I seriously advise you to see this!

Lars Sjöberg, who most of you probably know about, is on TV tonight!
It´s a documentary made by IngaLill Snitt; the photographer who has collaborated with Lars on so many projects, most recently the book " Nio hus och en kyrka", see below, and it is also the basis for the film. The book is available in English.
Thank God for passionate people!


Photo by IngaLill Snitt

The book is absolutely wonderful and it manages to capture the essence of this passion for old buildings and antiques that is not about value or stylish interiors but a deeply felt interest in history and origin.


Photo by IngaLill Snitt


Photo by IngaLill Snitt

Don´t miss it! Neither the book or the program!

Here is the link to SVT:
http://svt.se/2.123486/1.2240670/en_kompass_mot_skonhet?lid=puff_2249238&lpos=lasMer

Also if you haven´t read my post named "If this was a person, we would be friends", please do to get my take on this passion for antiques.

http://sofieodmann.blogspot.com/2010/03/if-this-was-person-we-would-be-friends.html

I have started collecting...

Over the years we have had some fantastic single rococo chairs, all slightly different and in different shades of that beautiful rococo yellow color.
And it dawned on me that if i had kept them for myself I would have had an amazing set by now!
So it´s time for me to start my own collection and these two are my first.
The pale one is by rare Stockholm chairmaker Carl Sandberg, and it´s actually a transition model with some baroque elements in the design. The other one is darker with a very rich yellow almost orange tone and it´s also from Stockholm but I haven´t figured out by whom yet.

A glimpse at the shop in October..

This is what´s on display in my window at the moment: A composition with some of my personal favorites!
On the left is a fantastic handpainted wallpaper with a fantasy landscape inspired by China and Turkey. The bench is very beautiful with great carvings and bluish grey original paint. On top of it are two Marieberg faiances; a basket shaped bowl (not allowed for export) and a magnificent large plate. Then comes a ladies mirror with original paint and underneath are my favorite pair of 18th century slippers and a handpainted tole tray with a motive from the Bay of Naples.
To the right is an armchair with carvings like nothing I have ever seen before, also in original paint, of course and on the seat are a pair of exquisite parisian coffee cups and to the far right a gorgeous Gustavian canopy (I think it´s called?)

This little mirror you have seen before but it is so photogenic that I use it all the time in different still lifes! It´s from the home of a collector and probably from the Swedish island Gotland. The condition is all original and just the way I like it. And reflected in the glass you can see one of a pair of rococo pewter candle sticks and the background are one of three wall panels saved from a rococo house torn down in the 70´s.

The shop is really small which makes it very difficult to photograph as the shots tend to look very messy, but this will have to do...
Under a late empire chandelier is one of a set of four Gustavian chairs in fantastic condition. On the also Gustavian drop leaf table are some Wedgewood plates, a Rörstrand urn, some very nice pewter candle sticks, 18th century glass and a spiral carafe.

My favorite late baroque table, also from the home of a collector. Just look at the painting in gold on that leg! The box is also great, dated 1820 and from Västergötland.

This dear little painting is probably Dutch and depicts ladies (!) and gentlemen at leisure fishing.
On the chair is a lime stone box meant for butter.

Thanks for stopping by!
Next time I will show you a great drop leaf table, large and with the best original paint...

Help us win the Book Of The Year Award!

The book about antique dealers in Sweden has been nominated for the Book Of The Year Award and we who have been involved in the project are very proud. ( see my previous posting here )
And rightly so as the book is great and really fills a void on the market.
It´s also an important book as we antique dealers, often small family businesses, struggle against the powerful PR campaigns of the auction houses and Tv shows.

And there is not much time! Apparently the voting was supposed to end on the 30th of August but has been extended somewhat.
So please vote for the book Swedish Antique Dealers!
Thanks!

Here´s the link Now the page is in Swedish and the voting process is very thorough: Just go to the book and tick the box "rösta här", then go to the bottom of the page to enter your email adress and then you will receive an email that you need to respond to in order to verify your vote.
A little complicated but probably for a good reason so don´t let that stop you!

I´m back and the shop is open again!

Hello!
I know it´s been a long time but finally I´m back in town and in the shop.
And on the blog!
Summer has been just the best and all my intentions of blogging just floated off on a wave.
It´s great to be back in business again though and I have a lot of new fantastic aquisitions that I will show successively.

And this weekend is going to be so exciting as we are having a celebrity visit to the shop!

I´ve been away shopping...

..and, truly, I can see how it all would look wonderful in my summerhouse on Gotland. But no way Sofie! Being a dealer is a lot about finding stuff but also about letting go... So (I´m sorry to say though I shouldn´t be) all the items are for sale. Well, except the green bottle that is already sold.
In my summerhouse I have sort of a green theme and this french wooden basket would be a great addition. If I kept it I would use it for firewood or even better- for lots of blankets to bring out for the long after dinner sittings we often have on chilly Swedish summer evenings..
I have also seen one like it filled with orchids in the middle of a table. See it here or from another angle.
In the background you can see a part of an amazing wall panel that was once part of a rococo house in Västervik. Sadly the house was torn down in the seventies but fortunately the panel was rescued by a collector and when his estate was sold I was fortunate enough to buy it. It´s one of my most treasured pieces.

On this shopping trip I was looking for simple yet special items and this black stool thing that is more a podium or shelf caught my eye immediately! It´s not more than 15 cm high and has the most lovely patina. You will see it in some of the following photos as it works so well with the other things I bought.
In this shot is also a french apothecary´s bottle with hand painted text in white and red reading " chloramine" and a black wooden cabaret-style bowl with small compartments that is unlike anything I´ve ever seen.
Here´s my demi lune with original paint and on top is a wonderfully carved fragment from a sofa. I´m thinking north of Sweden. The center fan-like shape is in original paint and the surrounding white areas are later with the original color underneath.
If it was mine (which it is but you know what I mean) I would use it over a door or straight on a wall as an object in itself.

