INSIDE LOOK AT MODERN FURNITURE
Michael Dunsford had already established himself in San Diego as an expert in traditional decorative arts when he decided to open Inside (715 8th Ave.) in partnership with artist Roy McMakin in September, 1983.
At Inside, you will find furniture, lamps and other objects that are so advanced that they look as if they had been designed for tomorrow’s world, not today’s.
At the Michael Dunsford Gallery just around the corner (828 G St.), the design entrepreneur specialized in fine contemporary and modern decorative arts dating from around the turn of the century up to the 1960s.
Initially, his specialty was furniture and decorative arts of the 18th and 19th centuries, an interest he came by through his mother, who had operated Paula’s Antiques in Rancho Santa Fe. After her death, he exercised his expertise independently and expanded it into the 20th Century.
By opening his gallery, he pioneered the development of the downtown art zone. His volunteer experience at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art and the influence of his wife, Irene, stimulated his interest in contemporary painting and sculpture in addition to design, and he added occasional exhibitions of works by such artists as Robert Smith, Jay Johnson, Eriks Rudans and Brad Durham to his activities.
Dunsford became a resource for contemporary design in San Diego as clients turned to him for assistance. A job designing a private residence in Oceanside (which was featured in an issue of San Diego Home/Garden magazine) was indicative not only of a need to be filled but also of recognition that he could fill it.
His new interests and activities developed cautiously, however.
“I didn’t want to alienate anyone,” he recalled. “I had a few contemporary lamps in the gallery and it confused people who liked old things.”
A friendship established with artist Roy McMakin, whose sculptural furniture Dunsford exhibited in 1982, would be decisive.
“We talked about things it would be interesting to have here,” Dunsford said. “There were no good resources for people who liked contemporary design in San Diego. They had to go to L.A.
“Roy and I decided to open this business. We visited the Pacific Design Center in L.A. and selected the best lighting fixtures we could find.
“That’s how we started out, with 900 square feet of space and some lamps.”
Why lighting fixtures?
“I find them beautiful objects and interesting to look at,” Dunsford said. “And they’re useful.
“They’re done by industrial designers who have a sense of sculptural form.”
The partners became representatives for the firms AI (Atelier International), Artemide, Ron Rezek of Los Angeles and Thunder and Light of New York.
“We didn’t know at the time that there were few stores in the country specializing the way we were. We just stumbled along,” Dunsford said.
“But we predicated Inside on our desire to deal in beautiful objects. That’s why we consider it a gallery. It represents that cornerstone attitude of modernism that a chair or a lamp is as important as a piece of sculpture.”
As the partners expanded the space by taking over expired leases in the building (to its present size of 4,500 square feet), they included furniture and decorative objects.
You will find contemporary chairs influenced by antiques (the Queen Anne style, for example) and designed by American architect Robert Venturi, and the minimal works of French designer Philippe Starck.
Inside also exhibits many works from the Milan design group called Memphis.
“The Memphis look is post-modern,” Dunsford said. “It is designed to offend our modern sensibility through color, shape and ideas of what objects are or are not supposed to be.
“Much of what we show is designed by architects. Technically they’re mass-produced objects, but they have such a limited appeal that they’re not made in the millions,” Dunsford said.
“We’re trying to make the statement that you can live with these objects. They are art to live with, not just to go see occasionally in museums.”
Inside is one of only a dozen such enterprises in the country that works directly with the public.
“It used to be that people had to go through architects or designers to have access to what we carry, but we think that these objects should be available to the public directly without intermediaries,” Dunsford said.
“We’re not just for the trade. We’re making a broader range of choices possible. The fact that we’re here puts the responsibility for the way you feel about the things you live with on your own shoulders.”
Inside’s clientele is mostly local, about half design professionals (the “trade”) but also about half the public.
“We detect that we’re having some influence,” Dunsford said. “People can see real things here, not just pictures in magazines.”
Dunsford and McMakin are also continuing, indirectly, an involvement in the exhibition of contemporary painting and sculpture.
The La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art has rented space with access through Inside for a series of exhibitions entitled “Parameters 8.” It opened late last year with a show of works by San Diego artists from the museum’s permanent collection. Currently on view is a group of sculptures by Boston-based artist Jeffrey Schiff.
“Contemporary art may not be for everyone,” Dunsford said. “But it’s for more people now than it used to be.”
