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My review of the Winter Show remains incomplete without talking about some of the help I received in getting to the show whole, and ready to do battle. My primary restorer, Swavek of Voyche Restoration in Pound Ridge, NY was and is invaluable to me. A more amenable and accessible person would be hard to find and he truly loves a challenge so I am never afraid of giving him something that he has never approached before. In addition, there is my gilder, Jim Williams who has been working on mirrors for me for quite some time. Jim in his early career briefly trained with a man called Glen Beckford, a Jamaican who I knew from my days at the London College of Furniture in the early 1970's. Glen was working for Mike Baker, a gilder who understood the aesthetics of gilding as well as anyone in his day. Ergo, I feel an attachment to Jim that, despite his brief tenure with Glen, goes back to my earliest days in the business. Lastly, there is Amanda Coe, an upholsterer who went to England to learn upholstery as I did to learn restoration. She did a superb job on my pair of gilded chairs on the stand which are as pretty a pair of chairs you will ever see. (They're by Chippendale.)
It isn't just the people who work for me that make the fair easier to deal with, it is also friends who come to say hello. I was very lucky to get one of my old employees this year to work with me on opening night. I also had a friend and fellow dealer there, which makes life a whole lot easier. And then there were my walking buddies who I see at 5AM in the morning in Central Park. And this year I enjoyed a minor miracle of family drop ins beginning with both my daughter, Alice, who does yeoman's work for me getting my Instagram going, my cards printed and so much more, and my son, Henry who stopped off for a few hours between his flights from Miami and his home to London. In addition, three of my nieces came by, two with husbands and kids and lastly, the younger of my two (older) brothers and his wife showed after setting up their own booth at the Javits Center for a trade show.
I can't tell you how supportive it is to see friends and family at this kind of event. Once you're set up, the events aren't hard to do, but they are boring and the one thing I really don't like is to be bored. You can't read a book and you need to be aware of the passing crowd. I am not good at doing that and so there is a certain amount of stress that I am under wanting to talk to people about what was on display. I give enormous kudos to those people who know how to sell, know how to engage and get people going--I think I need to get one of my nieces who is super engaging to help me make contact. I might add that the show manager, Helen Allen, and her supra capable staff make life at the show far more bearable than it was fifteen years ago. If you haven't been to the show and the world is still spinning next January and I am doing it, please take advantage of my offer of a free ticket and visit. You will enjoy it and I might enlist you to engage a few of the passers by for me and make a sale.
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