Here´s my podium again. This time together with a couple of vellum books from the 16th century resting on it´s faded top and a black tin cylinder that I wanted to buy in february but resisted and now finally gave in to " why not? love it-buy it!"

When it comes to glass I really love it when it is tainted due to the composition of the material and my favorite shade is magenta. So I put together wine glasses, a gorgeous cloche and an 18th century plate: all with shades of magenta.
The plate is a faiance made probably by Marieberg with a pattern called "flower of hops"
Here´s the cloche. Not so easy to see the shade. But it´s there and it´s great. Promise.

I am feeling really grumpy..

..as Spring can´t seem to get a hold here in Stockholm.
This weekend I´m going to our summerhouse on Gotland (more about that on another occasion)
and the prognosis is very bad. 25 mm of rain. In one day.

So this is what I dream about now!







Photos from ngoc minh ngo,, another site that I´ve forgotten-sorry! Mäster Henriks and Mikkel Vang

Enchanting cream ware..

I recently came across a set of six utterly charming custard cups that I just had to show you! (even though the sold immediately)
I haven´t even had time to do any research on them.
They don´t have any marking on them so I ask you for help! Has any of you seen this model before? Or anything like it?

In my dreams...

this is my secret garden.. But it´s not, is it! It belongs to Michael Trapp who is an antique dealer and interior designer with a fantastic talent for creating environments that really rocks my boat.


To me these images convey a serenity and feeling of having been invited into a fairytale.






So Sofie, time to wake up!

On display this week

At this time of year when the daylight lasts well into the evening it´s difficult to get a good shot of the window in the shop...

We have a new fantastic demi lune with a original paint in a beautiful greenish grey shade. These are not easy to find these days when most demi lunes have been heavily patinated...
And on top is a very charming box from Västergötland with decorations of a wreath and a very unusual provincial version of the Swedish Shield, two different sets of 19th century glasses and a carafe of turbine model.
Under the table are a group of botanicals where the flowers are not taped to the paper which usually is the case but carefully stiched in place!

At the other end in front of a pale blue baroque door is a gorgeous armchair in white original paint with the most fantastic carvings. I have never seen anything similar to this. A personal favorite indeed! Placed on the seat are two silver saltines from the rococo period. They are dated 1750 and 1752 and are made in London. So graceful.
This month we are also featured in Gods och Gårdar so I placed the magazine in the chair as well, the photos in the article are beautiful. Unfortunately it´s not possible to link to the magazine, they really need to update their website...

And from China to Japan...

to see some amazing photos of cherry trees in bloom!

The photos are by Narumi who has a very inspiring blog that really makes me want to go to Japan.
I found Narumi´s blog via great blogger Pia Jane Bijkerk.

Chinoiserie...

..is something I really have a weak spot for.
These two ladies easily found there way into my home where they hang on opposite walls always looking at me in a slightly puzzling way..

Water

I have a very deep love of the sea. If I´m too far from it for long it hurts. Once I lived in Germany for a year, in Düsseldorf by the Rhine, and it was like the river was making fun of me. Because it was just flowing by on its way to the sea.
I´ve been away for a while nurturing my soul on this beach. It was great. I want more.

Now let me introduce you to Hiroshi Sugimoto. In my opinion he is one of the most interesting contemporary artist around. This is his text about his project Seascapes:

"Water and air. So very commonplace are these substances, they hardly attract attention—and yet they vouchsafe our very existence.The beginnings of life are shrouded in myth: Let there water and air. Living phenomena spontaneously generated from water and air in the presence of light, though that could just as easily suggest random coincidence as a Deity. Let's just say that there happened to be a planet with water and air in our solar system, and moreover at precisely the right distance from the sun for the temperatures required to coax forth life. While hardly inconceivable that at least one such planet should exist in the vast reaches of universe, we search in vain for another similar example.

Mystery of mysteries, water and air are right there before us in the sea. Every time I view the sea, I feel a calming sense of security, as if visiting my ancestral home; I embark on a voyage of seeing."

-Hiroshi Sugimoto

From Hiroshi Sugimoto´s series Seascapes

From Hiroshi Sugimoto´s series Seascapes

The Swedish model..

is the name of the armchair, well not the chair itself but the design with the typical back and carvings of a rose. a shield or as in this case a flower at the top.
This armchair is new in the shop. It has been restored and now reveals its layer of lovely bluish grey original paint. And I love this early gustavian design with the rococo armrests!


This is also new. It´s a beautiful bench from the western part of southern Sweden.
It looks really cool with it´s square powerful lines and rough surface. A personal favorite!
As all my items are really as I only buy what I like myself. The trauma of being an antique dealer...

Antik och Auktion.. just det ja!

Jag hade faktiskt glömt att Antik och Auktion var på besök i butiken, det måste vara ett år sen!
Men när telefonen började ringa och folk frågade om reportage kom jag ihåg..
Charlotte Breimer Törnqvist, fotografen Milis Smith och jag stökade runt i den trånga butiken under några roliga timmar och resultatet blev ett gäng härliga bilder!
Här ovan är några av bilderna från tidningen.

The Swedish magazine Antik och Auktion did a photo shoot in the shop over a year ago. And now it´s out! I had completely forgotten about it..
Here are some of the images featured in the article.