Chroma collaborators are industry-leading creative visionaries, prolific polymaths—and amazing humans. Delve into the design imaginary of innovative craftspeople who made the Apollonia Dining Room so sublime.
The Apollonia Dining Room at San Francisco Decorator Showcase 2023 offered Chroma another transformative opportunity to collaborate with premier local craftspeople and share their work and talent with the world. Meet the creators whose delightful design conjurings gave Chroma’s vision life.
Dana Harel’s WHITE DIRT Studio creates alluring objects made for everyday rituals. Storytelling is at the core of the studio’s explorations, which center on the transformative potential and innate qualities of materials like white gypsum, muslin, brass—and even paper.
For the Apollonia Dining Room, WHITE DIRT conjured the GALA chandelier, a new concept developed with architect Frank Merritt. The imaginative centerpiece evokes the fluid forms and dreamlike juxtapositions of the surrealists, directly referencing works from Salvador Dalí’s classical period while also lifting allusions from Richard Serra to Rainer Maria Rilke to Schiaparelli haute couture.
In the GALA chandelier, jewel-like cast brass connections, fabricated by a lost wax technique, gently suspend the unique sculpted paper form in midair. Formally rigorous and conceptually daring, it reinvents tradition, creating its own contemporary vernacular.
Born, raised, and based in San Francisco, Rafael Arana travels the country hand-painting cutting-edge murals and wallpapers. In the Apollonia Dining Room, Arana’s abstracted colorations—inspired by artist Tauba Auerbach—infuse the space with an intoxicating ambience. Arana achieved the mural’s intriguing dynamism through a meticulous feathering technique that evinces his skill for gesture and eye for detail.
Custom Dining Table by Chroma, Croworks, and Julian Giuntoli Custom Furniture
Designed by Chroma, this custom verre églomisé dining table—lush with lacquered woods and inset with cascading metallics—luminesces with its sumptuous, hypnotizing surface. The back-painted glass top was exquisitely fabricated by Victoria Weiss of the Bay Area-based Croworks studio and by Julian Giuntoli Custom Furniture’s Christian Hummler. Croworks specializes in églomisé for furniture, objects, and interiors, engaging the rich traditions of bespoke artistry. Skilled in high design and woodworking, Hummler brought a fine-honed aesthetic that further elevated the project.
Pedestal by The Long Confidence
Based in Berkeley, Rafi Ajl’s The Long Confidence makes contemporary heirlooms driven by curiosity and quality. In the Apollonia Dining Room, the studio’s custom hand-turned mahogany pedestal accentuates the raw expressiveness of Roger Herman’s ceramic work Untitled 122 (2021).
Christopher Norman explores scale and context in furniture and abstract sculpture sourced from freshly cut California woods. Referencing historic vessels, architectural forms, and sacred geometry, Norman’s works gain gorgeous patinas as they naturally condition. In the Apollonia Dining Room, the artist’s finely crafted objects offer a minimalist counterpoise to the opulence of the space.
Thank you to all our participating artists, makers, and galleries.
Artworks
Photograph Alex Prager, Untitled (Parts 1), 2014: LEHMANN MAUPIN | Painting Liam Everett, Untitled (the smoke the feather the bones), 2022: ALTMAN SIEGEL | Sculpture Roger Herman, Untitled 122, 2021: CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY | Table Sculptures Christopher Norman
Furnishings
Dining Chairs Edward Wormley for Dunbar: DE ANGELIS | Upholstered Dining Chairs Vintage set with Sandra Jordan Prima Alpaca textile: ALMOND & CO. | Cabinet Sebastian Errazuriz, Porcupine Cabinet, 2014: R & COMPANY | Pedestal Custom hand-turned mahogany pedestal: THE LONG CONFIDENCE | Dining Table Custom verre églomisé with inset of cascading metallics: CROWORKS and JULIAN GIUNTOLI CUSTOM FURNITURE | Area Rug Custom tufted wool abstraction inspired by Nadia Ayari: MARK NELSON DESIGNS | Chandelier Custom specialty paper and brass GALA Chandelier, 2023: WHITE DIRT STUDIO in collaboration with DOGFORK LAMP ARTS | Sconces Vintage Carlo Nason for Mazzega Torpedo Sconces: REWIRE | Window Treatments Geometric patterned curtains: MAGNOLIA LANE. Sheers: LARSEN BY COWTAN & TOUT | Mural Abstracted colorations inspired by Tauba Auerbach: RAFAEL ARANA
Compliments to chef Leif Hedendal for dreaming a menu fit for the Apollonia.
With an ethos of subcultural innovation, Leif Hedendal embraces community and communality. Primarily self-taught, he has brought his iconoclastic culinary practice to Noma, Chez Panisse, Citron, and formal art settings including SFMOMA, YBCA, and Art Basel Miami.