Golden Gate Bridge Furniture Co.

Limited Edition Artisan Furniture Crafted from Repurposed Steel off

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge

Monday, December 1, 2014

Last Chance Before The Holidays!

Holiday Open Studios: Sunday, December 7th, 12-5pm

























If you missed visiting us last month during our Fort Mason Open Studios, you'll have one more opportunity before this holiday this weekend.  Our workshop will be open for the upcoming Islais Creek Holiday Open Studios. 

Stock is very limited, so mark your calendars to come on by to visit us! 

























Thanks to everyone who made it out to visit us last month for our Open Studio at the Fort Mason Gatehouse!


Golden Gate Furniture Co.

1 Rankin Street, Studio 417
San Francisco, CA 94124 
415.661.6263
 


Monday, November 3, 2014

Come see our designs at Fort Mason!

2014 SF Open Studios: November 7 - 9 at the Fort Mason Gatehouse

Fort Mason Gatehouse

If you missed visiting us at our workshop during Weekend 1 of the
ArtSpan 2014 SF Open Studios event, we will also be showing our
designs at Fort Mason during Weekend 4:

November 8 & 9 at 11AM to 6PM
Fort Mason Center - The Gatehouse
2 Marina Blvd. at Laguna St.
 

OPENING RECEPTION:
November 7 at 6PM to 9PM
RSVP to info@goldengatefurniture.com
or call 415-661-6263

For additional information, visit the ArtSpan website at:
www.artspan.org/sfopenstudios 


GGB Furniture Collage














Golden Gate Furniture Co.
1 Rankin Street, Studio 417
San Francisco, CA 94124 
415.661.6263
 

Monday, October 20, 2014

Fall 2014 SF Open Studios

October 18 & 19 at Islais Creek Studios




Thanks to all who came to visit us at our Islais Creek Studios Workshop
for the Fall 2014 SF Open Studios. 

If you missed visiting us at our workshop during Weekend 1 of this city wide event,
we will also be showing our designs at Fort Mason during Weekend 4:

November 8 & 9 at 11AM to 6PM
Fort Mason Center - The Gatehouse
Marina Blvd. & Laguna St.

For additional information, visit the ArtSpan website at:
www.artspan.org/sfopenstudios 


Golden Gate Furniture Co.
1 Rankin Street, Studio 417
San Francisco, CA 94124 
415.661.6263
 

 
 
 
 


Thursday, May 22, 2014

Celebrating 20 Years and Reflecting Upon the Design that Started It All: The Headboard

 

Golden Gate Bridge Headboard

 
Golden Gate Design & Furniture Company is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this spring.  What started as a personal desire for a headboard created from a piece of Golden Gate Bridge hand railing, has developed into a business and craft that has kept designer Rick Bulan busy over the last 20 years.
 
In early 1994, Bulan happened to catch a local television news segment featuring the 1993 replacement of some original pedestrian handrail on the Golden Gate Bridge.  “Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse on TV of this section of handrail being removed from the bridge,” Bulan reflected, thinking back upon the moment that the concept came to him.  “As a San Francisco native, I thought it would be cool to have a headboard made out of this handrail.” 
 
Golden Gate Bridge Handrail Removal
  
After tracking down the contractor who did the replacement, he bought himself a section of railing and created four headboards out of the material.  “I went to buy a section of railing, not realizing that each section was 12 feet long and weighed, literally, half a ton.  I arranged to have a truck pick up and deliver my piece of handrail, then spent several weeks with abrasive blades trying to cut the steel down to a manageable size so that it could function as a headboard.”  After seeing the interest in the headboard by other friends and family, Bulan went back to the contractor and negotiated to purchase the remaining sections of hand rail so as to start a business crafting furniture out of the historic steel.
 
After negotiating to purchase the available sections of handrail from the contractor, Bulan ran his first advertisement in the July / August 1994 issue of Metropolitan Home, launching the headboard design crafted from that first section of handrail purchased earlier in the year.
 
 http://ggbfurniture.com/company
 
Reflecting on the circumstances of the initial advertisement that launched his business, Bulan “started by purchasing an ad in Metropolitan Home magazine.  It was a special advertising section that provided an image of the product with a couple paragraphs of backstory.  I had sent them my ad copy and an image of the headboard on a white background just before my wife and I left for a month long trip to visit her family in Kentucky.  However, while we were on the road, I received a message from the magazine that they wanted a photo of me to go with the story in the ad."
 
"They wanted it to look like I was leaning up against the headboard.  So, my wife and I are out in the middle of rural Kentucky, trying to take a snapshot of me on a white background, looking like I was leaning against an imaginary handrail of the Golden Gate Bridge.  As luck would have it, the local town’s beauty parlor was hosting a traveling portrait studio that week, and I was finally able to get a portrait done.  I think we used a broom as the prop for me to lean my elbow on, which the magazine then cut out and replaced with the image of the headboard that I had sent them.  Of course, by doing this, the proportions were off and it made for a bit of an awkward photograph,” Bulan laughingly recalls.
 
