The 2014 SFFAS Lecture Series

We are excited to announce the 2014 SFFAS Lecture Series schedule! Tickets are $15 in advance; $18 at the door. To purchase your general admission and lecture tickets in advance, please visit www.sffas.org! 

Thursday, October 23

11:00 a.m.

Jewellery with a Difference - Their Artists and Inspirations

Juliet Weir de La Rochefoucauld

Fellow, Gemmological Association, Author

Led by the Paris-based jewellery designer JAR in the 1980’s and 90’s, the past twenty years have seen a huge change in attitudes to what constitutes a precious jewel. The use of unusual and rare gemstones has become the staple for this new wave of jewellery designers who are surpassing themselves with exquisite and original designs. For many, the inspirations and symbolism behind a jewel is as important as the composition, for others the emotions that a jewel evokes are paramount.

These artists are sculptors, engineers and colourists; they have introduced new materials, many taken from medicine and high technology, to create new thought provoking jewels. Their fascination for gemstones is the starting point: How can the light in the stone be captured? What if amethyst is set beside an aquamarine, will this create something special? How can the multitude of colours within a gemstone be set to their best advantage?

“A true work of art in jewellery is a secret which reveals itself to connoisseurs -
An exceptional jewel is all the work that goes into it and which is not seen.”

In her lecture, Madame Weir de La Rochefoucauld discusses the fascinating world of high jewellery and design; the work of teams of people led by the designer - the conductor of an orchestra - from gemstone dealers, bench jewellers and setters, and the conversations between the artists and the collectors. It is a world of skill, poetry and imagination where the only boundaries are the people it must adorn.

A book-signing will take place in the Author’s Alcove immediately following the lecture.

2:30 p.m.

Fashion Commodities: Mining Gold & Silver in the FIDM Museum

Kevin Jones

Curator, FIDM Museum, Los Angeles

The Los Angeles storage rooms of the FIDM Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising contain an Aladdin’s Cave of high fashion from the past three centuries. Silver embroidered court suits that glittered in candle light and gold studded leather pants that reflected paparazzi flashbulbs are some of the treasures to be found when mining this Museum. Award-winning Curator Kevin Jones will discuss these and other riches found in the pages of FABULOUS! Ten Years of FIDM Museum Acquisitions, 2000-2010 (FIDM Museum Press, 2011), his co-authored exhibition catalogue that covers 210 years of fashion history.

Kevin Jones is recognized as one of the leading curators in the field of historic dress. His expertise encompasses the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, with an emphasis on the cultural studies of Parisian fashion. In 2009, Kevin won the Richard Martin Award for his exhibition, catalogue, and documentary High Style: Betsy Bloomingdale and the Haute Couture. He is sought after for interviews and has appeared in People and The Wall Street Journal, and on CNN. The Curator of the FIDM Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles, He studied fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising and art history at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  Kevin joined the FIDM Museum as Collections Manager in 1999 and was appointed Curator in 2002 to oversee the Museum’s 15,000-piece collection.  Currently, Kevin is working on the book First Class: Titanic’s Women of Fashion (anticipated publication 2016) and on the exhibition catalogue Outdoor Girls: Sporting Fashion, 1800s-1950s (Fall 2018).

A book-signing will take place in the Author’s Alcove immediately following the lecture.

---

Friday, October 24

11:00 a.m.

Living Beautifully

Aerin Lauder

Founder and Creative Director, AERIN

Join Luxe Interiors + Design Editor-in-chief Pamela Jaccarino for an intimate discussion with Aerin Lauder on living beautifully and how personal passions for art, travel, fashion and design can influence and inspire living spaces.

AERIN is a global, luxury lifestyle brand based on the premise that living beautifully should be effortless. The brand develops curated collections in the worlds of beauty, fashion accessories and home décor, influenced for Lauder’s own lifestyle.  Classic but always with a modern point of view every piece is created to make life more beautiful, with a sense of ease and refinement.

Pamela Jaccarino, founding Editor-in-Chief of Luxe Interiors + Design oversees the nation’s largest network of architecture and design magazines. Jaccarino and the team are constantly on the hunt for what is intriguing, stylish and timelessly beautiful. 

A book-signing will take place in the Author’s Alcove immediately following the lecture.

