Lorn Dittfeld's Propeller in Hayes Valley - on Hayes between Laguna and Octavia - is jam-packed with a diverse mix of contemporary furniture, glassware, textiles, art and plenty more - almost all of it by new, upcoming designers. Lorn opened his shop after being fed up with the high-priced sameness of the Crate & Barrel aesthetic and wanted to share his own discoveries with a wider audience. Designers like San Franciscan Melanie Schnack, William Earle of Sacramento, Fold Bedding from El Cerrito and plenty more are all at Propeller's pleasant & comfortable showroom - stop by for a visit - I'll be doing just that this Friday.

+ Propeller: 555 Hayes St., San Francisco CA 94102
+ tel 415.701.7767

Designer Tim Hennes worked with the Steinhart Aquarium's resident exhibit designers to create many of the temporary Academy of Sciences exhibits - condensed in size from 26,000 to 12,000 square feet - which will remain in place until the new Academy structures are complete in 2008. Hennes' exhibit spaces and interior architecture - constructed from plastics, bent-ply, glass, metal and a wide variety of less-identifiable substances - help house the publicly-viewable portion of the over 18 million natural history specimens housed for the next several years at the downtown Temporary Academy.

+ Temporary Academy: 875 Howard St., San Francisco
+ tel 415.321.8000

Michael Cohn and Molly Stone are two of the most original, imaginative and technically brilliant glassmakers in the state, and their East Bay studio turns out a tremendous volume of wonderfully varied work. Distinctive and always original, their work is as functional as it is beautiful. Cohn-Stone Studios is a truly collaborative effort, with Irene Thompson, Sandra Tom, Shawn Bitle and Santiago Gomez all assisting the designers on a daily basis.

+ Cohn-Stone Studios
+ tel 510.234.9690

San Jose's Jimyko Home Furnishings opened their new 10,000 square-foot retail space on April 2. The Monterey Road location is open seven days a week and is filled to the brim with a wide range of wooden beds - like the Greene & Greene styled Berkeley Bed, pictured here - as well as case goods of all sorts, seating (including a few very unorthodox sectionals), lighting, textiles and plenty more.

+ Jimyko: 1919 Monterey Rd. #10, San Jose CA 95112
+ tel 408.993.0918

SOMA retailer Embellish calls itself a gift shop but they also offer items larger than a breadbox - such as Blu Dot's Modulicious bedroom furnishings and the Buttercup chair, a delightful plywood lounger that reclines and swivels. Their broad selection runs the gamut from throw pillows to wallets. Everything is sleekly modern and reasonably priced. Since 1995.
this entry courtesy of our good friend Stephen Coles

+ Embellish: 177 Brannan St., San Francisco CA 94107
+ tel 415.882.7147

I don't spend much time in spas, but the simple and modern design of San Francisco's Tru pulled me inside for a closer look. Typical as well as less-common face & body treatments are available in one of the smoothest, most calming settings in the city. The entry area, rainforest room and the hallways between them are works of art in and of themselves - certainly plenty of eye candy, although I doubt most customers keep their eyes open long enough to really appreciate the interior. Some reviewers have called the space plush - I disagree. It is certainly comfortable, no doubt about it, but the smooth surfaces of glass, stone, metal and bamboo flooring (Tru donates a portion of its revenues to environmental causes) are more serene and meditative than "plush."

+ Tru Spa: 750 Kearny St., San Francisco CA 94108
+ tel 415.399.9700