"I get my most interesting and unusual Asian pieces
that lend themselves to formal and informal interiors from Evelyn's," says San Francisco interior designer Suzanne Tucker, who has bought massive low tables with simple, strong lines and hosts of other exotic pieces from Evelyn's Antique Chinese Furniture in San Francisco. Evelyn's is a family business, established in 1987 in San Francisco by the Tam family, who owned an antiques shop in Hong Kong prior to moving to the Bay Area. Specializing in 16th- to 19th-century Chinese classical furniture and reproductions, Evelyn Tam does the buying in her native China with her husband, and the small shop on Hayes Street near the opera house and the large warehouse at the same location are run by her son and daughter. Tucker notes that what sets Evelyn's apart from other antique Asian furniture dealers is their vast warehouse, where repair and refinishing work are done. "There are stacks of furniture in its original condition waiting to be restored. Getting it in its raw state, repairing it and finishing it to complement the tones in an interior is a designer's dream."
February 2002
