the energy of objects

good morning dear friends! it’s a bright brand new sunday and i hope you’re enjoying a wonderful wekend.  it’s a special day over here, after months of prep (one of the reasons i’ve been MIA), we’re having a tastemaker tag sale on one king’s lane! it starts at 11 am and the link is here: https://www.onekingslane.com/sales/23884

as you may know, i’ve been in a minimilst phase for the past year or so and have been scaling back in all aspects of my life. after having ‘the paris apartment’ for (gasp)! 20 years this year, i’m finally ready to say i’ve tried pretty much everything i’ve wanted to do in my career and now want to refine it to doing the things i truly enjoy.

putting this sale together reminded me of my true passion and why i got into this business to begin with. i adore the past. yes i love my technology too but i’m as obsessed as ever about the way we were able to operate before we had the help of anything but pencil and wit.

as all of you antique and vintage lovers know, there’s an energy we get just from being around old objects. my frend ellen talks about ‘wabi sabi’ when referring to how so many of us feel about (supposedly) inanimate objects. i looked it up just now and got this from wikipedia: wabi sabi connotes rustic simplicity, freshness or quietness, and can be applied to both natural and human-made objects, or understated elegance. It can also refer to quirks and anomalies arising from the process of construction, which add uniqueness and elegance to the object. Sabi is beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of the object and its impermanence are evidenced in its patina and wear, or in any visible repairs.

as i’m getting ready for the girls to come over, i’m quietly going through the apartment and collecting the pieces i’ve been enjoying so much on my own nightstand and on the cocktail table and photographing them in the early sunlight. each one must have had a special energy  to all come together and make up the collection we’re unvelilng today. i was just going through some of the items that are going up for sale and realizing that i’m going to miss some of them! i’ll give you a preview:

my obsession has always been all things boudoir and the relationships between people. this little book is in english and one i’ve been meaning to read since the day i got it. maybe i can read it in one sitting tonight!

i picked up this university book in paris and have leafed through it almost every day for a year.  it never ceases to amaze me with what’s inside. drawings of interiors, jewelry, household accessories, everything that was de rigueur for a student to know about french design…

i adore the old calalogs from au bon marche, gallerie lafayette and au louvre! thank heavens someone knew to save them, what do we save today, and  what’s worth saving?

these are receipts from beauty treatments in parisian spas from 1920. would we keep these today? someone knew how beautfiul and special they were!

i will truly miss some of these one of a kind pieces. candy is off at school this semester taking CAD and learning how to design furniture. i found these hand drawn pencil renderings in paris and had them framed. i have studies their intricacy and delicacy and will never get over the detail, creativity and lasting design they continue to have today!

i love the notes, the stamps, the numbering, the tiny basket of flowers on the back of the chair!

ooop! that’s the first knock on the door, i could go on and on but lisa is here to make some boxes so i’m off to play hostess and start the coffee. hope you enjoy the sale!!