“Sometimes the thing you are most timid to do – the biggest, boldest move – is what you end up liking the most,” says Ian Stallings, founder of San Francisco-based Ian Stallings Design. With over a decade of experience, Stallings’ full service interior design firm has completed projects globally in some of the finest homes in San Francisco, London, and New York, as well as a furniture gallery and showroom in China. No matter where his work takes him, an underlying ethos reigns supreme: his deep commitment to the client’s needs, desires, experiences, and aspirations.
An artist at heart, Stallings sees each client as a muse and their space as a canvas. Having studied film making, painting and design at the California College of the Arts, art history at the Chicago Art Institute, and painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, Stallings combines his profound knowledge in architecture, interior design, and contemporary art to every project. He doesn’t simply “decorate” a home, rather builds meaningful, profound and long lasting relationships with clients and the spaces they make home.
“Every home is designed for you, the client. People always ask me: ‘what is your aesthetic and style?’ Because I am focused on what is appropriate for the physical space and who the end-user is, my style is to focus on who the client truly is and not inflict my aesthetic on them,” says Stallings.
One of the joys of his work is the opportunity to work in diverse enclaves throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. “Our team gets to go to a lot of interesting places and do interesting things. The beauty of the Bay Area is its diversity – in geography, cultures, communities and styles. From San Francisco, to Marin, to Silicon Valley and all the reaches of it, we are continuously inspired and able to create bespoke spaces for diverse clients,” says Stallings.
Stallings notes that Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty and his design firm are very similar in a lot of respects. “We provide a service level for our clients that is exceptional. Our clients’ properties and homes demand an attention to detail, and the brokerage really understands those properties and how they relate to high design,” says Stallings. “Together, we artfully unite extraordinary homes with extraordinary people.”
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