Garden Week and Photo Ops for the" Local Scoop"

For Information of 2012 Tour

Every now and then, we do something to rock the Northern Neck of Va.  Next week is the Garden Club of VA House tour.  All the ladies from the early married to those in their seventies and eights go all out visiting all the sites on tour throughout the state.  These ladies come in like a gaggle of geese. Dressed in their Sunday Best.  So we dress our windows for shock and awe.

We look more like a store in Manhattan rather than a traditional antique shop in Virginia.  It is always interesting to see the reaction that these ladies have to our shop.  Some will walk right by the show windows ignoring all the tantalizing pieces we have on display.  Others will come in and not be able to understand the design quality of the shop, and yet there will be those who will revel in the quality and uniqueness of our items.  We live for these people.  they make all our hard work worth while.

Recently we have done a complete overhaul of the interior of the shop.  Last week, Lewis had a photographer come in to do a photo op for an article the "Local Scoop" is doing on young  entrepreneurs.   We hustled trying to make the whole shop look really good.  So wouldn't you know, they only shot one area, and it was not one where we had staged.  Lewis was told what colors to wear and they took great pains to poise him. He did as he was told but I could imagine him groaning mentally.  The article will come out in their June issue.

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.

Found Work by James Yoko

Lewis is on the road again. This time to pick up an interesting piece he saw in Chicago and could not fit it into his van the last time he was there. I think this was an excuse to go back for the food in Chicago (see last blog on Chicago). On his way yesterday he picked up Two nice "Modern Paintings" form the 1960's by Dayton Ohio Artist, James Yoko, 1916-2004.

I did some research and found that he and his wife had donated work to Dayton Art Institute. He donated the bathers painted in 1946. This painting was representative of modern trends in the 1940's.


Another of his paintings given to the Art Institute was Called Slowdrift. This is a complete divergence from his art in the 40's.


Another work by James Yoko was found while searching the web. Media Man is a Collage this painting also shows another aspect of his work continually changing with the times.



We never know what treasures a trip will bring. Lewis has arrived in Chicago and we wait with great expectations.

A Great Delivery

Thursday Lewis headed toward Annapolis Md. to deliver an Anniversary present a customer wanted in order to surprise his wife. I think it was their 40th anniversary and she kept talking about some mirrors that she had seen in our shop. He decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and spring for he pair of oval eyelash mirrors. In order to deliver them within a reasonable time and in one piece, Lewis would drive them up. At the same time he could pick up a piece he previously purchased that he was not able to fit into his van. He called the husband while on his way up and they just happened to be on the same route heading in his direction. He asked Lewis to pull into a MacDonald's.

Mean time in the customer's car the wife spied our van clearly marked. She said, "Oh, Look, there's the van for that shop in Kilmarnock that I love. Let's stop and say hello.

Lewis saw them approach and pulled one of the mirrors out from the van with a sign that said Happy Anniversary. You should have seen her face. He really made her anniversary.

Winner of Our Anniversary Give away!!!!

The winner is:

!!!!!!!!!!!!KALISTA AIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS KALISTA!!
YOU WIN THE DOROTHY DRAPER MIRROR

Seventh Anniversary!!!!!

We are celebrating seven years of business. It seems like yesterday and yet a life time ago too!
Over seven years ago my Dad called to say he had found a likely spot to start a business. My Mom called asking me to talk my dad out of buying this place. I went in open to both their ideas, but it did not take long for me to realize that my Father was right again. The building was huge 8,400 square feet. The roof leaked. The floors were filthy, and it was very cold inside and dark. We could only see the far back room with a flash light. It was in February. The plot span from Main Street to School Street. There was room for parking and a drive in the rear. There were two display windows. The roof had to be replaced, as did the heating and air conditioning system. All the walls needed paint, the electrical system needed checking. The floors were a mess. But what a space, and a prime location in our little town.
Dad had been in the art business for almost fifty years. I had been in the antique business for several years. The only immediate answer was to open an antique mall with a Gallery section up front. Dad only lived a year longer, but he fully enjoyed being in business again. My Mom has been with us the whole time acting as our official greeter. We are truly a family business.


We were strict requiring our dealers to actually have antiques. We followed this plan for six years. Last year after occupying more and more of the mall, we took the final plunge and made the decision to really become one large shop. It might not have seemed like a good idea in a poor economy to enlarge, but when times are tough sometimes are the best times to change. And change we did.

