COURTESY KEN FULK AND SAINT JOSEPH’S ARTS SOCIETY
Carpenters Workshop Gallery, which produces and exhibits functional sculptures, will open a San Francisco outpost on October 1. The gallery is taking up residence in a 9,000-square-foot space on the mezzanine of the Saint Joseph’s Arts Society, a new arts space founded by designer Ken Fulk and housed in the former Saint Joseph’s Church, which was built in 1913 and recently underwent a three-year renovation.
The Saint Joseph’s Arts Society will host rotating exhibitions and special events—some programming will be open only to the organization’s “subscribers” and their guests—and it will house a selection of retail shops. Carpenters Workshop, which will be open to the public, is the sole gallery to be located permanently in the building.
In an email, Loïc Le Gaillard, a cofounder of Carpenters Workshop Gallery, told ARTnews that the “unconventional architecture” and open-air mezzanine present many possibilities for using the new space. “For our West Coast debut, we were looking for an unusual space, off the beaten path in an architecturally interesting space, as we do for our other galleries,” he said. “The interaction with the Saint Joseph’s Arts Society should also create an interesting cross-pollination between the city’s creative community.”
The San Francisco enterprise’s inaugural exhibition will survey work by various artists on the gallery’s roster. Highlights include Maarten Baas’s interactive Self Portrait Clock, a Fragile Future chandelier by Studio Drift, and a sculptural bronze chair by Wendell Castle. Pieces by Nacho Carbonell, Johanna Grawunder, and others will also be on view.
Carpenters Workshop Gallery first opened in 2006 in London, where it has two spaces—a gallery open to the public and a by-appointment-only venue. The gallery also has locations in Paris and New York, and a production facility and private sales space in Roissy, France.
“The fact that San Francisco is supported by an active and engaged collector base made the city a clear choice,” Le Gaillard said. “We also feel that—more than other cities in the U.S.—the taste of the new generations in San Francisco is evolving quickly towards a more contemporary approach where craft and technology exist side by side, which is exactly what we do.”