Friday, December 5, 2008

Jet setting with Salty (Part IV, Section I)

I love the San Francisco Ferry Building Marketplace! All these awesome small-ish vendors are housed in a beautiful old building on the docks, with vaulted ceilings and huge windows to let the sunlight pour in while the chilly air stays out.

It just so happened to be the Mycological Society of San Francisco's Fungus Fair while we were visiting and man- never before have I seen such an odd conglomeration of mushrooms. From all manner of containers... bags, jars, cartons, etc. were sprouting the spongy umbrellas of a variety of fungi. I'm not even a big fan normally but something about their massive organic shapes and neutral tones begged me to take a stowaway for the plane ride home. In the end I resisted the urge in order to avoid any run-ins with the Department of Agriculture.


These cute, squat, 7.5 oz glasses were also hard to resist at The Gardener. I'm not sure what it is, but somewhere in my genetic code- buried deep between my pack-rat codon and and my decorating codon, is one for oggling glassware. Despite having plenty at home, I have to use the force for good and not evil [read: collecting massive quantities of unnecessary housewares] to avoid grabbing any liquid vessel in sight. At $4.00 a piece, a set of six wouldn't have broken the bank but I remained strong. Interestingly, I also heard recently that when drinking from short, wide glasses, our brains are fooled into drinking more. Hmmm...


I love what people are doing with merchandising these days! So clever. Also at The Gardener, the natural woods and cast iron panel make a fantastic backdrop for the softer fabrics and glass baubles on display. Secretly I'd like to imagine a time when I can craft these sorts of interior collages so I can live out my fantasies of a staged home without actually having to live in a shop window. This particular shop transformed a typically cold space, with floors of industrial gray, poured concrete, into a warm and inviting home decor destination.



Glasses! Again! This time from The Kingdom of Herbs. Focusing primarily on buds and blossoms, with a healthy accent of indoor and outdoor gardening accessories, KOH felt like an verdant indoor forest retreat. Several items caught my eye- not the least of which were these glasses in a wire tray or a collection of bark-covered storage boxes stacked by the register.



These simple pots with loose geometric shapes carved into the glaze were... I'll say it... precious. Really. Paired with a small, baby succulent, these would make a great addition to a compact workspace or maybe do time kitchen-side to bring a little nature indoors. Also from The Kingdom of Herbs.


I should be banned from Sur la Table. Despite our massive collection of kitchen, and kitchen-related goods, it's nearly impossible for me to leave the store without some new thing I just can't live without. And during their holiday sale, they were offering 20% off their classy collection of cloches. Just say it with me: cloche. Finally SLT has caught on to the trend that swept across homes, stores, floral shops, and the webernets at large a year ago (or more)... satisfying our dark, inner desires to make the most common of items- a lemon, a cupcake, a pine cone or small potted flower- display-worthy under the delicate bell shape of these glass beauties. Ultimately, I was weak. So weak. To avoid mid-flight glass breakage, I waited until we landed back in Portland to buy the two middle sizes. And my lemons and shallots have never looked so regal.
Stay tuned for Part IV, Section II to hear about all the things I wanted to buy, but didn't at the San Francisco MOMA.

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