We got a loan. Lewis had studied the market, and was wise as to what his generation wanted. We jumped in buying with both feet. We had been on the web site Bond and Bowery for almost two years with our own items. This had worked fairly well for us allowing us to sell to people and designers across the country.
There was a flaw however, our name. We called ourselves Main Street Fine Art & Antiques. That was a great name for an Antique Mall, but not for an individual shop on line. So after much thought and consideration we changed our name to our names. My maiden name Lewis and our last name Trimble. Then we needed a catchy logo that's when our moon face came into being. In November we went with the prime web site 1stdibs and here we are thriving!!!!

All is Well That Ends Well

Lewis made it home last night. The worst traffic was around Washington D.C. who would have guessed. On the way back after having a wire fall in front of him, he has this weird thing happen.

He sees a man carrying a crowbar crossing the street looking suspicious. Lewis first thought was that the man was crazy and was about to hit some cars. He tried not to appear to be watching him. He wondered what was up. The man went over to a man hole and pried up the cover looked around to make sure the coast was clear then replaced the cover, lifted it up again, slipped down the man hole and pulled the cover back over his head. Yet another weird happening, Lewis managed to snapped a picture of him with out him noticing. Here it is.

Visiting Shops in Chicago

Lewis got to visit a lot of really great shops in Chicago. He makes it a point to visit 1stdibs shops whenever he can. He visited Assemblage Ltd. first. The above is of their shop.

Here is another interior shot of Assemblage with a great table.


The next shop that Lewis visited was Primitive Inc.


They have a lot of primitive pieces as well as great oriental and modern.


This last picture is of a large Peking glass collection. Tomorrow Lewis will visit another 1stdibs shop outside of Chicago.
Thanks for the pictures it's almost as good as being there. We look forward to your next installment.

There they go again!

Up and down they go.......Watch for our van! Creative Designs  did a great job on our Van.  People can see us coming and going.

China Trade

I have been buying and selling Chinese pottery for years. I had a Chinese friend who started bringing antiques out of the main land when they first opened up for trade. I was able to touch and study old pieces and began to understand how to tell the age of china. I purchased and sold pieces I really should have saved. Through the years we've acquired and sold many pieces. I remember selling online an unusual bowl with a bat wrapped around the outside.

Recently we have had a lot of Chinese nationals come into the shop to buy antique Chinese porcelains. They are buying these to ship back to be auctioned in China. They will haggle for the best price literally beating you into the ground. I have learned to give a little but to stand my ground. We have reserved a few real good pieces that we hide on the back shelf. Recently we sold an oxblood bottle jar that had a mummified bat inside. Bats are good luck in China. We think that this happened by accident. The fruit bat climbed inside and then could not spread his wings so he could fly out. Another piece that they bought was an 18th century scarificial blue vase with poetry written in gold on the exterior that was worn off. This had been made into a lamp in the twenties. We like to have a mixture of things. What we sell on 1stdibs is what people are buying now. Good design and quality are what we go for regardless of period. We like the Chinese antique pieces mixed in with the mid-century modern classics and good Murano glass.
We buy what we like, and we like what is good.

Brimfield In May

Nothing is so fine as a day in May, and nothing any finer than to be at the May Brimfield Antique show. All this coming week antiques take over the little town of Brimfield Massachusetts three times a year, however, the May show tends to be the biggest and the best of the year. These shows have been going on at least for 30 years. All winter long dealers from across the states save up and plan for the much anticipated May Show.

I call it a show, but it is a collection of many shows in one. I started attending these shows about 12 years ago with my oldest son Chris. We had just closed a small antique shop that we ran together, and had started doing antique shows on the road. A fellow antique dealer asked if we would share a tent with him. It was cold and wet that year, setting up was a real task. We stayed up all night before opening, and I swore that I'd never set up at another show. We did 3 shows that year, and for the next 8 years or so I helped Chris. It just ended up to be too much fun. We met so many great people. Lewis when he was working in New York City would take a train up to visit with us. Chris is still doing the shows. You can find him at the Meadows #148 across from the office and the coffee/bake shop. Stop by and tell him that we send you.

connect the dots

There definitely is a connection between the emergence of modern architecture and the concept of modern furniture. If you designed a building using new concepts and simple lines, what kind of furniture would go in a building like this? The answer would be either to consult with furniture designers or more simply design pieces to fit into your own buildings. This is what Gio Ponti did. Frank Lloyd Wright designed furniture to go into his homes he designed.
Frankl trained as an architect and was so influenced by the emergence of the sky scrapers that he designed furniture inspired by them. As a result designers began designing furniture with the new architecture in mind.

