There are immeasurable challenges with the concept and creation of a representative organization that would serve a genuine purpose and function for decorative and fine arts dealers.  Dialogue is one thing but a membership with an awareness of its needs has to have leadership and direction.  A meaningful organization must have a membership that can coalesce around issues that need to be clear, identifiable, and attainable goals. Simple to say, but membership in this industry is pretty hard to quantify and standardize.  Perhaps a starting point would be to at least have a state issued resale certificate and or a designation as some sort of second hand dealer.  I think…

I lived in New York City in the summer of 1969, as a college student between my freshman and sophomore year; it was also the first of three summers that I would be working at Newel, the firm my grandfather founded in 1939.  I had worked as a lifeguard the summer before in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where I grew up, but this would be a summer like no other. Of course there was Woodstock and those incredible evening concerts in Central Park, which previewed many of those who performed at that great event.  Concerts at the Fillmore East were experiences of iconic performers and Greenwich Village was filled with…

There was a time when we (and may other fine dealers) would supply interior designers with phenomenal loads of great antiques and decorative furnishing for display at the Kips Bay Designer Show House.  It was a showcase where interiors were created to inspire one to the finest in taste, style, and quality.  None of those last 3 adjectives describes how I would classify this week’s opening of this esteemed event. It is not to say that there isn’t talent, but if something wasn’t of the contemporary nature or “faux” edgy, it would not have a place in this Show.  Not only were there barely any items over 100 years old,…

For a dealer, the consignment option has equal if not more value than to an auctioneer.  Consigned inventory is controlled inventory, and how you sell it depends upon a liquidation time frame. There are many options that dealers could offer, like being a conduit for consignors to the technology of 1st Dibs while also offering professional vetting and service.  It’s also probably a lot cheaper than doing the show circuit too. I must confess that I have been “there and back again” over the history of technology and the Internet, as the web has been littered with good attempts to be the eBay of better quality decorative and fine arts.…

Wake up and smell the roses, and how many different colors for the same smell.  The decorative arts too have so many designs and forms that all showcase human development.  I can’t image being overly specialized or minimalized with what I might be living with in my home or office.  Perhaps those two environments might compete with a car or other form of transportation, but the home can and should be a place to exhibit an open and creative mind. When you go to museums like the Metropolitan, Louvre, or the V&A, you are exposed to so many diverse forms of human creativity.  Just recognizing a phenomenon in nature is…

This coming Tuesday, Newel is celebrating Jim Aman and John Meeks at “Open House NYC” and Newel’s re-launch Anniversary, and what a show we are having!  Jim and John are combining their talents to create two special windows that ooze with style, taste, and a creative mix of our inventory.  Funny, when they each did their own window for our first re-launch opening both had that same electricity.  Oh, and did I mention the showroom? Guy Regal and the collective team at Newel are using the extra large Crayola color box of fine and decorative arts at hand in the warehouse to imagine: “What if?” As I surveyed the items…

The split between the worlds of antique furniture and the decorative arts verse the fine arts of the 20th Century, seems pretty dramatic.  One works well with the buyer’s premium imposed on the buyer, perhaps one might work better with just adhering to a seller’s commission. The decorative arts were never mean to evolve into a premium induced revenue source.   With the enormous glut of furniture in the decorative arts, taking a good guaranteed income of 20-25% (plus those optional expenses like photo and insurance) would make auctioneers hero’s to dealers and the general public.  If I remember correctly, that’s how auctions use to operate for both the decorative…

If any industry represented the total opposite of New Age technology, it must be the decorative arts, far ahead of the fine arts.  In the decorative arts, the Sotheby’s/Christie’s duopoly look as tired as their “fellow” dealers, no easy buck in either format.  So where will a start-up attitude ever come from this present industry situation. Welcome to Newel, and now let’s have some real fun!  But the reality is that Newel is an old company, started in 1938 and is still doing the same things it did back then.  We have almost seventy five years of rental experience but precious few knowing how to understand a market that has…

During the last ten to fifteen years, the decorative arts have slowly caught up to the Fine Arts’ insatiable appetite for the 20th Century.  A generation of consumers has been fed a steady diet of this period and an older generation is downsizing into it.  Our industry’s avoidance of any counterbalance towards other styles and periods are problematic and marginalized at best.  Perhaps it might be a good idea to start afresh, with a new approach to a new generation of young people. For instance, my son Jake has now worked at Newel for several years and at the tender age of 24 understands the need to develop a future…

There is no better way to understand the state of being a decorative arts dealer than going out and visiting their shops.  Each one is an island unto itself, with the proprietor and his staff (hopefully) available to show the inventory and (hopefully) engage in a conversation about “the trade”.   However as an industry, they should be speaking with one voice that can clearly articulated and implement a fresh image and promote more business.  Sales + marketing = public perceived success.  Throw in an effective lobbyist, and maybe things would happen. What got me to thinking about this dealer dilemma was an article on MSNBC about the influence of American…