Friday, April 29, 2011

visiting Tony Kitz Gallery

One of my favorite vendors (and fellow designer friends) to visit is Tony Kitz Gallery.  Tony Kitz Gallery offers a large selection of antique and contemporary carpets, custom made pillows, accessories that are always changing (he has small, knit Ethiopian children’s hats right now!) and one of a kind, fine art textiles that are works of art.  Upon walking in the door, you immediately are met with this rich smell of earthy goodness…the old wools and threads of these nomadic pieces.  I LOVE this smell….is that weird?

Tony always takes the time to talk to you about the origin of his carpets, pointing out interesting facts about non-descript illustrations on the carpets, “Oh, those are pomegranates?  I had NO idea…”….. He literally is an encyclopedia of information and it is his delivery of this information that takes whatever insecurities you may have of not knowing exactly what makes an antique carpet a really GREAT antique carpet.  He doesn’t care if you mistake a Sultanabad for an Oushak or a Tabriz for a Khotan.


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furniture from Monument throughout...

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and he rides scooters!

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an example of a "new" Khotan made with antique wools...beautiful.

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Resist-dyed indigo on cotton Ndop cloth from Cameroon, West Africa. Circa 1920-1930.
This were hung in huts as decoration, used as clothing or to demarcate royal ritual spaces.  I think this would look fabulous framed and hung above a sofa in a really clean, slick, modern space.



rugs in spaces:

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Gokhan Avcioglu shot by Erik Johnson.

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Tony's pick for the soundtrack for this tribal visual, is the equally colorful and diverse:

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Boy George ala Karma Chameleon, 'natch. 

(all shots of TKG shot by moi)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

stoppin' in at BIG DADDY antiques

I was looking at a blog post by Kelly Wearstler's last night where she is shown shopping in one of my favorite spots to pop into in Los Angeles - Liz's Antique Hardware.  Besides having fabulous people that work there (Woody - 'natch), they always have something that you didn't even know you needed.  Often I would find amazing hardware without even having the piece to put the darn things on!  When I worked for Lori Erenberg we would 99% of the time spec their vintage and antique hardware for new built-ins - thus giving these new pieces character right off the bat.  


Where am I going with this?  Well, while browsing K-Dog's interior photos of LAH, I thought about all the wonderful showrooms I am exposed to on a daily basis and I thought y'all might like to virtually  experience a few spots that I find inspirational and fascinating....sound good?  Okay, good.


First up, lets look at Big Daddy Antiques.  14,000 square feet (ummmm...their LA store is 42,000 square feet......) of crusty goodness.  What I am calling "crusty goodness" is kindof all the rage right now...degraded farm tables with iron bases, mismatched baskets, vintage rusted old pails from fish markets, birdcages (love!!), etc......mixing it with new glossy Verner Panton chairs, new upholstered leather club chairs, etc.  It's fun, funky, very interesting and maybe too much ALL at once, but I think BDA's message is more of showing how you can take the architectural misfits (old capitals, doors, stone troughs) and mix them in with your new, more contemporary objects.  


On another note regarding BDA, two of my uber-fab interior designer girlfriends - Amanda Teal and Rebecca Loewke - recently shot a spread there for Matchbook Magazine. The article is super cute and so are they!



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Photobucketrattan and quilted chaise.  hello, rad.


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doggy carnival ride....love.

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column in the back is beautiful and those sconces are fab.


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i love that all their HUGE birdcages have these sweet cooing doves in them....so romantic.

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imagine retrofitting these doors into your pool cabana dressing rooms...!

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And the soundtrack for your happy hunting would have to be Big Bad Voodoo Daddy...of course!


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