My chair, sadly, isn’t speaking to me anymore. I think it was because I admitted to liking the Barcelona chair during a conversation. The response to my observation was, “such a light weight”, and I haven’t heard a word since. I expect that I shall hear from it again, but mum is the word at the moment so I will have to find either another subject or correspondent to fill my blog.
The International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show is currently on in the Armory and Haughton Fairs has done a predictably good job at making the fair look great. How much environment plays into people actually purchasing things is not something that anyone has ever determined. I know from experience, however, that some people will only visit dealers at fairs.
And, in the case of my shop, I can understand why. The building I am in is being converted to condominiums and the place looks like a construction site. I agreed with the landlord to cede my back door in order to get an entrance directly off the street which I hope will benefit me. In the meantime, there is some re-configuration of my current shop and it is noisy and messy as you might imagine.
The number of English antique furniture shops has dwindled dramatically in the last ten years, but many more in England than in America. This is due to a number of reasons, but the most alarming one is the dearth of things available to buy. Currently, there are dealers in England buying blind in America which is an extraordinary turn of affairs. No sensible antique dealer buys from a photograph. It just isn’t something to do because a photo can vary so tremendously from the real thing.
If my chair were speaking to me, I would make a stab at what it might say which is that fads and fashions come and go, but that the real thing reveals itself because it withstands the test of time. It would also add that if the English furniture business is under siege, the reasons are not to do with the style of it, it has to do with people taking the time to understand it. Certainly, I am having a hard time understanding my chair, but then, it is the only talking chair I know.