The Sinotique Blog

Sinotique was founded in 1992, and was formerly located at 19-A Mott st. in the historic district of Chinatown. Its new showroom/warehouse/workshop in DUMBO Brooklyn at #70 John St. This blog is an efficient way to keep my friends, family, and clients informed about Sinotique. If you have comments and questions pls. don't hesitate to post them here. I hope you enjoy it. Please be sure to see www.sinotique.com my ecommerce website, and www.70john.com to see my art and design showroom.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Travel Channel is going to feature me in their pilot for a new show

The travel Channel is going to feature Sinotique as a "hidden treasure" on their new show aptly named "The Deal Hunter" with host Ian Grant ( above left and pictured in the brown shirt doing a take for the T.V. show in front of my warehouse). Ian has been in the aniques business for 8 years and like myself makes trips to Asia frequently. The show focuses on how even a seasoned "Deal hunter" like himself can still find things here in America, you just have to know where to look. Working in front of the camera with Ian was great ! I've never had to do multiple "takes" so it took some getting used to.

I put the photo of Nate Burkes (of Oprah fame) up there cause i think they look alike. The pilot for Deal Hunter airs on Dec. 21st 07 on The Travel Channel , and again on January 21st. http://travel.discovery.com/

Here is a PREVIEW ! : http://tcpilotweek.com/trailerpage_dealhunter.html

Here is the schedule of airing times: http://travel.discovery.com/tv-schedules/special.html?paid=26.14992.123367.0.0

I just received an email from THE TRAVEL CHANNEL, they were kind enough to feature my business on their website ! Here is what they had to say:
Chinatown
Venture one block off any main street (E. Broadway, Canal Street) and onto any side street and you might forget you’re in New York City. Chinatown is a great place to find Chinese antiques, but you have to know where to look. Authentic antique pieces are extremely hard to find. Jan Lee, owner of Sinotique, has been salvaging relics from the Chinese countryside for over 10 years. Lee, like most antique collectors, can never fit all their pieces into the showroom. Ian Grant rule No. 16: The good stuff is always in the warehouse, and if you’re lucky the warehouse won’t be too far away.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Sinotique in Martha Stewart Living

For the Thanksgiving '06 issue I was asked by the folks at Martha Stewart Living to contribute to an article about Chinoiserie in America. Mimi Reed authored a really well done piece on the subject, and Sinotique's blackwood chairs were featured as well as a bonsai stand.

I have contributed to Martha Stewart living over the years and I have to say that the staff has been consistently wondeful to deal with. They're professional, courteous, and truly supporters of small businesses like mine.

Interestingly enough, both the set of 4 chairs and the bonsai stand were purchased recently for resale in CHINA !

Who'da thunk it?

eating while traveling

if only every meal I ate while I am traveling throughout Asia was this beautiful and this amazing. This was in Little India in Singapore from a sidewalk "hawker" stall. .

Although I must say, I have had some of the best food of my life while in Asia.

sitting and waiting

This is our dog, Kona, while she sits and waits in my workshop for her time to go to the nearby dog run under the Manhattan Bridge.

a window display at Sinotique

Not much to say here, I just liked this particular window......

drawings for clients

One of the first steps in creating a piece of furniture is to discuss exactly how a piece will be made, construction details, budget, hardware, colors, budget, scale, decor, style, budget.....
well, you get the point. A well done rendering can often bring to light construction details that the client may not have known were an issue. It's also a good tool for the client to understand the scale of a project through a rendering.
Here's a recent project.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

The process from raw to finished piece

I thought it would be interesting to some to see the "raw" materials transformed into the finished piece.

The nondescript grey piece of wood is a slab of teak wood that was harvested over 40 years ago. I bought it in this condition while I was in Thailand years ago. I like to harvest wood responsibly so as to do the least amount of damage to the environment as possible. The grey color of the wood is because it was left outdoors for years. The owner's intent was to eventually carve it into something decorative for the tourist market. It's likely he left this slab alone because it had several deep defects throughout its surface.

