San Francisco - Alison Bing [104]
SECESSION ART & DESIGN Map Clothing & Accessories, Arts & Crafts
415-279-3058; www.secessionsf.com; 3361 Mission St; noon-7pm Tue & Thu-Sat; 14, 26, 49; 24th St Mission
Every weekend is an open studio event at this local designer/artist collective. Permanent installations include Colleen Mauer’s loop-de-loop earrings and Heather Robinson’s mysterious paintings of spoons and hammers poking through ornate wallpaper; recent gallery shows featured Anna Simson’s abstract, color-blocked cityscapes and graffiti artist FuryOne’s gritty, dreamy spray-paint portraits.
SUNHEE MOON Map Clothing & Accessories, Local Designer
415-355-1800; www.sunheemoon.com; 3167 16th St; noon-7pm Mon-Fri, to 6pm Sat & Sun; 14, 22, 33, 49; 16th St Mission
Minding your girlish figure so you don’t have to, Sunhee Moon creates svelte shirtdresses and flattering tree-print tunics to make those curves work for you. You’ll never need to wait for a sale, since there’s always a rack with 20% to 50% off – yet another excuse to splurge on locally designed, free-form hoop earrings.
NEEDLES & PENS Map DIY, Local Designer
415-255-1534; www.needles-pens.com; 3253 16th St; noon-7pm; 14, 22, 33, 49; 16th St Mission
Do it yourself or DIY trying: this scrappy zine/craft/how-to/art gallery delivers the inspiration to create your own magazines, rehabbed T-shirts or album covers. Nab Sara Thustra’s silkscreened zines with drawings of every household purchase for a year, Maria Forde’s ‘advice portraits’ of neighbors and their wisdom (eg ‘don’t wax on what you can’t wax off’) and recycled T-shirts screen-printed with portraits of famous suffragists.
SCRAP (SCROUNGERS’ CENTER FOR RE-USABLE ART PARTS) off Map DIY
415-647-1746; www.scrap-sf.org; 801 Toland St; 9am-5pm Tue-Sat
Renew, recycle and rediscover your creativity with post-industrial salvage arts and crafts from SCRAP – you’d be shocked what perfectly good raw materials San Francisco throws out. Take a workshop at SCRAP for inspiration, and make your very own Tupperware lamp, necklace from Barbie parts or Joseph Cornell–inspired diorama. Classes are held in the city (see website for locations); the entrance to SCRAP is at the confluence of Hwy 101 and Hwy 280, south of SoMa.
LITTLE OTSU Map Gifts, Local Designer
415-255-7900; www.littleotsu.com; 849 Valencia St; 11:30am-7:30pm; 14, 22, 33, 49; 16th St Mission
Finally, organizational tools for the artistically inclined: a ‘Film Diary’ so you can keep track of your SF Film Festival favorites, Keri Smith’s free-form ‘Daily Non-Planner’ so you can make dates and capture ideas when so moved, and a Simon Evans airplane bookmark that ominously declares its destination as ‘TERMINAL EXCESSIVE SENSIBILITIES.’ Stationery with jellyfish printed in vegetable inks on 100% post-consumer recycled paper makes an eco-smart gift, and everyone deserves a wombat button.
PAXTON GATE Map Gifts, Flowers & Gardens
415-824-1872; www.paxton-gate.com; 824 Valencia St; noon-7pm Mon-Fri, 11am-7pm Sat & Sun; 14, 22, 33, 49; 16th St Mission
Salvador Dali probably would’ve shopped here for all his taxidermy and gardening needs. What with puppets made with animal skulls, a stuffed mouse dressed like the Pope, a vast selection of pruning shears and lollipops with actual worms in them, this place is beyond surreal. The new kids shop down the street is worthy of Lemony Snickett, with volcano-making kits, sea-monster mobiles and solar-powered dollhouses.
CLAUDIA KUSSANO Map Jewelry, Local Maker
415-671-0769; www.claudiakussano.com; 591 Guerrero St; noon-7pm Mon-Fri, to 6pm Sat & Sun; 14, 22, 33, 49; 16th St Mission
Meteorites, dewdrops, eucalyptus buds and other natural wonders inspire delicate, fascinating jewelry by San Francisco designer Kussano. Fiddlehead fern earrings evoke the California Academy of Science’s rainforest