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For a half-century, a La Jolla-based interior design company has been working to bring international flair into California homes.
Next week, Sheila Palmer Design Associates will celebrate 50 years in business. Palmer has spent the past 10 years working alongside her daughter Anna, founder of Palmer Design, in one location at 7863 Herschel Ave. The mission: to bring clients “ephemeral and long-lasting” interior designs.
Sheila started in the industry as an antiques dealer, finding unique fixtures to bring into people’s homes. Soon, at the request of her clients, she expanded to a more comprehensive interior design company.
Her business originally opened as the Snow Goose at 2170 Avenida de la Playa in La Jolla Shores on Feb. 15, 1974. She then moved to 1010 Torrey Pines Road, where Sheila Palmer Design Associates was incorporated into it. That remained her location for 37 years until the building was sold.
As a nod to Sheila Palmer’s first interior decor business, an image of a snow goose hangs near the entrance of her current office for Sheila Palmer Design Associates.
(Ashley Mackin-Solomon)
Soon after, Sheila rented her current space in The Village. Through it all, she focused on “luxurious, eclectic, long-lasting European” designs but said she would work in whatever style clients needed.
“It’s a quality thing,” she said. “You can buy materials that look good for five minutes, or you can buy something of better quality. We try to sell high quality. The style doesn’t have to change. … We want to make an overall look for people’s houses. They look as though they are in the moment but have a timeless feel. Having been in this industry for so long, we have the scope of knowledge of where things are and where they can be purchased.”
Having the right interior design can “make the home a haven,” she added. “The world is a spiky place, so our home needs to wrap its arms around us when we walk in the door. That’s what we try to provide for people.”
This location at 7863 Herschel Ave. in La Jolla houses both Palmer Design and Sheila Palmer Design Associates.
(Ashley Mackin-Solomon)
Sheila worked for decades with Anna watching and ultimately influenced her to go into the design field. Anna studied at Parsons School of Design in New York and Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London.
After graduation, she started making her own line of lamps and drapery hardware. “For 25 years I sold to the high-end design trade, including hotel work and custom fabrication,” Anna said.
Ten years ago, Anna started doing interior design as well and shares a workspace with Sheila.
The interior of Palmer Design displays handmade fixtures, chairs, lamps and other home furnishings.
(Ashley Mackin-Solomon)
Though the two companies are independent of each other, “we were working together in the same space and on each other’s projects,” Anna said. “We started sharing a workspace, so by the nature of sharing a workspace we worked together. In the design industry, you have to have someone to bounce your ideas off of, so it was a natural progression.”
Anna said both design companies focus on handmade products and unique textiles, including the materials Anna makes.
They differ in that Anna is “more minimal in my approach to design … with a California luxury,” while Sheila “leans more toward traditional English luxury,” Anna said.
Anna said other businesses in the area tend to design with a “California beach look,” but that’s not the aesthetic of the Palmers.
“We use rich textiles and have a special attention to detail,” she said. “That’s what sets us apart.”
Anna recently returned from the Paris Deco Off — an international design market where new seasonal textiles are introduced — and noted that bringing those European styles to La Jolla is her focus for the rest of the winter and the spring.
“It’s like fashion,” she said. “We have had this neutral thing going on in California … and in Europe they use color, so we use color.”
Swatches of fabric hang on a wall of Palmer Design.
(Ashley Mackin-Solomon)
Despite the coming and going of textiles, “we don’t work with trends,” Anna said. “The work we do … doesn’t go out of style. We have clients that have had some pieces in their houses for 20 years and they are just as current today as when we put them in. If you buy something you love that is well-made, it is going to last and you are not going to get tired of it. … Your home becomes a place you want to be.”
Learn more at palmer-design.com. ◆
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