtesy of Michelle Drewes / Profile Photo: Courtesy of Bess Friday

Anticipating responses takes more than an artistic eye, it requires designer-client connection. To develop it, Melinda walks though each home with clients, asking fairly intimate questions. What side of the bed do you sleep on? Are you bumping elbows in the bathroom as you get ready? What do you trip on or have to step around?

Discovering day-to-day inconveniences lends vision to increasing the functionality of each room. In a recent Los Altos Hills project, Melinda’s clients wanted a handy place for their mother to make her morning tea without traversing the whole kitchen. The solution? An island refrigerator drawer for her cream near the tea cupboard. With many avid cooks as clients, Melinda prioritizes placing their go-to items within easy reach.

“Sometimes I will have a really crisp vision,” says Melinda. Other times, the solution emerges gradually. Once the concept gels, she elicits client responses, preferring to get gut reactions. Sometimes a color triggers a visceral childhood memory, positive or negative. People can’t always explain it, so sometimes sudden reversals occur. One client said “no way” to a kitchen color Melinda suggested, then changed her mind overnight. And she has remained delighted with her choice ever since.

Photo: Courtesy of Thomas Kuoh

Inherent in Melinda’s commitment to infuse homes with joy is reconnecting clients with nature. “We aim to blur the border between indoors and outdoors,” she says. For one client’s remodel, she increased the height of all of the home’s windows, resulting in well-lit rooms and expanded views. She cites the well-known mental health benefits of exposure to sunlight, birdsong and nature’s endless patterns. “The more natural light we can bring in, the better,” she says.

Along with mental well-being, Melinda puts a high value on her clients’ physical health and ecological sustainability. She explains that dust formed by fabric and upholstery foam as it breaks down exposes people and pets to microplastics and chemicals. To combat their harmful effects, she orders from companies that create fabrics that are gentle on the makers, the end users and the earth, and procures nontoxic linen for headboards. For one project, she commissioned a custom-made spalted maple headboard.

Photo: Courtesy of Bess Friday

Another win-win for clients and the planet: Melinda selects California-made furniture, delivered blanket-wrapped, and American-made light fixtures packaged in brown paper, instead of imported lights packed in single-use Styrofoam. Thanks to her highly skilled local artisan partners, “We can easily tweak their existing designs to meet our vision, or create something from scratch to meet client needs,” Melinda says.

Whether homeowners want all-new custom pieces or a blend of new and vintage, Melinda’s artistry colors the entire project. The Palo Alto owners of a 1920s Tudor Revival home preserved their stunning wood floors and installed period dining room doors, including original hardware. Meanwhile, Melinda updated every space with new furnishings and fixtures, keeping the atmosphere vibrant and the seating comfortable for the clients’ book club guests.

Photo: Courtesy of Bess Friday

In a recent project, Melinda’s team revitalized every surface of an even earlier Tudor-Storybook hybrid, including electrical and plumbing. They opened up the main floor for modern living and added another bathroom, before optimizing unused space upstairs, significantly increasing the livable area within the existing footprint. What’s more, Melinda fashioned the bathrooms and kitchen from scratch while safeguarding the home’s character, preparing this beautiful centenarian home for its next hundred years.

Looking ahead, Melinda describes her perfect future project. “I really am looking for clients excited about the creativity I’m going to bring to the table and open to the beauty of the creative process unfolding, their eyes open to new ideas.”

custom commitment  – melindamandell.com

Stanford University’s director of architecture discusses her passion for preservation, rappelling down a historic structure and the building that laid the foundation for her career.

What draws you to architectural preservation work?
The ability to connect the past, present and future. A society demonstrates its collective values when it decides which cultural achievements are worth preserving.

What’s a gift you received that you’ll never forget?
Time! It is irreplaceable.

Does your job take you to places most people never see?
I have had the opportunity to go to many hidden, daring places on campus: climbing the roof of Leland Stanford Jr. Museum, entering the crawl space beneath the Memorial Church, walking on scaffolding along Old Chemistry’s front façade, rappelling down the side and flying over the top of Hoover Tower in a bucket.

Do you have a favorite podcast?
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford.

Sum up your life philosophy in one sentence
Learning and curiosity should never die—if they do, your spirit ends up dying with it.

Which architect do you admire and why?
I admire the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. As a child, I came across the image of Fallingwater near Pittsburgh. I was mesmerized by the floating cantilevers magically suspended over a waterfall. That very day my path towards architecture became crystal-clear.

What subject has been occupying your mind lately?
Backyard vegetable gardening.

What’s a quote that really resonates with you?
“Wrong is wrong, even if everyone is doing it. Right is right, even if no one is doing it.”