All of this was unknown territory to Bulan, but the gamble paid off.  Inquiries and orders started trickling in.  “My wife and I were creating our first product brochures by hand, making mini-scrapbook style booklets with pages we printed out on our printer at home and actual photographs affixed to them.  This was back in the day when you had to drop your film negative off at the local 1hour photo shop to have reprints done, and we were just using snapshots we took with our personal camera.  Eventually came the professional photographs done in a studio and professionally printed literature, but it’s amazing to look back over the years and see how the technology has changed, to become what it is now in the digital age.”
 
However, as he looks back over the last two decades, Bulan points out that the technology and techniques of creating the furniture has basically remained the same.  It is the tools and techniques used to run the actual business that have changed over the years.  "As we've moved into the digital age, it's the use of computers, cell phones, email, etc. that has changed the most, making communication and running a business so much easier to do.  But the way I built the furniture then is pretty much the same way I do it today."
 
Spring 2014 marks twenty years since that fateful day when Bulan saw the local news story.  He is still creating headboards, as well as various table and lamp designs, from the historic handrail that was removed from the Golden Gate Bridge in 1993.  All of the limited edition designs are hand-crafted locally in small batches by Bulan and the specialized artisans he works closely with at his studio workshop in San Francisco.  You can see all of Bulan’s current designs at his company’s website, GGBFurniture.com, and here at TheChrysopylae.com.  His Pacifica showroom and San Francisco workshop are available by appointment only.
 
Golden Gate Design& Furniture Company - 415.661.6263
Showroom: 446 Old County Road, Pacifica, CA 94044
Workshop: 1 Rankin Street, Studio #417, San Francisco CA 94124

info@ggbfurniture.com  -  www.ggbfurniture.com  -  www.facebook.com/ggbfurniture 

 
 

 

Monday, May 12, 2014

Save The Date: 2014 Fall Open Studios

Thanks to all who came to visit us at our workshop for the 2014 Spring Open Studios.  Be sure to save the date for the upcoming 2014 SF Open Studios presented by ArtSpan this Fall.  Our workshop studio will be open for Weekend 1 of the citywide event, October 18 & 19.
  
 
Islais Creek Studio Workshop
 

Islais Creek Studios #417
Golden Gate Design & Furniture Co.
One Rankin Street
San Francisco, CA 94124

www.ggbfurniture.com



Save The Date!
2014 SF Open Studios
Presented by

Weekend 1: October 18 & 19, 11am to 6pm
Hunters Point Shipyard & Islais Creek Studios


Opening Reception
Friday, October 17 - 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

 

Golden Gate Design & Furniture Co.
446 Old County Road, Pacifica, CA 94044 - 415.661.6263
 
 

Friday, April 25, 2014

2014 Spring Open Studios - Hunters Point Shipyard Artists and Islais Creek Studios

 
25th Anniversary Spring Open Studios














We will be participating in next weekend's 2014 Spring Open Studios at our Islais Creek workshop.  Come for a weekend of great art and designs from local San Francisco artisans.  The studio will be open for previews Friday evening, May 2, followed by the community's entire Spring Open Studios event Saturday, May 3, and Sunday, May 4. 

For more information visit:

www.shipyardartists.com/info-for-visitors/

www.thepointart.com

Islais Creek Studios #417
One Rankin Street
San Francisco, CA 94124

Golden Gate Design & Furniture Company - 415.661.6263

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Mark Your Calendars: Spring Open Studios 2014

If you were not able to make it last fall, we will be participating in another Open Studios event at our Islais Creek workshop this Spring.  Mark your calendars now for Saturday, May 3, and Sunday, May 4, for the 2014 Hunters Point Shipyard Open Studios.  Be sure to follow us here at our blog, our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ggbfurniture), or on Twitter (www.twitter.com/ggbfurniture) for more event information as it becomes available.

Photos from Fall 2013 ArtSpan SF Open Studios
Thanks to everyone who stopped by last November to visit our workshop during the SF Open Studios event!


Workshop Studio at Islais Creek
 
Workshop Studio at Islais Creek

Workshop Studio at Islais Creek
 
Workshop Studio at Islais Creek

Vista Bench
  
Vista Bench

Tea Table
 
Tea Table 


To learn more about these and our other designs, please visit our website www.ggbfurniture.com, or contact us at info@ggbfurniture.com.


Golden Gate Design & Furniture Co
446 Old County Road, Pacifica, CA 94044 - 415.661.6263

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Happy New Year!

 
 
Golden Gate Bridge Tower


A New Design for a New Year: The Table Lamp
Originally previewed at DWELL On Design this past summer, the new Table Lamp design is now in production and available for purchase:

Golden Gate Bridge Table Lamp

The new Table Lamp design incorporates a piece of historic hand rail cap as its shade and a cross section of the vertical rail picket as its base.  It uses an energy efficient 6.3 watt, 410 lumens LED with a 3,000K white color temperature that is equivalent to a 35 watt halogen bulb.

The Table Lamp has a limited edition production run of 195.  Each lamp is hand-crafted locally, numbered, and comes with a Letter of Authenticity.

To place an order for a Table Lamp, or any of our other designs, visit our online store or contact us directly via email or phone:



 

415.661.6263



Wishing you all the best in 2014....


Golden Gate Design & Furniture Co
446 Old County Road, Pacifica, CA 94044 - 415.661.6263