Antique Shopping, CLP Design Style
Last month, Chris and Randi took a three-day road trip with Jay Lowe up to the Brimfield Antique Show, the largest outdoor antiques market in the country. We’d heard about this near-legendary show before—Jay has been going there every year since he was a child—but hadn’t checked it out. Held three times a year (May/July/September) in the small Berkshires town of Brimfield, MA, the Show extends for more than half a mile with vendors set up as much as 500 feet deep on either side of Route 20.
Our visit was mainly motivated by curiosity about the market for some of the metal furniture that we’ve been interested in — we knew there must be people doing something similar in style to the ultra-heavy zinc and cast-iron tables we’ve been developing, and we wanted to see what was out there, who was looking for it, and what else they were buying. There was some nice metalwork there - some of the most interesting was a series of beautiful steel and wood tables from Cleveland Art with a workbench aesthetic that were way underpriced. (Very similar to what we’re doing, just needed a little more polish.) Also saw some interesting metal mantle frames and mirror frames.
But the big story of the event was the shopping spree. Somehow we ended up with a truck and a van full of antiques like these:
About a dozen sewing machine bases from Singer and a number of forgotten brands. Massive cast iron legs that once held up who knows what kind of industrial equipment. Some wonderfully rusted specialized machines, like foot-pedal lathes and staplers. Hydraulic tables and mechanically adjustable drafting boards. In short, everything a steampunk could dream of for their home. And that’s not even beginning to catalog the purely decorative pieces - cast iron buffalo heads, fence pilasters and column bases, and mantle decorations.
We’re building an entire line of furniture from these pieces. Here’s an interesting piece designed as a dining room table that combines industrial brute strength with the elegance of zinc:
Close-up of details:
Like some red-eyed Antiquinator, we’ll be back. Next time, though, we’ll have enough furniture to sell to cover our shopping spree.
More information about the Brimfield Antique Show (site only works in Internet Explorer).
The Solymac brand has been known for going all-out on displays in the past, commissioning well-known French painters to create 
On May 12th, 2008 Robert Rauschenberg died in his home in Captiva, Florida. I was informed of his death about an hour after it happened. I can’t say I was surprised… he was 82 years old, and he’d had several strokes over the past few years. I will say that there is a special sadness that occurs when someone so special leaves the earth, a shaking occurs, a rift, a void. I feel as if the world has lost a true treasure, a similar feeling to learning a animal has gone extinct. Luckily Bob has left behind many things for us to look at and try to understand. Sadly he will not be here to show us the joy he spread by his mere presence.