Seller Story: Dallas, TX

“I’ve always been a designer, whether it’s making lamps, creating jewelry or running a dress business where I sourced the fabrics and the patterns. If you don’t put some of your own designs into what you’re doing — whatever it is — then you don’t have anything different. You’ve got to be different.

I have a showroom space in an antiques mall and I really try to create a room and a setting around objects. With the jewelry I sell, everything is created from the ground up. The components come from all over the world, you can find vintage pieces everywhere: estate sales, auctions, online. In sourcing them, you get to know all of the manufacturers from the 1940’s and 1950’s, which is when costume jewelry came into its own. During that time, all of these wonderful people that were educated and trained in fine jewelry went into costume because the market sort of collapsed for the higher end product. I often create around pins from vintage Shreiner and Willam DeLillo pieces, but it really all began with Chanel. I sold vintage Chanel for many years; long before it was the hot thing that it is now.

The one thing common to everything that I do is color. I wear a lot of black in order to show the jewelry, but when it comes to accessories, I like color and I think a lot of women relate to that.” –Linda, The Designers Group

Tell us about some of your favorite pieces in the sale.

There’s some majolica, which I’ve sold for a long time and I love because it adds warmth to a room. Right now the glass market is more important than pottery, but it’s wonderful to use majolica in a book case, as an accent color, or a catchall tray.

Tell us about one of the lamps.

I made the orange ginger jar lamp from a huge piece of pottery imported from Italy, and crafted a cream colored shade with an orange trim to go with it. I’ve also done a lot with Murano glass lights and fixtures. A lot of people do just Murano, but I like to mix it all up in one room.

What’s your collecting philosophy?

Sometimes you fall in love with something that’s not in fashion and you should still want it in your home. You want your interiors to have a look that identifies you and isn’t a copy of a magazine. Putting together odd and unusual pieces is what creates that look. It’s an old saying that “If you like it, it all works together,” but I do think it’s true!

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