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    The Aesthetic Union

    4.4 (19 reviews)
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    Wall art
    Joe R.

    My whole experience with The Aesthetic Union was awesome. Sent them a private message on Instagram to discuss what I was looking for. The owner helped me find pieces that would work with my room and fit my budget. I couldn't be happier with the results. The attention to detail was spectacular, even down to the packaging. Will definitely be coming back for more pieces soon.

    Left: Daniel; Right: James
    Taylor L.

    I was hired to do a soft brand audit for KQED this Spring. Nearing towards the finish line, the client expressed interest in celebrating the refresh with its 500+ staffers in a memorable and fun way. I came up with an interactive wheel chart design and immediately thought of The Aesthetic Union to execute the job. As a matter of fact, I designed it around them--taking full advantage of their capabilities. The result included: letterpress, hot foil stamps, 4 spot colors, die cut, and custom rivets--all assembled by hand. There is nothing these guys can't do and their service and attention to detail is spot on. Daniel helped me from concept to completion and offered honest advice for the best outcome. James oversaw the whole production. The entire process was a collaborative effort between myself and the AU crew; and it was a beautiful one. Needless to say-- the client was over the moon with the final product. I couldn't be happier. Hire The Aesthetic Union, they'll make you look good and bring more business to your business.

    Invitation on heavy cotton ragg cardstock with perfect layout, just the right color, and the ideal type impression on the paper!
    Curran H.

    I just attended the "soft opening" of the Aesthetic Union, a new fine letterpress printery run by James and Risa. (James used to be the letterpress printer at Hello! Lucky before striking out on his own.) The shop boasts two huge Heidelberg windmill presses plus all kinds of other vintage printing equipment. It was a treat to see the main Heidelberg in use, up-close! The Aesthetic Union does other printing besides letterpress, such as silkscreen, linoblock and mimeograph, and both James and Risa have great graphic design skills to augment their printing skills. James says that they're going to offer letterpress printing classes, which I'm excited about taking. They can do business cards, holiday cards, wedding invitations, stationery, bookplates -- all kinds of things. I had them lay-out and print some invitations for me and the results were even better than I had hoped! The shop doesn't just do printing, it also sells printed booklets, notebooks, cards and other printed goodies that you can't find anywhere else (most of them by local artisans), as well as an amazing selection of classic pencils, pencil sharpeners, and so on. The counters are made of the decks of an old tugboat, there are nautical antiques here and there, and the blue and yellow walls make it a wonderful space to wander around in. Countless gift ideas came to mind. The Aesthetic Union is a destination in itself, but the building also boasts a Blue Bottle Coffee, and is right next to the big Heath Ceramics studio and store. Anyone with an appreciation for great design, handcraftsmanship and things that last should definitely check out the Aesthetic Union! UPDATE: I've now had the opportunity to commission a few printing jobs from James and I have to say that his results exceeded my expectations! Not only was the presswork perfect (with a nice deep impression on the beautiful cardstock he chose) but he did the lay-out with an eye for balance, legibility and impact. Take a look at the photo I added to the gallery; it's the invitation card with a Masonic design in a rectangle and the phrase "You are cordially invited to..."

    They make this cool wrapping paper
    Nettie A.

    We went on the tour for Heath Ceramics and they brought us on a tour of this shop. It is really fun to walk around and look at the machines as well as their well curated products. We haven't had them make cards for us but saw samples of work they had done for other clients and they looked great. Definitely a fun visit for anyone interested in art and design.

    Hard at work.
    Zachary K.

    James is the owner here. He's very sharp; a true craftsmen. I won't be going anywhere else.

    Fast as fuck printer from the 20's

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    Avoid at all costs. Rude, unprofessional, miserable interaction. Could go on forever.

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    Review Highlights - The Aesthetic Union

    I just attended the "soft opening" of the Aesthetic Union, a new fine letterpress printery run by James and Risa.

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    San Francisco Chronicle - Posted with review 12/21/25

    San Francisco Chronicle

    (435 reviews)

    SoMa

    I was stationed in Sacramento for four years in the late 70s, during which time, almost every…read moremorning, I read the San Francisco Chronicle. The Sacramento Bee was my local paper, and I read that too, but I'd grown up in the Washington, DC area, and the Chronicle, the de facto "newspaper of record" in Northern California, was analogous to the Washington Post, the "real" paper that we'd read at home. So digging into the Chronicle over breakfast, for national and international news, was familiar to me. The Chronicle informed, educated, and entertained me. Also, those being my later formative years, I was, to some extent, taught to read and write by Chronicle reporters and columnists, including: Carl Nolte, Art Hoppe, Bruce Jenkins, and one of my lifelong favorites, humorist and journalist Herb Caen. Times have changed, as have we all. The internet offers access to news and information that would have been unimaginable when I read The Chronicle, and anyway, I moved away, so the paper isn't as necessary to me as it once was. More to the point, I subscribed to the Washington Post for years, but I cancelled my subscription this year, as the paper deeply integrated AI into its content creation; and I still read the New York Times, but if they go too far down that road, I'll drop them, as well. Notwithstanding these things, the Chronicle is an important part of who I am, of how I think and say what I think, and when think about that, I'm grateful.

    San Francisco Chronicle was my newspaper when I was living in San Francisco and Berkeley. I needed…read morea place to live and a place to work. I found it was useful. Newspapers often get negative reviews. For the purpose I read the San Francisco Chronicle it was okay.

