We’ve embarked on our Summer Sale, something that I annually look forward to, and not just for the influx of a bit of the ready at a time of year when our cash flow is at a low ebb. Well, maybe the money is the thing I most look forward to, but the increased contact with people who visit us primarily during sale time is a good thing, too, as are the concomitant comments.
I’ll try to leave the alliteration alone, but suffice to say something we’ve heard annually for as long as we’ve had our Summer Sale is the sorrow at the decreased level of interest in decorating with period furniture, in preference for other styles. And we’ve for just as long had the same rejoinder, that with the preference for internet shopping, anyone with money to spend is spoiled for choice. Not just period material, but things as far afield as the vague looks-like- but- far- from -is offerings proffered by Pottery Barn and Wayfair.
But the fact is, in our efforts to market we may be functioning to extend these condolence comments in the use of period vignettes, trying as we do to give some sort of context to the items we offer. As we will often have as many as ten different pieces- one or two large furniture items, ‘fluffed’ with say 7 or 8 decorative items- it does perforce give some kind of overdone, Victorianized feel to what it is we sell. Our alternative, and one we try to integrate into our marketing efforts from time to time, is featuring a single item, but I have to say we do this judiciously, as the result can often times seem very stark and sterile.
Beyond just saying so, it is difficult to communicate to prospective buyers that in fact most of our material goes to homes that will utilize just one, or maybe at most a handful of period pieces integrated into what is easily recognizable as a contemporary interior. There are likewise a handful of interior designers that can successfully pull this off, but rather than naming names and risk offending those I did not name, I would suggest picking up World of Interiors, the Conde Nast shelter magazine published in England that has habitually done a masterful job of using period and contemporary materials in its editorial and ad features.
For us, though, with a limited access to Philip Johnson or le Corbusier designed homes in which we can deploy and photograph for promotional purposes our stock in trade, we’ve attempted over the last few months to stay abreast of social media, and more importantly, to provide a virtual Johnson -Corbusier matrix through the design of our own website. Will this ameliorate the inadvertent effect of vignettes? Time will tell of course, but of whatever stripe or context, we welcome all comments, even those unaccompanied by cash.