How would you describe your own home’s aesthetic?
Comfortably eclectic. Travel memorabilia lovingly displayed tell fond stories at every corner.

What’s one thing you’ve brought back from a trip abroad?
An “om” singing bowl and mallet from McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala. It makes a mesmerizing sound.

Is there a cool architecture fact everyone should know about Stanford?
I have heard contrary theories, but I sincerely believe that in envisioning the Stanford campus, Jane and Leland Stanford tried to recreate the family’s last happy moment together before their son was tragically lost to typhoid. The architecture deliberately recalls Italian Romanesque rather than the popular Collegiate Gothic of that era.

What’s guaranteed to make you laugh?
My threshold to laugh uncontrollably is extremely low. I enjoy a good laugh anywhere and any time.

Words by Loureen Murphy

When empty-nesters from Burlingame pondered flight from their 25-year home, instead they stepped out on a limb. They chose to stay put and reimagine that nest for the next quarter-century. “We briefly thought of other places we might want to live, but we landed back right where we are, in a great city surrounded by wonderful friends and neighbors,” the couple says.

In fact, it was a friend who led them to Katie Raffetto Interior Design. Instantly syncing with Katie, the owners settled on the desired vibe for their “new” home. As they reimagined the house where they’d raised their two sons, entertaining and hospitality claimed top priority. Soon, the compartmentalized 1990s floor plan gave way to an open kitchen, a room-like exterior entertaining nook, and other conversation-cozy areas. As former winemakers and committed oenophiles, they designed spaces to relax and connect with winemakers and wine collectors. “We also wanted to be able to accommodate the boys and their lifemates,” as well as any future grandchildren, they add.

Frequent business travelers, the homeowners developed much of their design aesthetic from hotels in London, Vienna, Barcelona and Berlin. “Katie understood what we were envisioning and helped bring it together,” they say. The designer caught the sense of the vintage and timeless entwined with updated luxury, to create rooms that the owners call “warm, inviting and calm.”

The project’s scope encompassed floorplan changes to the main story and renovating and repurposing the upstairs rooms. The full-gut project included remodeling four bathrooms and adding a fifth. Two bedrooms transformed into designated guest rooms. They dedicated a new den for coworking and a former bedroom as a background-worthy office for remote work. Mindful of their primary goal, they carved out three entertainment areas on the lower level, including a movie room, a fitness space and an expansion of their existing wine cellar.

Another priority: upgrading the power infrastructure. That included adding a microgrid with a 40-panel solar array, efficient heat pumps and two car-charging stations. “We are nearly energy independent and have taken our electric bill to net zero,” they confide.

Katie agrees that some of the project’s greatest challenges also produced some of the best outcomes. She helps clients at the stone yard visualize their book-matched marble slabs. Book-matching creates two identical slabs by slicing a single stone slab in half, then places the two pieces side-by-side for a mirrored image. Likening marble and natural stone to Rorschach tests, Katie says, “Everyone sees something different. You don’t want clients to be in the shower and think, ‘That’s weird.’” The homeowners maintain that their collaborative design decisions “show up best in the stone and tile elements selected throughout the house. They have an ageless look.”

A heavy walnut slab the couple found became a featured surface in the butler’s pantry/bar. Accented by the walnut counter and painted a deep blue, the bar “screams cocktails with old crystal glassware,” the couple says. In a hotel-like touch, a custom brass argon dispenser piped down to the basement preserves leftover half bottles of wine for the next day.

The thoughtfully designed pass-through bar flows from the kitchen to the dining room, another favorite feature. There, a light fixture of brass and white spheres, suggestive of champagne bubbles, enlivens the ambience amid soft blue wainscoting and crown molding. The homeowners mark this as one of many extraordinary light fixtures Katie incorporated to heighten the home’s dazzling style.

Among the custom touches, Katie favors the metal-framed glass shelves hanging on either side of the kitchen sink. Created by a local artisan, they match the patina on the custom stove hood—old-world complements to the kitchen’s modern-looking features.

Harmonizing with the old-new theme, personal memorabilia, family heirlooms and collected art entered the mix. The couple mounted 50 hotel keys on a guest room wall, evoking an old-school concierge station. A “Do Not Disturb” sign from Paris’s Plaza Athénée hangs on the door. Original paintings grace many rooms.

In the office’s library niche, an old football tops a bookshelf, and the husband’s childhood trumpet another, while an oval antique portrait overlooks an heirloom chair. Detailed planning, says Katie, “elevates all of these special items, because now they have a home and can really look beautiful” in the right setting. She also finds that when clients have special items they want to showcase, “it makes our job much easier.”

