People tell me all the time that I have the best job.  Let me tell you a secret .... it's true.  I do.  I designed it that way. 

When I was 28 years old, newly married, and newly promoted to buyer, I left North America for the first time for a three week buying trip that took me to Paris, Frankfurt, Milan, Lisbon, and Porto.  I visited Asolo, a little northern Italian village known as The City of 100 Horizons for its panoramic views.  I visited Cascais, a Portuguese fishing village and sat on the terrace overlooking the sea drinking the region's green port.  

I was hooked.  While some people crave roots, I wanted wings. As a dinnerware buyer, my beat included Japan, Thailand, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Vietnam.  I flew into Semarang Indonesia on the tiniest plane.  As I reflect back on those years I see now that I didn't have the courage to fully take advantage of my proximity to some amazing things on those trips.  But to someone so inexperienced, every new city, village, language and food was magical.   

And that magic has never really faded for me.   Feast your eyes on the photo of me in front of the Eiffel Tower on my first visit to Paris.  I still feel that starry-eyed excitement whenever I visit that city.  And I still wear some version of that outfit when I travel today.   So when I retired from my last corporate job, traveling to Europe three times a year to hunt for vintage treasures felt like the perfect transition.  I love immersing myself in Lyon and feeling French for a week.  And I love walking into a brocante and finding the one glass on a table of glasses that I know you will love. 

Which brings me to the container.  This last trip was such an incredible experience of manifesting what I wanted to find and finding it (or something better).  I wanted a pair of leather Togo chairs, but found a pair of vintage leather Roche Bobois loveseats instead.  I wanted a simple mid-century daybed that we could restore with a new cushion and bolster and on the last shopping day one appeared, already outfitted with a cushion and bolster in the perfect denim.  I wanted some French gallery exhibit posters and found three in perfect condition:  Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Modigliani.  I wanted to start a collection for you of vintage perfume bottles and everywhere we went, the most beautiful examples appeared.  And the chairs we found.  Mon dieu.  The list goes on. 

I believe those things only happen when the stage is set for them to happen.   Our French team laid the groundwork, and  I arrived in France feeling grateful and inspired, and open to whatever the markets would bring to us.  And they brought us some gorgeous things that I'm so excited for you to see.  I don't want to reveal too much because I want to preserve some element of surprise for you.  I want you to feel that magic that I felt.  

Traveling to new villages, combing the markets and finding new treasures that will delight you never gets old for me.  Merci for coming along for the ride.  I hope you love what we found.