So What Makes Deco Designers Furniture so Important

Lewis and I were thinking about why all of a sudden the really nice Deco pieces of Designer furniture are bringing higher and higher priced.  Particularly the nice Italian and French pieces.

After our Turkey dinner and all the family went their ways or passed out in a turkey coma, Lewis turned to me and said, "I think I've figured it out."

"What have you figured out?" I said.

"Why Deco furniture is becoming so valuable.   Traditional, 18thc, other period pieces were made over long periods of time.  The really fine Deco pieces were only made for a relatively  short space of time. A lot of these pieces were handmade or required a lot of additional hand piecing.  The modern age quickly made mass production more and more convenient."

Just like the good 18th century pieces, The fine Deco pieces have begun to be copied.  They have become iconic.  The lesser known designers who produced fewer pieces will be even more desirable.  Architects currently who are looking at clean modern lines fine that these pieces fit well in their interiors.  Also traditional homes with clean lines do well with these pieces as well.

The interesting thing is that clean sparse lines enhance and go well with all sorts of other periods. I've always advised people to express themselves, and combine periods for a sophisticated home.  In our shop we are allowed the luxury of having a wonderful assortment of items and furniture with which to work.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We always have lots to do around the shop.  Preparing forT hanksgiving in the shop means trying to give customers room to move around in the shop.  What is different this year is that we have been doing a lot of our business through 1stdibs.  This in turn has given us more funds for investing in more pieces for the shop.  Unfortunately a lot of the new pieces are big, and take up a lot of space.  We started our life here as an Antique Mall, and gradually have taken more and more of our 8,400 square feet of the shop.  Slowly we had to ask our dealers to leave until we were down to 3 or 4 special dealers. The end of this month we will say good bye to one of the last few dealers.  So in the mean time we are cramped for space.

The one dealer friend that we never intend to say goodbye too is our friend Maurice Beane.  Cindy and Maurice have a great collection of branded vintage goods nothing like Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Channel, Gucci, and Lanvin bags, jewelry, scarves,and ties for Christmas.  There's plenty of designer jewelry, Mexican silver, and custom designed necklaces to choose from.  Don't forget the vintage murano glass and antique japanese and chinese pottery.

Although we have large pieces, we have those special pieces that can make a Christmas.  Stephen Redd one of our silversmith friend has just come back from taking classes to add to his skills.  We are looking forward to seeing even great works by him.

Have a great Thanksgiving.   Even with the down turn in the economy we are a truly blessed country.  Let us all be thankful for all our many blessings.

Kilmarnock get ready for shock and awe....Holiday window

Lewis has planned a Holiday window that will knock your shocks off!  Maybe we will call it Princess in an Ice Palace.  We have had complains that our windows stops traffic.  This one is sure to do that.  We just hope that we don't cause any accidents. He visualized a window full chandeliers making the window look like an ice palace.

This last trip he went after an original plaster figure of a deco lady all done in silver leaf.  She is seven feet tall.  She came out of a Henri Bendel Store in New York City in the forty's.

This is a signed plaster statue by Fernard Guignier, 1902-1972, french sculpture and painter.  There are several of his sculptures in Paris.  She will grace our window with all the elegance of a deco nude, like an ethereal nymph. She stands in her bare feet 90" tall.

The Christmas tree stands on the other side of the window, decked in silver and white, and twinkling lights.  There are a total of seven Murano chandeliers in our large window, and several more in the smaller window.

Lewis visited Todd Merrill in New York

We're finally getting around to Blogging about the rest of Lewis' recent trip to New York City. Another great shop that he totally enjoyed visiting was Todd Merrill. He was wowed by the lit sconces by Tommi Parzinger. It's always inspiring to see thungs in person.


This Jack Rogers Hopkins circa 1970 chair at Todd Merrill's is an excellent example of find craftsmanship still found even in the 1970's.



A pleasant surprise was finding an old friend, some that we have in our shop, at Todd Merrill's. This James Mont lamp with the original shade is a classic Mont piece. We love James Mont's designs and Lewis was treated to several more of his pieces there. The mirror below is Mont's.