Who was Gio Ponti?

Pirelli Tower designed by Gio Ponti.



It's about time that I get back on track. We started this Blog to talk about and to learn about great designers of furniture, of the 20th century. I've been skipping about and side tracked about antiquing which is always a great distraction. What is more fun than going on the hunt, and spending money.
Gio Ponti, 1891-1979, a Italian Architect and Designer was a singular driving force in the development of modern design. Gio Ponti was the renaissance man of the 20th century. He designed skyscrapers and he painted frescoes, design china for Richard Ginori.

He published and edited "Domus" an Italian home magazine, where he show cased works by Fornasetti. He designed glass for Venini.
He designed The Billia lamp that looks modern, but was designed in 1932.

The Chairs were designed for an Italian Hotel by Gio Ponti.

http://www.1stdibs.com/furniture_item_detail.php?id=188652http://1stdibs.com/furniture_item_detail.php?id=375759

Pieces of furniture that he designed influence most of the modern 20th century furniture designers

Spring has come to the Northern Neck

Spring is here and time for spring cleaning! All winter long we have been buying trying to fill our shop with really nice pieces. We looked around and we were beginning to look like a ware house. Oops, that's not what we're about. Reorganizing 8,400 sq feet is not a little feat. We called in extra help. Lewis and our good friend Sara Grace are attempting the impossible. Already within hours there has been vast changes. Spaces have opened up and items rediscovered. They are redefining space and perhaps even time. Our Art Gallery section has been disbursed through out the building. You saw photos of the before in a previous blog. Here is a new photo of the cleaned up shop. Check out the difference! We still ave a few days work to do.

Here is a photo of our favorite greeter my Mom and Lewis' grandmother.

A Found Figure and Discovery

We picked up a clay figure of a girl glazed in bright happy colors. She definitely looked like the forties. We found another similar figure and by comparison we were able to determine that they were both by the artist Susi Singer. Who was Susi Singer? Today I tried to research her and was amazed at the story of an amazing woman that began to unfold.


Susi Singer was born in 1891 to a Austrian Jewish family. She suffered as a child from malnutrition related to World War I and the aftermath of that war. Although her body was malformed and she was frail she she won a scholarship, at age 17, to train at the Werner Werkstatte or the Vienna Workshops, established in 1903. This was a design group of visual artist who would produce work accessible to everyone. She worked here for 16 years. She was able to get a visa to the States enabling her to escape the Nazis and moved to California here she continued her art and even taught pottery sculpture. In 2005 the American Ceramic Museum gave her and another German woman artist an exhibit called Woman's Werk.

It is amazing what you can learn by doing a little research on a piece of pottery.

Congratulations Comer & Co.

We want to congratulate Fred and Mark at Comer & Co. on becoming one of the 1stdibs family. We are very proud to have such a nice neighbors both in town and on 1stdibs. In fact outside of D.C. and Northern Va. we have more shops on 1stdibs than any other town or for that matter city in Va.. Can you imagine that little old Kilmarnock on the Northern Neck of Va. has two shops on 1stdibs.

Visiting Comer & Co. is a real treat both to the eye and the senses. He has french bees wax candles, and soaps by Seda France as well as a wonderful selection of Antiques.

Fred is an excellent buyer in fact Mark says sometimes he's too good a buyer. As you can see they have managed to fill their shop with some of the most wonderful pieces.

We feel as though we complement each other. In fact we both welcome any other wonderful antique shops that would like to join our company.
They also carry the ever stunning Christopher Spitzmiller lamps, and delightful Charlotte Moss candles and accessories. I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures of their shop and will come visit us both in person.

Visiting

Yesterday Lewis returned home after 3 days of traveling and buying on the road. It is always so much fun to unpack. He arrived just before closing yesterday so that M.J. our faithful helper could see all the loot. He discovered a lot of great places to shop.

A shop that he enjoyed visiting was D.H.S . Designs. He recognized some of their items and realized they were on 1Stdibs. He took some photos of their shop to share with you. They have some really fantastic things. They are located in Queenstown, Maryland also on 1stdibs.


The Hippo is by Sergio Bustamante. This is no baby Hippo he is about 3' or 4' and out of papier mache.


It is always nice to see what other shops carry. Everyone is different. In the case of this shop in the most wonderful way.
They even have this fabulous Fornasetti table.