News about great shops in your neighborhood

News about great shops in your neighborhood

No lazy boy

As a young man in Budapest, Laszlo Gochay received training in furniture design and upholstery through a rigorous program into which only four students are accepted annually. “It was a serious education including history, design and practice,” he explains. “We learned the honor of furniture-making and interior design from the best masters Hungary has ever produced.”

In the window of his Claremont Avenue shop, Laszlo’s Upholstery, a sunny yellow loveseat with buttery striped arms sits opposite a turquoise armless “slipper” chair, whose cushy down and feather pillows are covered in a charming nubby pattern of dots and circles. He aptly describes all his furniture as “light in scale and likable . . . and in perfect harmony.”

Gochay feels that tasteful furniture should not be only for the wealthy, which explains the surprisingly reasonable prices for the quality of his work. “That’s the way it is in Europe,” he explains. All framing construction is made of alder wood (“It’s going to last a lifetime,” he says) and the upholstery fabrics are exclusively Italian, many from small, family-owned mills that he and his wife Agatha visit every year. “Aggie is the color coordinator. She is the heart and soul of this business,” he beams.

Although he’s maintained a low profile locally for more than 38 years, his work has earned glowing praise from customers and peers. Upholstery Journal, a national trade magazine, had to invent a platinum prize for Gochay in its annual competition after his designs graced the front pages and won gold, silver and bronze several years in a row.

Laszlo’s Upholstery, 3036 Claremont Avenue, Berkeley, (510) 658-6800; www.laszloscontemporary.com.

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American in Paris

Before Craig Vincent opened Scavengerie, a new Berkeley antique shop, his customers at the Alameda Point flea market often asked him, “Where’s your store?” Vincent, who got the collecting bug at age 12, followed his mother’s passion for antiques. “Partly it’s the thrill of the hunt,” he explains, “partly it’s the preservation of old things.” Vincent, an unabashed Francophile, devotes half of one wall in his store to vintage suitcases, many used as portage for the collectible cookware he’s brought back from Parisian buying trips. The cases are popular with decorators who appreciate details like bamboo strapping and Bakelite handles. A trio of rose-colored leather-trimmed suitcases conjures images of Audrey Hepburn circa 1956. A warmly faded Louis Vuitton suitcase still boasts the iconic “LV” design.

Shiny copper pots, chafing dishes, teakettles and pans line the shelves and hang from kitchen racks. For the slow-cooking crowd there’s a vast collection of cast-iron roasters, Le Creuset enamel-coated cookware and Revere cookware. As a non sequitur there are several vintage guitars, woodwinds and a drum set or two. Among his more esoteric items are bomb-proof film storage containers used by movie directors. In fact, Vincent frequently rents items to art directors, photographers and real estate stagers, like the pretty convincing copies of Renoir and Van Gogh on one wall.

Xiao Zhi, Vincent’s very tolerant wife, laughs: “Our house is filled with the stuff; we rent a garage and bought a big RV [to store more].”

“It’s a disease,” Vincent winks. “I’m in a 12-step program but the only solution is to sell some of it.”

Scavengerie, 1722 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, (510) 318-1626; scavengerie@hotmail.com.

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Secret garden

In recent years, adding a meditation garden or altar to a home has become very popular—and reportedly helps sell a place faster. One-year-old Harmonique Garden, an offshoot of the Harmonique Home store nearby on Solano Avenue in Berkeley, offers a broad selection of items to adorn a home’s sacred space. Tucked away in what was the backstage of the Oaks Theater (when it was a live performance venue) the shop is now walled off from the stage “and is very popular with designers because of the traces of the catwalk and rafters,” says Jerry Mulrooney, who, with wife Pat Benson, owns both shops.

The couple travel to Asia several times a year and know their Berkeley and East Bay demographic. “We seek out items that are unusual and unique,” Mulrooney says. They also go out of their way to deal directly with several small businesses to ensure the craftspeople are paid fairly. Setting the tone of the shop are numerous religious icons from Buddhist, Hindu and Christian traditions like stone Quan Yin busts and painted wooden angels from Thailand. Spirit Houses (exquisite alternatives to doll houses) are built as so-called mojo protectors in Thailand when a new home is constructed. Oxidized bronze rain drums are another symbol of good luck.

Much of the wood furniture could work well for both indoor use and outdoor gardens: round dragon-design Chinese and Tibetan drum tables, fit with glass tops and custom-made stools; a 100-year-old Chinese elm sideboard with sliding panels; and mirrors framed in bamboo and coconut.

Harmonique Garden, 1861A Solano Avenue, Berkeley, (510) 525-3229; www.harmoniquegarden.com.

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Showing her mettle

In her West Berkeley studio, April Higashi forges gold, silver and enamel into one-of-a-kind jewelry on display at Shibumi Gallery. Higashi oversees a collection of fellow jewelers, all of whose work is infused with the Japanese aesthetic of shibumi—a word that signifies understated refinement or “timeless beauty of great reserve.” These pieces are, nonetheless, head-turners.

Her glowing brushed gold rings have a sense of antiquity but are clearly born of a 21st-century aesthetic. Some are adorned with natural uncut diamonds (from conflict-free mines) set in bezels or elevated rows. Her matte enamelwork pieces undergo between 30 to 50 firings each, creating a sense of depth and tactile sensuality.

Many of the other designers whose work Higashi displays are friends or colleagues. “When you’re a working artist and doing shows you meet and see a lot of artists you respond to,” she explains. Textural cuff bracelets from 90-year-old artist June Schwarcz and woodgrain and pearl jewelry from Mark Kanazawa set off Angelina DeAntonis’ Ocelot dyed-silk clothing line. “I like to cross over and mix different designs. It’s more interesting,” says Higashi about her jewelry. “An enamel brooch, 22-karat rings, and a pair of biwa pearl earrings.”

Shibumi has a refreshing no-pressure atmosphere, largely due to the fact that it is open only on weekends and by appointment on weekdays and that Higashi and husband Eric Powell (who created the stunning metalwork gates at the Berkeley Corporation Yard) live above the studio. “Lower overhead,” she explains. “I just want customers to have a good experience, to help them within their budget.”

Shibumi Gallery, 1402 5th Street, Berkeley, (510) 528-7736; www.shibumigallery.com.

Faces of the East Bay