The COUPAR Edit
Your go-to for design industry insights and education. Explore our monthly blogs, meet industry leaders in our Take 10 series, and learn from historic design icons. Enhance your business with practical marketing and design tips. Subscribe for monthly updates!
The Year of the Tiger: The Artful Cat
February 1st marked the beginning of the "Year of the Water Tiger" in the Chinese Lunar New Year. The Tiger is one of the twelve animals selected by the mythic Jade Emporer, the ruler of the Heavens, to guard him.
Pantone Color of the Year: Very Peri
Pantone has announced its color of the year for 2022: Very Peri. This bold, whimsical hue represents the hopefulness we're all beginning to embrace. As we slowly emerge from extended periods of lockdowns, we lean on colors that add a playful, lightheartedness to our days.
Black History Month Profile: Architect Norma Merrick Sklarek (1926–2012)
African American architect Norma Merrick Sklarek acted as project manager for the center designed by Argentine-American architect César Pelli on the Pacific Design Center. Sklarek's career as a trailblazing black woman in a white male-dominated field is just as noteworthy as L.A.'s design mecca.
Take 10 With COUPAR's Creative Director Tricia Kerr
Creative Director, Tricia Kerr, has been an integral part of COUPAR since the company’s inception. She holds a degree in Architecture and Community Design from the University of San Francisco and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in website development and marketing.
Case Study: eCommerce Website
Simon Breitbard Fine Arts asked COUPAR to develop a custom eCommerce website for their annual trunk show. Learn about how we executed this unique online experience.
Looking into the Crystal Ball: Predicting 2022 Design Trends
As we enter 2022, we anticipate what this year’s changes will bring. Like fashion, the interior design industry is malleable as it reflects clients’ desires and lifestyles.
Pinterest: A Hub for Creativity and Strategic Marketing
Pinterest is a widely used social media platform, especially within the design community. Designers use it for their projects, whether creating mood boards for clients or searching for general inspiration. Creatives have flocked to the platform since its inception in 2009. But it can also serve as a beneficial marketing tool.
Holidays Past: Celebrating the Season in San Francisco
Feeling a bit nostalgic, COUPAR looks back as the Ghost of Christmas Past at how San Francisco celebrated the winter holidays
Books: Immersed-The California Houses of Feldman Architecture
Feldman Architecture's iconic homes etch California's dramatic landscape like exquisite haiku poems. In time for the holidays, the San Francisco-based studio releases its book Immersed - The California Houses of Feldman Architecture.
LinkedIn: The Dark Horse of Social Media
It’s not news that social media is a critical marketing tool. The hierarchy of these platforms is often up for debate, but which are deemed the most beneficial varies across industries. For the design industry, Instagram prevails as the top platform for marketing purposes. However, there is another crucial platform often overlooked, LinkedIn.
Benjamin Moore Announces Color of the Year for 2022
As we approach the end of 2021, we begin to anticipate the upcoming mood for interiors. With color being one of the integral foundations of design, Benjamin Moore releases its annual Color Trends Palette, including a featured color. This October, the paint company deems October Mist as the color for 2022.
A Virtual Feast: The San Francisco Fall Show
COUPAR equates crisp autumn days with the excitement of The San Francisco Fall Show. This year's cornucopia of art, antiques, and design will be virtual due to the continued challenges faced by the pandemic. Show Chair Suzanne Tucker and a dedicated team of volunteers worked with InCollect to produce the curated event from October 15 through 24, 2021.
Take 10 With Designer Gary Hutton
Gary Hutton is known as the "Dean of West Coast Design." He grew up on his grandmother's apple ranch in Watsonville, studying studio art with iconic 20th-century artists Wayne Thiebaud, Manuel Neri, and Robert Arneson at UC Davis. Coming to the Bay Area, he completed his design degree at the California College of the Arts. This diverse background that bridges rural with urban and juxtaposes the obvious with the esoteric is what makes Gary's work unique.
Sunday in the Park: ICAA Luncheon Honoring Madeline Stuart
On September 12th, after a year and a half of Lockdown, the supporters of ICCA Northern California enthusiastically came out for Sunday in the Park. Fort Mason's historic General's Residence provided the outside venue for the fundraiser luncheon honoring Hollywood-based interior designer Madeline Stuart.
Take 10 With Cinergy’s CEO Greg Francis
Greg Francis is CEO of Cinergy, a company that seamlessly integrates construction with acoustic design for luxury multi-media theatres, recording studios, and noise control. The firm also offers the latest technology in secure environments for residential, commercial, and industrial properties.
Delayed Gratification: Long Lead Times
Designers expect lead times when ordering custom, high-end products, but lately, the delay and estimations have been abnormally long. The design industry was affected along with every other industry in the early days of the pandemic. We expected delays. However, as we slowly emerge and recover from Lockdown, long lead times remain and, in some cases, worsened.
Take 10 With COUPAR'S Lisandra Caro-Torres
For the last five years, Lead Project Manager Lisandra Caro-Torres has handled the nuts and bolts of COUPAR Studio. She is responsible for sending out purchase orders, ensuring the accuracy of invoices before handing them off to accounting, receiving and processing all vendor documents, tracking goods ordered or services contracted, and handling all related documentation. Wow!
Timeless Elegance: Shears & Window
When Shears & Window recently consolidated their second-floor SFDC furnishings showroom with their fourth-floor textiles department, owner and CEO Greg McIntyre discovered a treasure trove of historic photos. The time capsule dated back to 1976 when Jack Shears and Adam Window opened the pioneering multi-line showroom.
studioHEIMAT: New Perspectives and New Possibilities
For the 2021 San Francisco Decorator Showcase, New Perspectives design team Eva Muller Bradley and Alicia Cheung Lichtenstein of studioHEIMAT presented Shoshin – A Beginner's Mind.
Cinergy Construction Builds an Inclusive Screening Space
COUPAR'S client Cinergy Construction proudly transformed a neglected storage area into a 50 seat state-of-the-art screening room for filmmaker Ava DuVernay's ARRAY Creative Campus in Los Angeles' Historic Filipinotown. Named "The Amanda Cinema '' for DuVernay's late aunt Denise Amanda Sexton, it plays films by Black filmmakers, artists of color, and women of all hues.