A boom box made with mycelium and a teeter-totter that reaches across the US-Mexico border are some of the projects from the 10 independent design studios from San Francisco presented as part of our North American Design 2024 series.
Experimentations in fabrication techniques and the use of high-tech methods can be found in the furniture and object design being carried out in San Francisco.
The northern Californian city is known as a hub of counter-culture and social activism as well as a central location for technological innovation, both of which can be found in the work of the 10 design studios below.
In San Francisco, design is often rooted in a desire to address pressing contemporary issues, including immigration, climate change and consumerism. For architect Anand Sheth, who leads an eponymous studio and has lived and practised in San Francisco for 18 years, the city's design scene reflects the city's "inherently rebellious nature".

Read: Experimental vessel concepts go on view during San Francisco Design Week

This rebelliousness is informed in part by the legacy of San Francisco as a counter-cultural hub, but also by the ways that contemporary designers respond to restrictive building and business codes, which cause severe delays to new construction and make operating a small business notoriously difficult.
"Rebelliousness is a theme that I see with my peers, and in my work too," said Sheth.
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