    Mother Jones - Mother Jones: January/February 2010

    Mother Jones

    (19 reviews)

    Chinatown

    "Fearless Journalism" is Mother Jones' tagline and it truly goes where mainstream media will not…read moretread: Controversial, in-depth and thought-provoking. It's journalism that's daring, maverick- topics that mainstream outlets won't touch because they aren't sensational or popular or might offend advertisers. (Having worked in publishing for years- not hard-hitting journalism mind you, merely travel/entertainment/lifestyle publications- content is *always heavily swayed by the bottom line. Sorry if I popped your cherry). But Mother Jones doesn't operate in that bandwidth and this San Francisco-based magazine with national and international influence is a must-read. It doesn't bow to advertising pressures, popular opinion or what's in vogue. If I had to pick an adjective to describe its writing, I'd say "contrarian" and I say that with deep admiration. Long before I fumbled then stumbled backwards into a career in publishing, I had an obsession with print that started at a young age. I madly devoured every magazine I could get my hands on. I spent every dollar on any and every magazine whose cover lines pinged my imagination. My list wasn't precocious, it was Mad Magazine, TV Guide, Harper's Bazaar, Seventeen, Mademoiselle, an occasional perusal of Fortune and an obsession with The New Yorker. (I dreamt of escaping my boring hometown of Buffalo and living in New York City and read its theater/gallery/events/movie listings like they were a treasure map). But now with time being a precious commodity, I've regretfully let go of subscriptions I no longer have time to read, like watching leaves float away on a fast-moving stream. No more Rolling Stone, Food & Wine, More, People, Forbes, New York and on and on. Yet, there are a few that've made the cut: The New Yorker, Cooks Illustrated, Vanity Fair (I'm a charter subscriber) and Mother Jones Magazine. I'll renew my subscription and give one - or three - as Christmas gifts. Buy a newsstand copy, if only to support Mother Jones' fine journalism and an excellent San Francisco institution, and consider a subscription. Even if your politics are right-leaning, I promise you'll find information that'll be thought-provoking and interesting. Mother Jones is a phenomenal magazine.

    Terrible customer service. Had issues with my subscription, and after weeks and repeated emails,…read morenot one word of response from MJ's customer service team to either correct or cancel the subscription. Never again.

    San Francisco Magazine

    San Francisco Magazine

    (25 reviews)

    North Beach/Telegraph Hill

    Vapid, socialite slick consumerist fodder…read more Content is Not for the typical Yelper. I canceled my subscription 2 months ago, but they're still sending it to me. Like I'm going to buy a $1million SOMA condo or a $50,000 diamond for my wife. Yeah right!

    I'll never forget my first San Francisco magazine. I had just moved to the Bay Area, only to be…read moreheaded on a trip to New Zealand, and I was browsing the airport bookstore for reading materials when I saw it: the extra-large mag with a pic of Gavin Newsom on the front. I was glued to the pages the whole flight and subscribed the second I got back. Those were the heady days of my budding love affair with San Francisco, when the city could do no wrong and waves of discovery were washing over me at an almost unbearable rate. So the magazine was quite helpful for marinating my brain in the local flavor and gaining some semblance of orientation. But now, I've got a lot more personal experience with SF (and, let's face it, I've got Yelp), and the magazine isn't quite the eye-opener it once was. More importantly, though, the city (and, let's face it, Yelp's uber-populist medium/message) has turned me into something of an anti-consumerist eco-hippie, and the dream of high-society hobnobbing and owning that killer loft has palled considerably since I realized I was just being subjected to the incredibly paradoxical mass-marketing of luxury "lifestyles". Unfortunately, though, there are still a lot of Boomers (ok, and some young folks) in this city who subscribe to that dream, and SF Magazine is catering to them more than ever these days. So aside from the excellent "Reporter's Notebook" articles, there really isn't much to interest me anymore, and I find myself on the lookout for a Bay Area lifestyle magazine that caters to my *actual* lifestyle. Sorry SF Mag--to quote one of your ads, you may have overlooked nothing, but I don't actually want to overlook everything.

    SF Weekly - Look in this Thursdays issue of the SF Advertiser for how to get 2 free tickets to Ringling Bros. Circus.

    SF Weekly

    (25 reviews)

    Financial District

    Legal Disclaimer - I am an avid weekly reader of the Anderson Valley Advertiser, East Bay Express,…read moreSF Bay Guardian and the SF Weekly. I am a Yelp Elite member and I have attended their events sober. I have eaten Pork in Danville. There's already an active thread and I'm sure more review posts will be forthcoming in response to this week's SF Weekly article on Yelp. Heck, some business owners who feel that they have previously been wronged by Yelpers might throw 5 Star "pay-back's a bitch" review grenades, while hiding relatively anonymously behind their profiles. I am of course disappointed that my reviews were not mentioned or that as a 50-ish single father, my life wasn't reduced to a cartoonish stereotype (like being labelled a narcissistic twit). At the same time, this me-too article (the first appearing in the East Bay Express) doesn't pretend to pass as journalism. And when you consider the SF Bay Guardian's relatively recent success in litigating some of the SF Weekly's business practices, it is often useful to consider the source of your information. One Yelp "friend" recently questioned my Yelp objectivity, based solely on my Elite Status. And over time, after having 3 of my own reviews pulled and complaining long and loud not only to the Yelp HQ, but once to Jeremy himself, I guess he forgot to tell me that to some, Elite Status might also mean Yelp Toad. Not this time.

    I have read SF Weekly every Wednesday for as long as I can remember…read more Highly recommended over the Guardian or East Bay Express, both of which I find incredibly boring and bland. My favorite aspect of SF Weekly is for discovering upcoming live shows, be it a big stadium gig, or some obscure band that is playing Cafe Du Nord or Bottom of the Hill. This is what I used before the " interwebz" and gosh darn it, this is still gonna be my go to for " useful" " funny" or " cool" events in the Bay Area.

    The Aesthetic Union - printmedia - Updated May 2026

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