No. 2 of 4: Sonoma Wine Country Tour Series

Part Two of Four:

A continuation...Sonoma Wine Country Tour, without touring one vineyard or tasting a drop of wine—what a concept!

THE STORES of CORNERSTONE SONOMA, Cont'd

- Next stop, ARTEFACT DESIGN & SALVAGE INC. (www.artefactdesignsalvage.com) , founded by Dave Allen a disenfranchised Silicone Valley refugee, opened in the Cornerstone Sonona garden /shopping center in 2003. His story is detailed on the Artefact web site and is worth the read. This store is truly a not to be missed!

Some of my favorite things at Artefact:

-HOLLOWED-OUT GRANITE STONE POTS

and shallow stone planters lavishly planted with succulents.

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-A huge salvaged, louvered copper CUPOLA, resting on a large cut stone capitol from an old column. The condition of his salvaged product was overall in beautiful condition.

TABLES for display, and those that were more Dining table like were unique from the get-go. The table on the left was made from four salvaged carved stone brackets, turned on end, and then notched into a thick, smooth concrete top. Other tables were on reclaimned Teak or Elm bases topped with thick slabs of honed finished limestone.

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I think Dave made the right move, with his eye for objects and his flair for displaying them, I found myself trying to figure out where to put a giant reel full of eight inch thick, vintage rope, and even considered a huge stack of blue chairs. I didn’t want the chairs for the chairs, I wanted the group of them as sculpture. This guy is good…really good.

-The giant spool of antique ROPE, probably 6-8 inches in diameter.

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Left: A movable wall fashioned from fifty-plus blue-painted schoolhouse chairs lashed together with wire strands from floor to rafter.

Right: The chairs are stacked adjacent to this beautifully lighted religous artefact.

Old stone disc hung by heavy rope, juxtaposed with Artefacts custom tables and a vintage drawing of column capitals

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SCULPTURE - Stainless steel spheres encased in a framework of knarled reclaimed wood.

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Old globs of slag glass salvaged from former bottle manufacturers.

Huge spheres made from gnarled roots and limbs were arranged thought the courtyard and were balanced by adjacent stone planters.

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Salvage yards are many in the San Francisco Bay area. Here is a list of some of our favorites:

Berkeley Architectural Salvage: 1167 65th St., Berkeley. 510.655.2270.
Beyond Waste: 607 W. Sierra, Cotati. 707.792.2555.
East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse: 6713 San Pablo Ave., Oakland. 510.547.6470.
Ohmega Salvage: 2407 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. 510.843.3636.
Recycletown: 500 Meacham Road, Petaluma. 707.795.3660.
Urban Ore: 1333 Sixth St., Berkeley. 510.559.4455.

Stay tuned for Parts III and IV of the Sonoma Wine Country Tour.

All for now.

Good night moon.