San Francisco-based Richard Reynolds builds KD (knock-down) furniture from a variety of interesting materials, such as Dakota Burl (made from sunflower seed hulls), polyethylene from recycled milk and detergent bottles and the more common bent-ply. He characterizes his early work as "specifically conceived as KD, more product than furniture," although his recent work transcends those limitations. Everything is built by hand, even the bent-ply sheets that are made from Finnish birch plywood that Dick laid up and formed himself.

+ Reynolds Design: 683 Wisconsin St., San Francisco CA 94107
+ t. 415.285.6292

Designer Tim Sharpe's firm Octate focuses primarily on lighting, although he and his staff have designed and produce a decent selection of other items as well: candleholders, vases, and table settings. An emphasis on milled aluminum and a few varieties of bent ply keep their work spare and simple. Octate items are available directly, or through a variety of area retailers, including The Magazine, Limn, Den and Atys.

+ Octate: 442 Anderson St., San Francisco CA 94110
+ tel 415.268.0772

While Edit Furnishings primarily deals in mid-century modern, a number of more contemporary pieces of furniture, light fixtures and other bricabrac (i.e. - should you need a lucite hat, this is the place to go). I am a sucker for chairs, though, and this is where they really shine; dozens gorgeous examples of both famous-model designer seating (1930 onwards) as well as more recent items fill a good portion of the shop - what else would you expect from a business whose newsletter is titled "Chairs - Not for the Faint at Heart"? The staff are friendly and knowledgeable, and the prices more than fair.

+ 7887 Enterprise Dr., Newark, CA 94560
+ tel 510.701.4169

Architect Michael McCall's firm has grown since 1989 to be one of the area's foremost architectural design firms, with a focus specifically on consistent and repeatable retail spaces (they've done a tremendous amount of work for Limited Brands, Williams-Sonoma, the Gap, Starwood Hotels, etc.) as well as some very avant-garde work in venues such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the San Francisco Symphony. While much of their work is here in San Francisco, a few of McCall's favorite projects lie in other sities, such as their recent design of the new W Hotel in Chicago. pictured: entry doors to the McCall-designed SFMOMA store.

+ McCall Design Group, 550 Kearny St. #710, San Francisco CA 94108
+ tel 415.288.8150

Looking for modern contemporary design in San Francisco? Well now there's a map to guide you thanks to Google. They launched a beta version of their new mapping service today, and if you do a search for "mocoloco san francisco", a bunch of listings from MoCo S.F. will appear on the map. Print out the map and you've got an instant guide/map for modern contemporary design in San Francisco. It works for MoCo Montreal as well...

Ivan Home has filled their Berkeley storefront full of salvaged signs, teaching charts and other ephemera up to the rafters. Hand-lettered signage from the London Underground (yes, that's Gill Sans), plastic angels and a huge range of mid-century modern furniture and home accessories are jam-packed into this tiny space on University Avenue. While much of it is not strictly contemporary, certainly the warmth, color and uniqueness (not to mention the general weirdness) of the items for sale here are a wonderful complement to the austerity of a modern-aesthetic house or apartment.

+Ivan Home, 1954 University Ave., Berkeley
+ tel 510.548.3040

AdVivum, a new retail store on Dartmouth Street, sells furniture, home accessories and lots of other neat stuff, bill themselves as a vendor of "poetic elements." Their stock consists primarily of tables, seating and some interesting storage units; the Nonia sideboard, shown here, is made from solid ash and stainless steel and measures 87 inches long and about 33 inches tall.

+ AdVivum, 675 Dartmouth St., San Francisco CA 94134-1807
+ tel 415.337.8684

Illico's French modernist-inspired housewares, fashion accessories and other items are sold via Atys and Zinc Details, as well as a number of other Bay Area retailers. From vases to lamps, textiles to teapots, Illico Design's work is unexpected and sometimes strange, but their sense of humor comes through in everything they make and sell.

Get on their mailing list to be included in the occasional private sales at their San Francisco warehouse and studio.

Modern Spaces, the "small space specialists" recently opened a new showroom in San Francisco and will be hosting a reception at their 234 Townsend location this coming Friday, February 4, after 5:30 pm. Mike Sullivan and chief designer Richard Pennington were responsible for The Minimal Space, opened in Palo Alto 25 years ago - one of the first retailers to integrate such a wide variety of furniture and home accessories - and Modern Spaces continues this tradition with a new emphasis especially small-space storage and other items tailored for apartment living. Additionally, Modern Spaces offers a number of design and build services - they are also licensed architectural planners and general contractors.

+ Modern Spaces: 234 Townsend, San Francisco CA 94107
+ tel 415.357.9900