Under the Surface

A Berkeley duo treats each wall as a blank canvas for better design–and healthier living.

Christine Wallner found her true calling after moving to Berkeley from the East Coast, where she had spent more than two decades designing corporate interiors. Inspired by her new environment, Wallner started Stonelace Designs in 2004 with her neighbor, Rye Hudak, to create eco-friendly wall finishes. “People here are doing the most amazing interior design and are being so environmentally conscientious,” she says.

Experimenting with no-VOC paint, plaster and added elements like recycled glass, Wallner and Hudak evaluate each of their custom finishes for durability and sustainability. “We decided to go totally green shortly after we started,” says Wallner. “What seemed like a limitation at first has opened up our options—now we’re adding things like mica and quartz.”

Stonelace Designs’ current projects give a sense of the possibilities of green design. They’re giving the rooms in a Woodside home sparkling fuchsia and blue walls, creating the illusion of silk dupioni upholstery. And their lime-plaster walls for the redesigned Urban Tavern restaurant in San Francisco’s Union Square are glazed to look like aged concrete.

One of their primary sources of inspiration is Sol LeWitt, who often painted his works directly on walls. “We’re incredibly influenced by him—he’s one of the only artists who has really merged art and design,” says Hudak, a second-generation painter who majored in visual arts at Dartmouth. “We’re trying to give walls texture, color, life and character so they can truly be design elements.”

Taken from the December 2007 issue of our sister publication, California Home + Design. For more than a decade, CH+D has informed, celebrated and inspired the nation's most influential home and design market. Subscribe now.
 

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