This James Mont chest has his carved bamboo motif around the top of the piece. it is quite a striking piece. Mont was a designer for Hollywood and the mob during the 1940's and 1950's. He had a checkered past and even spent time in Sing Sing; this takes nothing away from his designs only adds to the mystique.




Please someone give me a hand or maybe a foot and a hand.......found atTodd Merrill's by Pedro Friedeberg, Mexican. This unique chair was made sometime in the 1970's.



Below are a set of chairs designed by Dan Johnson, these are terrific. Visiting Todd Merrill's was a real treat and Lewis' can highly recommend visiting if you go to New York.

A visit to see Lost City Arts...

We've been a little busy in the shop recently so I hadn't posted the rest of the photos from my trip to New York City.  This set of photos I took while I was in the shop Lost City Arts, which is one of my favorite shops in the city, just for it's modernism and the large collection of Harry Bertoia.  So I asked if I could snap some photos to use on my blog and here they are!  Enjoy!

An Incredible Copper Bush Sculpture by Harry Bertoia (1915-78)

This was an amazing piece by Harry Bertoia the detail work of it was simply amazing. The casting of this piece I would have been a nightmare as each end would have had to be vented in the mold.  Reminiscent of coral, brain stems or something a mad bonsai artist would have made.  :)

Incredible Dining Table by Giovanni Michelucci (1891-1990)

Sorry about the blurry photo, this is an amazing dining table by Giovanni Michelucci.  This table is drool worthy.  I've seen tons of great tables, but this is by far one of the best ones.  Michelucci was one of my favorite architects, and I did a blog posting earlier on him. Click here to read the blog on him. 

Stunning Italian Glass Sputnik Chandelier

This was one of my favorite chandelier's ever!  It looks like dew on a dandelion in a space.  It's one of those pieces that you almost have to pinch yourself to make sure it's real.  Please remember I've linked to all the images to their pages on 1stdibs.  So click it to find out more information!

Incredible Interlocking Opalescent Glass Chandelier

Okay so this chandelier was also insanely beautiful.  The construction was amazing,  each piece of glass was hanging and connected to the one above it. It is amazing to know that this was constructed with molten glass.  People never think that a lot of decorative arts are hand made, and aren't just made by a machine or stamped out.  This piece was thought out, drawings were made and each single piece was formed to fit in this jigsaw of a chandelier.  I'm also a sucker for opalescent murano pieces!

Pair of Renzo Rutili for Johnson Furniture

I snapped a photo of these 2 Renzo Rutili Chests as I was walking through.  I picked up a long low version of these that has ab ebonized finish a few weeks ago.  I love the feet on these and the quality level of the Johnson furniture pieces are amazing!  If you are in New York City please stop by, or if you are planning a trip to New York City make sure to visit.  It was definitely worth a visit to the city to see some of these shops!  Hope everyone enjoys!  I stopped at Todd Merrill's as I walked in between Donzella and Lost City Arts, and I still need to do a posting on his shop!  Most likely in the next few days.  This next week I'm hitting the highway again in a different direction to pick up a few pieces I couldn't fit in my van last trip!

Gabriella Crespi, Italian Designer, 1922-

Where in the world is Gabriella Crespi? We acquired a lamp by Gabriella Crespi.
Maison 21 has recently been blogging about her and they showed a picture of her cube table. I found an interesting article about Crespi by New York Times in their style section. She has been a designer of lamps, furniture, and small sculptural items and utensils. Below is a cube bar in brass.
Crespi has divided her time between Milan and high in the Himalayas, seeking Satya (truth), unity and a feeling of infinity. In 1987 she got rid of most of her material possessions. She became a vegetarian and continued to seek enlightening. She has become an author writing''Search for Infinity — Himalaya,'' when asked if she has found infinity, she says," Yes, it goes on forever."
Above is an iconic desk by Crespi. Recently, " Maison 21" has posted several items about Gabriella Crespi