The delighted homeowners say they would advise others to secure a great designer before starting on architectural plans and permits and to plan elements like audio-visuals early on to ensure success. “Katie and contractor Bret Bottarini helped lead a great team of skilled and professional craftspeople to build our home.”

Katie credits the couple’s purposeful approach in making this a winner among her 17 years of design projects. They partnered on every room’s alteration, from fixtures to decor, from the British silver-toned slipper tub to the sofa pillows. “They didn’t cut any corners,” she concludes. “They made every inch exactly how they wanted it.”

feathered nests – katieraffetto.com

Words by Jennifer Jory

Gently grasping a vase from a 1,200-degree kiln, Ann Wagenhals begins a process that’s part ritual and part art. “I am dancing around the pot with horse hair as it singes and makes these beautiful lines,” the ceramacist describes as she applies the final design to a pot’s surface. “This is a time I feel really alive.” A longtime Palo Alto resident and prolific artist, Ann employs the centuries-old technique called horse hair raku along with other traditional firing methods. “I really like the freedom and joy I feel when I am creating,” she says enthusiastically. “Things are always moving and I try to capture it in my work.”

It all started when a teenaged Ann attended a ceramics course with her father as a bonding activity in Boulder, Colorado. “At one point, the studio director let me fire and run a gas kiln by myself,” she recalls. “It was a really valuable experience for me and it empowered me to believe that if I can do that, there must be a lot of things I can do.”

Ann first came to the Peninsula to study art history and political science at Stanford University, but her interest in ceramics was always in the back of her mind—and even the subject of her college entrance essay. Little did she know her passion for the craft would become a lifelong endeavor.

After working as a lawyer, then as an English teacher at Castilleja School in Palo Alto for many years, Ann decided to take a year off while raising her three children. It was then she rediscovered her zeal for pottery at the Palo Alto Art Center. There, she refined her skills under the guidance of Gary Clarien and Pixie Couch. Pixie introduced her to horse hair raku, a decorative technique to create designs from burning strands of horse hairs on the surface of a still-hot ceramic piece. “She also instructed me in throwing vase forms,” Ann says. She cites the Palo Alto Art Center as an invaluable resource and says she looks forward to the ACGA Clay and Glass Festival it hosts every July. Visitors to the center will find a totem pole in the courtyard, the result of collaborative efforts by Ann and several other artists.

Eventually, as her kids grew up and left home, Ann decided to immerse herself deeply in her craft. “I realized I don’t have infinite time and now was the time to create,” declares Ann. “For me, I am most in the moment when I am throwing pots. The music is playing, windows are open and the wind is blowing.”

Ann describes her process as taking advantage of the symmetry of a thrown form by adding negative space to introduce a sense of movement, while altering the lip and rim to communicate undulation. “What I am trying to convey is a sense of motion,” she adds. She finds inspiration in nature—hiking Windy Hill in Portola Valley or walking the beaches in Pescadero.

While many ceramicists primarily use an electric or gas kiln to fire their work, Ann prefers an ancient, traditional method called pit firing, where all of the finished piece’s colors and patterns are derived in the fire. She belongs to a group that gathers on a fellow artist’s land in the hills above Milpitas to fire their work in a wood-fueled metal pit. “We place the pots in the pit, flames rise high and then we cover the pit overnight. We return in the morning and form a line of people to empty the kiln, and everyone touches every pot.” She describes the immediacy of the results as a highlight of this process, along with the community spirit and camaraderie it creates.

Recently, Ann’s lifelong passion for ceramic art came to fruition when her vases were featured at an international exhibit in Paris. The 1000 Vases show featured a curated group of 57 artists from 25 countries who designed a wide range of ceramic pieces running the gamut from tribal to pop-inspired. “It was quite an honor to be selected,” Ann notes. “It was such an incredible experience to have my work included with all of these other vases. Every time I work in my studio, I know a lifelong dream has come true. And exhibiting in Paris was the icing on the cake.”

While Ann’s creative drive often keeps her at the pottery wheel late into the night, she is even busier lately, making 100 vases for her daughter’s upcoming wedding. “I was so honored and touched that they asked me to make pottery for their wedding,” she smiles. “I want them all to be different. It is a lot of play and experimentation.”

Generous by nature, Ann feels fortunate to donate many of her works’ proceeds to nonprofits and charities. “I hope people sense my happiness when I am making a vase,” she reflects. “I am trying to make something that will enhance someone’s life.” She also enjoys the sense of connection with her clients. “Part of me is all around the world with people who own my work,” she beams. “That is an amazing feeling.”

porcelain passion – annwagenhals.com