The photo with all the shavings shows the tedious and laborious process of planing down the slab to make it smooth. There were literally hundreds of chainsaw marks cut deep into the surface. Since this was harvested over 40 years ago, it was likely that the rough cutting was performed with a handheld chainsaw, rather than using today's methods of putting the huge tree through a bandsaw that would be on site. I was told that these huge slabs were removed from the jungle with elephants.

The final photos show the true color of the wood, the depth of the grain, and the finished table that weighs about 350 lbs without the 8"x8" thick teak legs.

This piece was featured in Brooklyn Designs '06.

Two custom tables for Sheila

Sheila, my sister's friend of many years, and someone whom I have known as a family friend for most of my life, asked me to make two coffee tables for her new home in Greenwich, Ct. a few months ago. Again, I was flattered and excited to contribute to her new digs.

After meeting me at my workshop with her designer, Jim, we settled on two designs. One was a "waterfall" style table and the other a Japanese inspired piece. Both were veneered in antique bamboo, and stained a dark brown with some streaks of color peaking through.

Finally the Walentas table is complete

Hours and hours of planing, hand sanding, and polishing went into this table. I cut "butterfly" keys to keep the splits from advancing. Under the table there are very strong supports that mechanically keep the split together, the butterfly keys made of African ebony are both added support and decorative.

The table was installed, once again with the help of Jake, in the Walentas's farmhouse at Two Trees Farm in Bridgehampton.

The Walentas's were a pleasure to work with , and they were very happy with my table. Knowing full well that they could commission literally anyone in the city to make a table for them, I was very flattered and honored that my table would hold a place in their dining room at a farm that means so much to them. Shane and I were given a full tour of the farm by Mr. and Mrs. Walentas themselves, and their love of the place was evident all around us. What was really remarkable was the attention to historical detail that was maintained from the farmhouse to the barns and out buildings. The farm house was built in the mid 17th century!

Mr. Walentas introduced me to his four polo ponies to kick off the tour of the place. He's a competitor in polo.

The Bubinga table underway

The slabs I got from Africa were not exactly flat so they needed a lot of planing and sanding to get them to the point where we could actually affix legs to them.

Brooklyn Designs gets me a commission for a dining room table

David and Jane Walentas, known as the couple responsible for DUMBO's development from a warehouse district into one of the City's hippest places to live, came through the '07 Brooklyn Designs show and saw a table.. They liked it but wanted a few changes made to customize it to their country home in Bridgehampton. I agreed to make them one. They were a big part of the table's creation from the selection of the raw slab, to the color choices, to the design and layout of the leg details. They chose a slab of Bubinga for its dark rich colors and they especially liked the thickness of the slad and the "live edge" .

Brooklyn Designs

I participate in the Brooklyn Designs show every year. Last year was my second year at the show and it was thrilling to not only be a part of the energetic design scene in Brooklyn, but to speak to so many enthusiastic people gave me tremendous support. Brooklyn Designs attendance topped 6000 people last year. Brooklyn Designs includes only artisans whose work is designed and made in Brooklyn.

Here is the link to Brooklyn Designs : http://www.brooklyndesigns.net/index.html

Above are pictures of my booth at the '06 and '07 shows.

20 mirrors for the Belgravia

Part two of the Belgravia installation (at least my part of the project anyway) consisted of making 20 mirrors, one for each hallway landing, of the building. I sent Lou Marotta a sample mirror I had made along with a custom color sample in a very dark walnut stain to match the consoles that he commissioned by Ko, a friend of mine who is one of NYC's premier dealers in fine Chinese antique furniture. Ko has a factory in China that makes his contemporary furniture. http://www.kokochineseart.com/home. Here is Ko's console with my mirror above it.

Take a look at the sculpture installation I did for the Belgravia here: http://sinotique.blogspot.com/2007/11/recent-installation.html

You can see the other mirrors I have made in this style at:

http://www.1stdibs.com/furniture_item_detail.php?id=67206

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