Book Signing Event at Gump’s: Orlando Diaz-Azcuy

May 11, 2009 Katie Denham

Counterclockwise from bottom right: Diane Dorrans Saeks(author of Orlando Diaz-Azcuy from Rizzoli Books), Orlando Diaz-Azcuy (iconic Architect and Designer), Marta Benson (CEO of Gumps), and me.

I was so lucky to be invited to the book debut party at Orlando Diaz-Azcuy by Diane Dorrans Saeks in San Francisco last Thursday! The book is wonderful, and I am a long time admirer of Mr. Diaz-Azcuy, so was so happy to be able to have my copy signed by both this brilliant architect/designer and the book’s author.

Beautiful Lilacs at the signing table

We drove from Sacramento that afternoon to downtown San Francisco, and hurriedly walked over to Gumps from the parking garage, and who should I spy immediately upon walking in? Designer, Scot Meacham Wood from Tartanscot blog! We had made a plan to meet, but had never met before. I could spot this very handsome blogger right away. He is as charming in person as he is on his blog.

Scot and me

The Crowd

The party was in full swing when we arrived, but we were very happy to wait in line while looking at all of the spectacular creations of Andrew Fisher of Fisher Weisman . The coffee table in the photo below is just one example:

Another piece with bronze legs and exotic wood veneer:

I am sure I spotted Grant Gibson, designer and blogger in line ahead of us, but alas, missed meeting him. (We have since touched base and will try to meet up after his trip to Venice!) After getting our books signed we had to tour Gumps to see what beautiful new treasures had been added since our last visit. We found this gorgeous table setting upstairs:

I loved the black lacquer chairs! The smoky glass wine and water glasses were perfect with the pewter linen table cloth and place settings.

Table Setting

Another table with striking candelabras:

And the new furniture vignettes definitely give one design ideas to dream about:

Floor Lamp vignette

Sofa Vignette

After our upstairs looksee, it was back downstairs for more sightseeing. While I was looking at the newest from John Derian:

John Derian

I ran into my old friend David Duncan Livingston, amazingly talented photographer and one of the main photo contributors to the Orlando Diaz-Azcuy book. Please do check out his website. You will no doubt recognize many of his photos from some of your favorite magazines. Oh! And he also has a blog here. (Great music too!)

David Duncan Livingston

David snapped this shot of me and my friend Lise who came with me. He also took the picture of Diane Dorrans Saeks, Marta Benson, CEO of Gumps, Orlando Diaz-Azcuy and me up at the top of the post. (It seems I have a thing or two to learn from David.)

The event was so much fun and it was an honor to meet one of my design heroes: Mr. Diaz-Azcuy. Thank you so very much to the gracious Diane Dorrans Saeks and Marta Benson for the most kind invitation. It was a wonderfully memorable evening!