the unabashed Maximalist

This home at the top of a San Francisco row house is a kaleidoscope of colors and textures. Every piece has a story to tell.

- Erika Kotite

A.J. JOHARI HAS AN EXTRAORDINARY EYE. His vivid collections fill rooms that are unstudied yet artful, stimulating but friendly. "I started by collecting vintage lamps, scouring flea markets and antiques. Now they're in every room of the house, casting a warm glow on a very eclectic mix of furniture and objects."

Anthropomorphism abounds at this colorful third-storey playground, where furniture, art, and accessories seem to come alive. Johari points to a part of his office he calls "the gallery," which is a wall displaying diverse pieces. An antique concave mirror hangs below a Welby starburst clock; an age-stained French wood printing block contrasts with a copper sculpture by Vancouver artist Michael Hewitt: the curated hodgepodge of curiosities is watched over by a taxidermied deer ca. 1979. Johari describes that gallery wall as "an organism" that constantly evolves.

spotlight on MODELINE LAMPS

A.J. Johari is a collector of specialty lamps. He points to his favorite, a striking floor lamp that sits between the living room and dining room; it resembles a saguaro cactus.

"It's what I would look like if I were a lamp-kitschy and weird," he divulges. The lamp came from one of the most influential lamp studios in the world, the Modeline Lamp Company. Started in 1946 by Bernie Roberts, it was a revolutionary enterprise both in the forms created and the artists who eagerly submitted designs.

"Bernie offered an abnormally high royalty as well as a novel idea: sculptural wood lighting," says Nick Ferrell, a Modeline historian and specialist in Modern, Atomic, and Space Age lighting. Ferrell points to the European and Asian influences of the designs and their defining, sculpted forms.