(A Very Late) Brimfield Wrap-Up

My office-of-one has been non-stop since the Brimfield Tweetup but, little by little, I’ve been working on my post and photos.  The Tweetup was a fun way to be introduced to a whole new world, filled with interior designers, decorators, design and fashion bloggers plus fashion & retail professionals, buyers and the media.  My journalist self qualified me as the latter but I was curious as to where my studio work might fit in.  No matter which category I hope to fit in the future, I realized that I was brand new to it all.  I have a feeling I looked nervous because host Cynthia Bogart of The Daily Basics gave me a few words of advice: “Everyone starts somewhere and I’m very glad to see you today.”

The Tweetup tent was a gorgeous home-base, designed by Shane Inman of Chicago’s The Inman Company.  Sponsors Benjamin Moore Paints, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, Company C and Aubuchon Hardware filled the tent with eye candy and swag goodies.  (Yes, I was that girl who took sandpaper, chip brushes, blue painter tape and a tote bag…)  Canada’s Style At Home magazine was the media partner with the super smart business card drop to pick the cover of the next issue.  I so want that magazine in my mailbox each month…I now know how Canadians feel when they want American magazines.

Everyone was friendly and, before I knew it, I was striking up shop-talk conversations with Barbara Elza Hirsch, Jessica Gordon Ryan and Raina Kattelson.  I ran into Gretchen Aubuchon, host #2 and founder & editor in chief of Fashion + Decor, quite by accident. She was carrying this fantastic vintage fashion poster of a Mad Men-era gal with ice cream cone that totally knocked my socks off.  I met Tyler Wisler of HGTV’s DesignStar at the end of the day during the Robert Allen Design wrap-up party.  He showed me his best find of the day: a tiny, collapsible telescope for his son.

Warren Bobrow, aka the “Cocktail Whisperer”, made me two special drinks.  He started my morning of antiques spotting with what he calls “Corrected Coffee” and recharged my afternoon with Croft Pink Porto on the rocks.  Let’s hope that good man of a mixologist remembers to send me a bottle when it finally hits the market this summer.  I’ve decided to replace water with this drink!

When I actually did leave the Tweetup tent, I wandered around the grounds with Chris from Bowiesongs and my favorite professional sign artists, Kerri and Steve.  We had a game plan and made a good dent in our map but it was all so overwhelming.  I even ran into people that I knew, which seemed crazy seeing as how there were a kazillion attendees there that day.  Best yet was seeing all the neat pieces, most of the ones I wanted would have required a semi-trailor to transport them (see the 20+ foot French apothecary below) and a place for them that wasn’t my tiny little 1940s house.  Kerri and Steve have a factory loft so, trust me, I was plotting re-doing their digs…

I bought my mom her Mother’s Day present, a stoneware crock jug, and did so well haggling with the guy that he asked if he could hire me to purchase for him.  What can I say?  It’s a gift, similar to my being able to spot fake Hitchcock furniture from a mile away.  Chris had to remind me that I didn’t need that antique horse stall or a six-foot yellow Lee Riders sign.  It’s not my fault I have a penchant for all things equestrian…or that say cowboy pants!

Chris, as always, found records and I found farm tables, chairs with old stamps from Duchess, beautiful vintage dresses and strange books like “Little Mexican Donkey Boy”.  There was that entire field of industrial everything that my tired trio had to pull me away from…portholes and plane jump seats, anyone?

Kerri found letterpress alphabets in the same tent as the chocolate molds, which I really wanted to buy for Lagusta, my vegan chocolatier friend in New Paltz.  There was an elephant mold that I will own someday.  I first found it last July and it was still there for this trip.  If it’s there in July, it’s mine and meant to be.

You can see the rest of my photos from Brimfield on Flickr.  There’s some nice ones, like the $190 elaborately colored mustard box (which the woman tried her hardest to sell me), a buttery-soft green leather couch with a growth problem, and a very cool Arabian-inspired wall piece handpicked by new friend Hilary Eklund of Tandem Antiques.  I didn’t get a photo of the Japanese mail bag totes because they wouldn’t let me because they thought I was someone from Anthropologie’s steal-tanks.  Oh, people, I just appreciate good design.

Want to read more about Brimfield?  Check out the Tweetup’s blogpost list called Antiques Found! and the #Brimfield Pinterest page.  I’ll be back to Brimfield in July and definitely back for the Tweetup again in September.  Can’t wait to see everyone again!