Antique & Design Center at Market Square Grows

September 13, 2011  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on September 14, 2011 The Antique & Design Center at Market Square continues to grow, with nearly 75 exhibitors signed to present antiques, original works of art, and one-of-a-kind finds in the unique, 60,000-square-foot venue housed in historic Market Square in High Point.

According to Karen Luisana, founder and managing director of the Antique & Design Center at Market Square, the presentation of dealers and artisans makes this show-within-a-show unlike any other.

"There are a number of very large, well-known antique shows around the country, and we€™ve walked the halls and trudged the muddy fields of all of them to gather what we believe to be the cream of the crop for the High Point Market," Luisana said. "The extraordinary group of dealers and artisans we are presenting this season--arrayed in one easy-to-shop, indoor venue--is a very special, hand-picked group of exhibitors specifically chosen for what the design trade is looking for today."

The Antique & Design Center is expanding by more than a dozen new exhibitors this season, many of whom have never before shown at the High Point Market. Antiques dealers showing at the Antique & Design Center for the first time this Fall include Epping Forest, Bridges Over Time and Summerthur. Other notable new exhibitors will be Micah Gerahty of Hudson, NY-based Character Unlimited, LLC, who specializes in reclaimed hardwood floors and custom, handmade furniture from reclaimed wood, and Pandora de Balthazar, a purveyor of exquisite linens and antique textiles. Also new this Market are artists Jan Lukens, who specializes in equestrian portraiture, and outside artist Ron Goins. Pennoyer Newman, which produces distinctive garden pots cast from estate originals, will also be showing in High Point for the first time.
Amanda Lane Kinney, marketing director at the Antique & Design Center, believes that the Center€™s unprecedented growth in difficult economic times can be attributed to consumers€™ steadily growing interest in design and vintage furnishings.

"Culturally speaking, we are seeing the rise in the number of television shows devoted to the genre, like €œAmerican Pickers€ on the History Channel; €œPicker Sisters€ on Lifetime; €œBuried Treasure€ on Fox;  €œOddities,€ on the Discovery Channel, and of course, the original €œAntiques Roadshow€ on PBS. If all of these shows are any indication, old really is new again. We€™re also seeing social media--the popular design blogs and Twitter--helping to drive interest in vintage furnishings and antiques by new generations of collectors," Luisana said.
 
"At the same time, there are a growing number of young, entrepreneurial spirits in the antiques business who have one foot in the antique world, and the other in the design world," she said. "They find the juxtaposition of styles exciting, and they are making design exciting for others. Chicago designer Julia Buckingham Edelmann, principal of Buckingham Interiors & Design, who will be appearing in our seminar series next month, is a prime example of this. She integrates antiques and artifacts with modern design, and the touch of old elevates her interiors to art."

Along with a full slate of exhibitors, the Antique & Design Center at Market Square is hosting a series of seminars for designers and retailers interested in learning more about the category. For a complete schedule of events, read the blog online or click here.