John Dickinson

John Dickinson (1919-1982) 
 
John Dickinson, born in 1919 in Berkeley, California, attended the Parsons School of Design in New York. He later worked for several decorating concerns and a number of department stores, including Lord & Taylor. In 1956, he opened his own design firm in San Francisco.   Mr Dickinson was an interior and furniture designer. He was known for his often surprising combinations of textures and natural materials, innovative borrowing from the past, spare but striking rooms, monochromatic palette and innovative furniture designs.  His furniture designs combined a sense of sophistication with unusual production methods like using plaster and rebar, which made his pieces totally original and unique. His own home, a converted firehouse, served as a showplace for some of his ideas and special pieces.

''There's a fine line between fantasy and humor and out-and-out eccentricity,'' said the designer, quoted in the book ''Interior Views: Design at Its Best,'' by Erica Brown. ''I rely on scale and proportion to create drama in a room and then the deft placement of a few amusing or witty things to take care of any pomposity it might have.''

He died on Feb. 12, 1982 in San Francisco. He was 63 years old.