Check out their website here.  I stole a couple of photos from it to give you a taste of what they do:

And don’t forget to come to the show!

Here are the details:

The Albany Show at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church

Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13th and 14th 2009.   Hours:  Friday from 11-7 and Saturday from 10-4.  The address is 440 Whitehall Road, Albany NY.

Click here for a map.

Be sure to check back here in the next few days for updates and pictures of our show merchandise.

This show has a fine, long-standing reputation but is in need of an overhaul.  Our partner in Warren Street Antiques, Tom Jardas, has taken over management and promotion of the event and is working hard to take a good show and make it better.  (That’s why he asked us to come — haha, just kidding.)

I am busy trying to decide what to bring.  We love carrying such an eclectic mix of merchandise, but it does make it challenging sometimes to decide which facets of Tandem Antiques to include in a display.  In other words, we have a hard time editing.

I have decided that we are not going to do much country at this show.  At some of our summer antique shows we love to display lots of early paint and such, but I don’t think that’s the look I want here.  I’m aiming for refined Victorian all the way through elegant mid-century modern.  But don’t worry – it won’t be as stuffy as it sounds.  There will definitely be Tandem quirk in evidence.  And perhaps just a little country thrown in for texture.  (See — no ability to edit.)

Over the next few days I thought it would be fun to give you a sneak peek into our merch for the show.  As I get stuff sorted, cleaned and organized (don’t laugh, those of you who know me well) I’ll take some pictures for you.  It will be a little like getting into the show early — and hopefully encourage you to attend!

Here are the details:

The Albany Show at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church

Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13th and 14th 2009.   Hours:  Friday from 11-7 and Saturday from 10-4.  The address is 440 Whitehall Road, Albany NY.

Click here for a map.

Stay tuned for more posts and preview pictures about this upcoming show here in the next week!

Here are some pics:

I don’t know the original purpose of these hooks, but I know what I would do with them (if I had higher ceilings.)  In a loft or country barn-type environment, I would suspend them near the door for coats.  It would almost appear to be floating – jackets hanging with nothing underneath them.  Or I would hang them over a kitchen island and load them up with pots.  What would you use them for?

Our good friend Mary moved to Georgia last year.  We miss her a lot, but we are doing a pretty good job of keeping in touch (with the exception that she really needs me to take more pictures of my boys, and everyone knows I fail in that department!)  Mary is not far from Atlanta, and last week she drove over and checked out the monthly Scott Antique Markets.  It sounds like quite the shopping experience – two large exhibition spaces on either side of the interstate, with shuttles running back and forth.  Perhaps her favorite discovery was a dealer named Margaret Meier from Florida, who specializes in vintage fabrics.

Mary called me from the show, and together with the dealer we picked out a couple of pieces of this fantastic homespun that is woven from a combination of cotton and linen.  I received them, with much anticipation, on Tuesday.  The larger piece, an 8-foot table runner, has a nubby texture and a stripe of such a dark blue it is almost black.  It is fabulously rough and elegant at the same time.  The smaller hand towel is a finer weave and features a red stripe and a charming embroidered monogram.   I am excited to use them as accent pieces in show displays, and on my table for a festive fall dinner.

With her permission, here are some of the photos Mary took at Ms. Meier’s booth:

]]> http://tandemantiques.com/2009/10/22/european-homespuns-for-me-by-way-of-atlanta/feed/ 1 http://tandemantiques.com/2009/10/22/european-homespuns-for-me-by-way-of-atlanta/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TandemAntiquesAndDesign/~3/Tbf_lODNajk/ http://tandemantiques.com/2009/10/16/modernism-in-the-ancient-world/#comments Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:22:28 +0000 http://tandemantiques.com/?p=464 Where are the true roots of modern design?  My formal art education is somewhere between lacking and non-existent, but sometimes that is a good thing.  It frees me to stumble upon my own little revelations of culture and form with joy, instead of having them covered (as I’m sure they would have been) in some sophomore level art history course.

