A tour of the Mission’s new design scene.
San Francisco’s Mission District has earned its reputation as the city’s creative hub: Residents have found innovative ways to beautify their homes and streets, either by refreshing weathered exteriors with vibrant murals, restoring and repurposing warehouses or transforming blacktops into compact parks and gardens. Now, the neighborhood has the city’s largest collection of shops and studios showcasing handcrafted works, from ceramics to botanicals. This is the place to haunt if you’re looking for the best of Bay Area design.
Acacia
This pristine homegoods shop exudes the earthy, natural lifestyle that owner Lily Chau sought when she fled NYC for the West Coast. Her affinity for Japanese and Scandinavian style is apparent in modular dinnerware from Hasami Porcelain and Iittala’s sleek glassware. There’s plenty of local design, too, including Fellow Products’ copper pour-over kettles and Most Modest’s wooden power strips. The shop shares space with Heliotrope, a natural skin-care line whose organic balms and soaps are also made in San Francisco. 415 Valencia St., www.acaciasf.com
Heath Ceramics
In the trendy Mission Creek microhood, where most former factories are now condos, Heath Ceramics transformed a 100-year-old commercial laundry building into a feat of 21st century manufacturing and design. Browse the company’s timeless midcentury tile and dinnerware in an airy showroom by Commune Design in Los Angeles, and you’ll catch glimpses of tile production through soaring interior windows. Or wander over to the Boiler Room (a cavernous gallery named for its imposing metal boilers), which features yearlong programming from Tokyo’s famed Playmountain design shop. Eventually, the aromas of fresh-baked bread will lure you into Tartine Manufactory, a buzzworthy cafe and bakery that opened in the building late last year. 2900 18th St., www.heathceramics.com
Parklet at Samovar Tea Bar
Parklets in San Francisco, which began as a clever experiment to convert metered parking spaces into small-scale models of creative design, have been embraced by the local planning department. The Mission features the city’s largest assortment — check out the rotating public-art concepts outside Luna Rienne Gallery and the shipwrecked hull at Ritual Coffee — with the latest example fronting the sleek Samovar Tea Bar. The cedar structure was designed and constructed by Oldani Art Studio, whose refined millwork can be seen at hot spots like the Progress and Sightglass Coffee. It features metal panels emblazoned with a bold, floral Jet Martinez painting, a visual link to a previous mural by the former Clarion Alley Mural Project director located just steps away. 411 Valencia St., www.samovartea.com/
Lila B. Design
The lush, plum tree-lined courtyard adjacent to Stable Cafe — a former mayor’s 19th century carriage house repurposed by architect Malcolm Davis in 2008 — is a happy discovery along an industrial strip. Beyond a charming spot to sip coffee al fresco, it serves as the garden showroom for Baylor Chapman’s botanical design studio. “I was raised on a rural Illinois farm, mile-long driveway and all, so I love bringing greenery to urban spaces,” she says. Chapman, who penned the “Plant Recipe Book” (Artisan), also hosts on-site workshops where participants construct terrariums and centerpieces around an outdoor woodburning fireplace. 2128 Folsom St., www.lilabdesign.com
Little Paper Planes
Before it occupied a Valencia Street storefront, Little Paper Planes was a wildly successful, preEtsy online shop that galvanized a community of independent artists and makers. Owner Kelly Lynn Jones is an enthusiastic advocate for fellow artists, filling her gallery-like space with handmade goods such as jewelry from Mission designer Hikaru Furuhashi and exclusive art prints from monthly featured artists. In April, the shop released print editions of S.F. painter Sofie Ramos’ playful, pop art-inflected work. 855 Valencia St., www.littlepaperplanes.com
Windy Chien
For her fine-art take on macrame, Chien taps a variety of influences: Her Circuit Board wall hangings were inspired by electronic circuitry and Massimo Vignelli's classic NYC subway map. And last year, armed with a book of old sailing hitches and a vow to learn a new knot each day, she produced 366 elegantly tied pieces (2016 was a leap year) for her mesmerizing Year of Knots installation. “If you’re a guitarist who only knows three chords, you can play the Ramones, but if you want to cover Neil Young, you need to learn more,” she says, referring to the limits of traditional macrame. Her works are featured at the Mission’s Satellite of Love gallery (766 Valencia St.); prospective buyers are invited to arrange studio visits via her site, www.windychien.com
Peace Industry
After discovering felted lamb’s wool rugs, a handmade nomadic tradition that predates weaving, Melina and Dodd Raissnia established a workshop to give the lost craft a stylish reboot. Their dense, tactile rugs, dyed in warm earth tones, resemble large modernist paintings. Remnants get a second life in the form of choobs, felt poufs named after the Farsi word for “log.” The shop owners plan to follow up their recent Heath collaboration with a series featuring local designer Alison Damonte and architecture-design firm Marmol Radziner. 2235 Mission St., www.peaceindustry.com
Aesthetic Union
The rich, retro look of this cozy letterpress and retail shop stems from owner James Tucker’s childhood fascination with the drafting tool-filled work space of his engineer mother. Yet Tucker, who studied printing and design at the Maryland Institute College of Art, is keen on pushing the limits of the 500-year-old craft, using digital technologies to produce modern debossed prints from his three hulking Heidelberg presses. He invites passersby to wander in, browse a micro gallery of previous work and ask questions. “I’ve worked in too many solitary, basement-confined printing shops,” Tucker says. “I really like talking to people.” 555 Alabama St., www.theaestheticunion.com