California? Priceless

Cindy Allen -- Interior Design, 3/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Our March design calendar traditionally features just a single appointment: California. Led by the formidable Edie Cohen, we focus westward in ever higher anticipation—and always end up fulfilling our expectations with room to spare. This year, our editors proceeded from Los Angeles to Palm Springs, then north to San Francisco, unashamedly wallowing in great installations along the way. The power-packed series on the following pages exemplifies what California design is really about.

1. One of the most solid traditions on the continent.

2. A long roster of global leaders.

3. Some of the best educational institutions.

4. A deeply rooted, positive need for innovation.

To our sophisticated readership, this list will sound a tad obvious. Some might even venture—way into deep water—to suggest I might be peddling truisms. To which I would instantly reply, "Today, absolutely!" It's a testimony to the achievement of California designers that we've come to take their success for granted. Who can possibly conceive of "American" design without Charles and Ray Eames or Frank Gehry, platitude or no?

Outside the world of interior design, I find myself sorely missing comforting clichés and basic reasoning. Away from our cozy, creative realm, common sense seems engulfed in far-fetched rationales for events and reactions manufactured in a Disneyland house of horrors. It could be quite an entertaining ride, if only we knew for certain that consequences weren't about to take a turn for the dreadful.

Another "CA,"

Cindy Allen