We went to the Met last week.  Need I say more?  This was our sons’ 2nd trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art – our way of exposing them to beauty and history, cramming it in between the Pokemon and Zach & Cody in their little brains.  And they like it – after all, they have mummies there, what’s not to like?

As we wandered through the Chinese and Japanese sections I was stopped in my tracks by this little piece:

He is a pectoral, or chest ornament, in the form of a leopard made of gold and inset with turquoise.  He originates from Northern China and dates to … the 6th century BC.  Look at the form.  How insanely modern is he?  Do you see what I am saying?  If this piece was presented to me as Scandinavian and dating from the early to mid 20th century – I would believe it.  This was a total ah-ha moment for me.  (You may chuckle condescendingly here, if you wish.)

So then I started looking, scanning for forms that drew my eye with their simplicity and sleekness.  And I did find more.  This horse ornament is also Chinese, dating to the 7th c BC.  If someone told you this was a Georg Jensen design, would you doubt it?

Almost all of these photos were taken through glass or plexi, so the quality is not what I would have liked.  Here are a few more examples, moving into the Egyptian section of the museum (mummies, don’t you know?)

There you have it, my big discovery of the week.  Apparently there is no end (or beginning) to simplicity and what I think of as modernism in human design.  It goes way back.  No wonder it tugs at us the way it still does today.   And, by the way, I think education is wonderful, and art education doubly wonderful.  If I sounded snarky, I’m probably just jealous.

Steven found a wonderful Hans Wegner J-16 rocking chair for sale in a little weekend place in the Catskills, and bought it.  That filled him with glee.  We took it to our shop in Hudson for a while, but it did not sell so we brought it home.  I wanted to put it in the online shop attached to this site, so I took lots of pictures of it.  And then I tweeted:

“Photographed stuff yesterday for the online shop – Hans Wegner rocking chair and fabulous industrial ceiling hook. Happy w/the pics.”

No big deal.  Not a Twitter marketing campaign, or even a link to anything.  I would have posted a link to the shop listing eventually, but I wasn’t there yet.  Just one update among many on the activities of my life and work.

And then I got a direct message, asking if I would divulge the price of the chair.  So I did, and offered to email pictures.  He said sure, send pictures.  So I did, and he and his wife offered to buy the chair.  And they did.  It never made it into my online shop at all.  The power of Twitter at work – casual, almost effortless, but effective.

The other half of this happy equation is Scott Lindberg – @SllabStudios on TW and the author of a well-written and interesting blog called ars longa – described as “a journal of fine arts, modernist design, and thrift shop archaeology.”  An appropriate new home for our iconic rocking chair.

Between the initial Twitter communication and Scott and his wife’s receipt of their new chair, was a crazy and educational week in which I researched how to get this sizable piece from upstate NY to IL without breaking the bank, and Steve packed and boxed it so it could travel without breaking the chair!  I learned a lot about shipping services and options, and I also learned that when you saw blocks of styrofoam it makes an incredible mess!

When you have a package that is too big for FedEx or UPS to handle, you have to get creative.  In the end, we put the chair on the bus.  Greyhound Package Express is a cool service, costing far less than any other shipper I spoke with, and delivering the goods in fine shape.  They do not quote or guarantee a delivery time, so it only works in situations without a tight deadline, but otherwise I found them easy to deal with and extremely reasonable.

So you see, it is a nice story with a happy ending.  And the moral is: Twitter is good for us, and facilitates connections, relationships and even commerce with people of similar interests that we might never have met or connected with otherwise.  To see what I mean, follow me here: @tandemantiques.

** update 10/13/09:  Scott posted about the chair and our transaction over on his site, here.  Check it out.

We took the boys to the city for the first time last December, and really had a wonderful time.  We took in the Christmas show at Radio City, the Museum of Natural History and the Met.  But it was cold, and sometimes hard to pick your face up out of your scarf to really see the sights.  I think early October is a terrific time to visit New York – not hot, not too cold.  Crisp and brisk and just right for walking.

We will drive to Poughkeepsie tomorrow morning and take the train into Grand Central.  We could drive all the way in, but it would make my wonderful husband cranky, and that’s no way to begin an adventure.  We can walk to our hotel from the train and get settled, with plenty of time to venture out again for sightseeing and dinner.

