SOMA Loft

“It was really interesting playing off of Francis. It was a great collaboration because he’s one of those people where things were not off limits. We could talk very easily about whether something worked or didn’t work. It’s really interesting to see how he’s occupied the space now. He continues to move things around, so it’s become a living laboratory for himself as well.”

Francis Mill, a long-time friend and collaborator with STOCK, is an artist and gallerist in San Francisco. A font of knowledge who can give you the narrative arc of one piece and how it interrelates to other artists from that generation, or where the piece stands in the oeuvre of that movement, Stephan describes him as “f***ing brilliant.”

After many visits to Francis’ apartment, and constantly rearranging furniture Stephan + Francis agreed that although it was a cool space, it was a bit awkward. With the rooms featuring windows being offset from the main living space, it was not necessarily the brightest space and didn’t quite flow together. They set out to bring these choppy elements together in a cohesive way and create “zones” as opposed to a less purposeful space that bled together and bounced around.

Stephan defined areas within the main living space to create moments of intimacy: a dining niche, and a daybed niche were defined by furnishings inspired by Donald Judd - linear, and strong yet simple architecturally. They defined the studio area with a long work surface and cabinetry to house Francis’ collection of objects used in his artwork.

Stephan and Francis were meticulous about choosing purposeful, curated objects, as well as “anchor zones,” which would serve as permanent locations for an ever-evolving collection of pieces.

The end result was a space that exhibited intimacy, order, and comfort in a space that didn’t necessarily lend itself to that.