2:30 p.m.

A Voyage of Discovery: The Story of the Salon Doré at the Legion of Honor

Martin Chapman

Curator in Charge of European Decorative Arts and Sculpture - Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

In recent years he has spearheaded the renovation for the Salon Doré from the Hôtel de La Trémoille, a French 18^th century room at the Legion of Honor, which opened in April 2014. He is also the lead author of the book on the renovation, Salon Doré from the Hôtel de La Trémoille.

The Salon Doré is one of the best loved galleries in the Legion of Honor museum. Dating from 1781, the paneling is a fine example of a French Louis XVI neoclassical décor with its gilded pilasters, its trophies and sculptural overdoors. The recent renovation project lasted 5 years from start to finish, with the detailed restoration work to the gilding, carving and paint taking 18 months to complete. However, this renovation was much more than the painstaking conservation; it involved extensive research that informed the project as it moved along. The result is a ground breaking interpretation of a period room that has no parallels in other museums. This room now evokes a Parisian salon de compagnie from the years before the Revolution with its complete program furnishing reconstituted according to the inventory of 1791.  It now has two distinct sets of chairs, a color scheme based on documents, lighting that approximates candle light, and a startling different approach to upholstery. This lecture will discuss the many aspects of this project, with its many twists and turns, from inception to realization earlier this year.

Starting his career at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, where he was an expert in metalwork, Martin Chapman moved to the United States in 1990 to become curator of European Decorative Arts at LACMA. There he organized the traveling exhibition The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, and redisplayed the entire collection of the Gilbert silver and gold.

Since 2006, he has curated seven major exhibitions for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco that include; International Arts and Crafts from the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2006, Masterpieces of French Jewelry, 2007, Marie Antoinette and the Petit Trianon, 2007-08, Artistic Luxury: Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique, 2008-09, Cartier and America, 2009-10, and Royal Treasures from the Louvre, 2012-13.

A book-signing will take place in the Author’s Alcove immediately following the lecture.

---

DESIGNER SATURDAY

Saturday, October 25

11:00 a.m.

Celebrating Icons of Design: A Conversation with Charlotte Moss and Robert Couturier

Robert Couturier, Designer

Charlotte Moss, Designer, Author, Philanthropist

Moderated by Suzanne Tucker, Interior Designer, Tucker & Marks

The term icon, when used to describe a person, is reserved for those whose work represents something-who have made a mark in their respective industries and are highly regarded for their work. Celebrated designers Robert Couturier and Charlotte Moss have both had prolific careers and have each put their stamp on the world of design: Couturier for his continental and international style and Moss for her Southern style and hospitality. They come together this year for a discussion led by renowned designer, Suzanne Tucker.

A book-signing will take place in the Author’s Alcove immediately following the lecture.

2:30 p.m.

Mindful Design and the Art of Storytelling

Paul Vincent Wiseman

The Wiseman Group Interior Design, Inc.

Paul Vincent Wiseman and his talented team at The Wiseman Group (James Hunter, Brenda Mickel, and Mauricio Munoz) have been creating luxurious interior design for nearly thirty-five years. The San Francisco-based firm of two dozen employees has been featured extensively in magazines, such as Architectural Digest, Veranda, House Beautiful, and C Magazine, as well as in numerous books, including Veranda: The Art of Outdoor Living, West Coast Modern, Fortuny Interiors, Peter Pennoyer Architects, Legorreta + Legorreta, San Francisco Style, and The Country Houses of John F. Staub.

How has The Wiseman Group created such a rich and diverse portfolio? Why, upon completion of the project, do clients feel so grounded and at peace living in their homes? Why do world-renowned architect Frank Gehry and esteemed architecture critic Paul Goldberger sing the firm’s praises? By sharing the story of three exceptional residences, Mr. Wiseman gives you a firsthand look at the answer: “mindful” design that is in harmony with the site, the architecture, and the needs and dreams of the clients.

The three projects chosen for this lecture include a Ricardo Legorreta designed residence in Hawaii, an Arts & Crafts home on the San Francisco Peninsula, and a sleekly modern, art-filled property in San Francisco.

A book-signing will take place in the Author’s Alcove immediately following the lecture.