Then Tuesday we can amuse ourselves during the day, have an early supper and get ready for the play.  I’m embarrassed  to admit that even though I lived in the city for almost 10 years, I have never seen a production on Broadway.  I’m probably much more excited than the kids!  Then Wednesday we can do any last-minute activities still on the list, make a leisurely exit from metropolis and head home to the mountains.  It will be a short expedition, but special and fun nonetheless.  Wish us luck, and I’ll report back here in a few days.

Steven and I did the Fall Schoharie Antiques Show this past weekend, in Schoharie NY.  (That’s sko-hair-ee.  I was confused at first too.)  This is the counterpart to the show we do there in March, and also sponsored by the Schoharie County Historical Association.  This is also one of the two shows we do each year with Steve’s parents, Deb and Carl Eklund.

The show is set on the grounds of an historical site, and held both outdoors under tents and in the buildings.  We could not have ordered up a nicer early fall weekend, and we enjoyed sunshine and perfect temperatures.  We also enjoyed an excellent turnout of attendees and brisk business.  Really, we had a great show – the best we’ve ever had at the Fall event.  And it was fun, full of old friends both among the dealers and the customers.  When you’ve done a show for a number of years you recognize so many of the faces that come through.

We sold big things and small things – cupboards (three), tables & stands (three), open shelves (two) and more; as well as glass, china, jewelry, wooden implements and stoneware.  This is still primarily a country show, and that is what we highlighted.  No chrome and lucite in our booth this weekend!  We keep that stuff under wraps when we’re around the country folk.  Shhh…

One aspect of the weekend was bittersweet as we all felt the absence of Lucia Colwell, known as the Quilt Lady, who passed away in May.  Lucy had been an antiques dealer, and highly respected quilt specialist, for many years and it was hard to see her corner space filled by someone else.  Steve and I are thankful that we knew her – she was so encouraging to us as we grew in this business, and set a terrific example of bringing energy and passion to everything she did.

On Sunday afternoon Lucy’s daughter, son and other family members came to the show.  We gathered and Lucy’s longtime friend and fellow dealer Claire Dounoucos read a piece she wrote about her friend’s life.  We then popped some bottles of champagne, drank a tearful toast or two, and let off a bunch of bright colored balloons in her honor.  Lucy had a long and rich life, and her health was beginning to trouble her.  So its okay, in a way.  But we miss her.

With all that said, the weekend was a success.  And next Sunday, we do it again at the Lake Side Farms Antique Show.  This is the one that our oldest son, Anderson, does with us.  (Read about last year’s show here.)  He has been shopping and stocking up in anticipation, and we hope for a fun and profitable day for everyone.  See you there!

Oh, and I added another pooch to our special Tandem style of dog rescue.  I bought him from Claire, and he is French and wonderful!  I’ll get some pictures taken and share them here soon.

But I wanted to share with you one of Steven’s recent finds, and the newest addition to our collection of dog-related treasures.  This guy is a fabulous antique yellow ware dog, with a Rockingham glaze.  He stands an imposing 12 inches tall including the base.

Isn’t he wonderful?  You can’t tell from the photos, but he has taken a few knocks in his 150 or so years.  Down the road I think some professional restoration will be in order for him – he’s definitely worth it.  But in the meantime he has a safe and loving home here with us, in a family of dog paintings, carvings and figures.  A different kind of dog rescue – Tandem style.

I was on the porch, trying to figure out what to do with that pile, and it occurred to me how much we are drawn to surface.  It doesn’t matter what the thing is – if it has interesting texture, patina, color, paint, rust – we’re in love.   I took some pictures for you, out there on the porch.  It was more fun than actually sorting and moving the merch.  Some of the photos are up close enough that you may not be able to tell what the object is.  I did that on purpose.

By the way, I sure hope this surface-love of ours does not translate over into the personal/interpersonal.  I don’t think we are particularly shallow…though some of you who know us well may beg to differ.  If so, please do not leave a comment below.  Ignorance really is bliss.