Raw wooden furniture always seems to be screaming creative opportunity. Thats why Stumasa intrigues. A mom and pop neighbored furniture store with a DIY spin, Stumasa custom builds reasonably priced bookcases, cabinets, desks, and tables, and also stocks the finishing materials to make them your own.
Stumasa is a laboratory for the talents of husband and wife proprietors Gregory Stukuls and Maybelle Imasa. Gregory is the designer and carpenter behind the furniture, and Maybelle, an illustrator and calligrapher, curates the accessories on shopping trips to Japan and elsewhere, with an artists eye for quirky beauty in everyday objects.
Shes often on the floor to help you sketch out a piece of furniture or to guide you on the creative possibilities of finishing it yourself. The store is peppered with models that shes painted to demonstrate
Stumasas environment-friendly line of milk paints, such as this star-spangled step stool for a childs room.
Among their standard designs, the Murphy Desk is a standout problem-solver for small spaces: a tall narrow cabinet that flips down to form a sleek writing desk.
The unfinished wooden LP cubes, on display right now in red, linen and black milk paint finishes, were originally designed to help DJs haul records to gigs. Now they sell to nesters (including lots of parents in need of an attractive alternative to toy chaos) looking for a simple, modular storage solution. One customer arranged them in a stepped configuration, like a Japanese tansu.
Stumasa is also packed with tempting impulse purchases: toys and children's clothing, offbeat ceramics, paper goods, woven baskets, and sturdy lab glass vases. Be forewarned: its very easy to enter looking for a bookcase and to leave with a new set of teacups.
This post is re-edited from a 2.27.06 post that appeared on AT:NY.
I can never say enough great things about this shop. I want to live there, and I want to marry Maybelle.
This is the best best place to pick up housewarming gifts... and a few things for yourself while you're there.
I do miss the kitty though!
Man I wish you guys would hurry up and get an Atlanta AP. I get so mad seeing all these great products and either cant get them because their local or to expensive to ship.
Great store - I just got a bookcase from them this weekend. And they have a whole bunch of nifty milk paints. Be careful with fully dropclothing your floor - milk paint gets HARD when it fully dries and can be a PAIN to remove.
Stumasa is hands down one of my favorite stores in SF. The service is great, the objects are unique, and the prices are reasonable. You'll find everything here -- from kitchen towels, to letter press stationary, wooden toys, and my favorite: they stock the cutest Japanese children's clothing -- I wish they had more!