Friday, April 17, 2009 (SF Chronicle)

Pair finds bond in S.F. furniture shop

Laura Thomas

 

Metalworker Richard Hubbard was tired of doing custom design for the

wealthy and fretting over the next job. Michelle Foss was the new mother of twins and had to give up the rigors of running a green dry cleaning business.

  With her retailing background, Foss told Hubbard she would help him start his own furniture and accessories line. They joined forces as Hubbardfoss last fall and opened a studio and showroom on 13th Street

in San Francisco.

  "My custom work was for giant, very expensive homes," Hubbard said. "I wanted to do something I could buy myself, something my friends could buy."

  He has done that, coming up with a dozen products for the home, office and patio that are simple and inventive.  Playing with aluminum, which he said is strong, light and needs little finishing, Hubbard cut a pattern that allowed him to break and fold a pair of tripod-style candlesticks ($80 a pair).

  With the same notion, he designed a C-shaped table ($400) for a laptop with a pattern in the top and large cutouts down the side to hold

magazines. "We were thinking of a bedside table," he said.

  Hubbard used the tripod idea to make a centerpiece and glass-topped

occasional table. His line also includes floor lamps, a platform bed,

floor candleholders, a minibar and a cubby console made of bamboo.

  But the pieces that got the most attention at Hubbardfoss' studio opening last month were the Smokestack fire pit and grow planter, which are both contemporary takes on old-school steel.

  The fire pit ($1,500) looks like a tall and narrow bookcase - the bottom

shelf for storing wood, the middle for the fire, the top for a grill -

with the back wall featuring a signature pattern. There are a pair of

torchieres ($500) to match.

  The grow planter ($750), in three configurations, features a flour

bin-style chute or smokestack sticking out the top end, a stylistic

variation that pleases Hubbard. "I always like to play around with

shapes."

  To view the line go to hubbardfoss.com. For an appointment, call (415)

828-2233. It is also available through Given, 575 Castro St., San Francisco; (415) 865-0353.