A Desk for Danielle
By Walt Williams
Modesto Bee staff writer
Best-selling author Danielle Steel does her furniture shopping in
Modesto. Well, not exactly, but a desk built in a Tully Road warehouse-workshop
will soon become the centerpiece of the private office in the Pacific
Heights mansion where the prolific Steel turns out the romantic
novels that hit the top of the bookstore sales lists with predictable
regularity.
The desk, fashioned in the shape of three giant-size books - a trio
of Steel's favorite titles - was designed by Modesto's Stephen Weaver
and built by local craftsman Larry Ginochio and Jeff Dove. Ginochio
estimates that about 200 man-hours went into the customized creation.
It took two days, he says, just to make the 1,500 cuts that simulate
pages in the Gulliver-size books.
Steele ordered the desk after she spotted a prototype model Weaver
had on display at the Randolph & Hein decorator showrooms in
San Francisco. The original will be featured in a photo spread in
the February issue of House & Garden
magazine. One of Weaver's Modesto clients owns the only other model
built so far.
The desk in the showroom is tagged at $10,600, but Steel will pay
about $16,000 for her customized version. It is fashioned from alder
wood, with a faux muted paper finish in shades of red, blue and
silver-gray to simulate the dust jackets on the author's personal
favorites - "Heartbeat," "Daddy" and "Star."
The titles are carved in gold on the binding of the 3 by 5 foot
books.
In the past few months, Weaver and his Modesto craftsmen also have
designed and built glass-top game tables for a client in Guam, and
an electric cocktail table that raises for dining and $8,500 one-of-a-kind
bar stools for a home in Palm Springs.
Weaver also has contracted with showrooms in Chicago and Dallas
to display his "Moderne" line of casual tables and lighting
fixtures, and a new steel ribbon dining table. He hasn't had time,
he admits, to read any of Steel's love stories. |
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