August 27th to August 30th Bridgehampton Antiques and Design Fair

Sinotique at the Mulford Farm Antiques Show

click to enlarge this image

Sinotique, in conjunction with Kanik Chung, opens 70John - a design showroom in Brooklyn

Sinotique Presents One Stone New York - benchmade jewelry

I'm proud to announce that One Stone New York is now available at Sinotique.
One Stone New York specializes in rough and colored diamonds set in silver and gold, all work is locally made.
Come see !

NY Times interactive piece on the virtues of the Amersterdam style bikes

A great NY Times interactive piece on the virtues of Amersterdam style bicycle. check out my previous posting on my own bike

Paper Angels - Photo Shoot At Sinotique

Promotional photos were recently shot at Sinotique. Damian Wampler did a beautiful job in capturing the style and mood in turn of the century portrait photos of Chinese couples. These photos will be used for the promotional materials for Paper Angels, a play that was introduced in 1979 and again in the 1980's and this month it will be presented again at Univerity Settlement.
Please support this very important work.
I am proud to have been a small part of this.
I helped Victoria Linchong style the shots and provided the props for the photos

Set in 1915, long before Arab-Americans were being targeted as unwanted émigrés, PAPER ANGELS explores America's historic ambivalence over immigration through a group of Chinese detainees on Angel Island, the Ellis Island of the West Coast. Few people know that from 1882 to 1943, the Chinese were prohibited from immigrating to America through the Chinese Exclusion Act, giving the Chinese the dubious distinction of being the only ethnic group to have specifically been banned against coming to America.

A compelling and incisive script that not only probes racism, but also takes swipes at Confucianism and class discrimination, PAPER ANGELS was last seen on the New York City stage in 1982 at the New Federal Theatre. Dusting off this prescient gem two decades later amidst worldwide debates on immigration and after controversies surrounding detention of Muslims at Guantánamo, Direct Arts' new production of PAPER ANGELS will incorporate archival footage of Angel Island, a 2-piece traditional Chinese music ensemble, Chinese Opera, and an ensemble of 12 multi-ethnic actors including Obie Award winner Jojo Gonzalez (The Romance of Magno Rubio) as a long-time Californ' caught in the net of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

The cast includes Louis Changchien, Robert Fitzsimmons, Jojo Gonzalez, Wai Ching Ho, Kerry Huang, Ryan King, Victoria Linchong, Doan Ly and Amy Staats. On April 30th, there will be a post-show discussion Peter Kwong, author of Chinese America: The Untold Story of America's Oldest New Community.

SHOW TIMES: Wednesday through Friday at 8:00PM, Saturday at 3:00PM

Speyer Hall at University Settlement
184 Eldridge Street, bet. Rivington and Delancey
TICKETS: $18 adult, $15 student/senior
WEBSITE: www.directarts.org

Sinotique Internship Summer 2009

Hi everyone!

My name is Ryan Black, I grew up on the New Jersey shore and I have been attending college for the past four years in Vermont at Green Mountain College. I am Graduating this May with a Liberal Studies degree with concentrations in both Art and Environmental Studies. I enjoy all forms of art, I work with many different mediums such as metal, paint, and sound. I design and fabricate jewelry in my free time. I also create music and involve myself with as many creative outputs as I can.
I was looking for an internship that would blend both art and the environment together, and I found the perfect person to do this with, Jan Lee. As soon as I met Jan I knew this was a perfect match, because he combines his love of art with the environment by consiously selecting his wood from different locations around the world. I fell in love with Sinotique when I noticed originallity and environmental awareness within the business, two things I care so much about.
I plan to share new ideas and introduce new artists within the blog. I also plan on keeping everyone up to date with new Sinotique creations. Im sure everyone is eager for Spring, with new seasons brings new ideas and energies, so check back very soon!

in peace,
Ryan Black

Beautiful video for Yohji Yamamoto's new collection

New project just installed today

I installed this dining room table into a loft in SoHo today. The client was very happy. The table surface is carved 1/8" deep with randomized grooves. The ends of the table are distressed using hand carving techniques.
The legs, which appear to be massive steel structures are actually stainless steel veneer over a wood core.

latest photos by my brother East Hampton Photographer Tim Lee

These are two new images from East Hampton photographer Tim Lee. Tim has a long career in the Hamptons photographing for The Hamptons Catalog and Fisher's Antiques, as well as private collections and interiors.

The Antiques at the Armory Show - January 23-25 09 Americana

The armory show reflected "Americana Week". As stated in the Stella Show
Management website: "Featuring 100 select exhibits of fine and affordable American & European antiques, period furniture, Americana, folk art, garden & architectural artifacts, fine art and prints, and the list goes on..."
I spent some time with Elemental Garden's husband wife team Tracey Young and Dennis Kaylor. Tracey's clean and focused discipline is reflected in her selections at this show.
Several items stood out in the Elemental Garden booth, a pair of conical French urns, stone carved stepping stools, and a rare matched pair of stone carved life sized greyhounds.
The French garden urns, despite being concrete seemed light and delicate as they balanced on a their raised plinth. As Tracey pointed out "they are very French, you won't see this kind of form anywhere except France". We commented on the mutual grace and respect of the line evident in the urns, the step stools and the stone finials sitting prominently center stage.
I asked Tracey whether she sees any particular trend happening in today's gardens. Without hesitation she explained that all too often gardens are overrun with flowers causing an "expected" result, measured and tailored she explained they can be boring. Instead, Tracey sees gardens that celebrate texture as much more interesting. Much in the way that Chinese botanists developed a love of the orchid's leaves more than the orchid itself, Tracey has a love for the garden's many textures regardless of whether they are summer flowers or simply oceans of shimmering leaves, varied and changing as one proceeds through the garden.
Dennis explained that the pair of greyhounds in their booth were genuine pairs. According to Dennis not only are large stone figures often misrepresented as antique, they are not always matched pairs. A tip, Dennis says, is to look at the details of the animals, if there are opposing directions in the paws or tails for instance they are a matched pair, otherwise they are simply "alike", and not as valuable.
The Elemental Garden is located in Woodbury Connecticut

Michael Bruno - Founder of 1stdibs.com in the New York Times

Sinotique is a proud "pioneer" dealer on www.1stdibs.com, the industry standard website for antiques in America and Europe. Michael Bruno, the website's founder has been highlighted in the NY TIMES Magazine on line T Magazine.
Before 1stdibs.com there were a smattering of poorly designed websites for the antiques trade, often slow and cumbersome and more often than not a mish mash of unvetted merchandise thrown together haphazardly.
Michael Bruno brought a sophistication to the online antiques marketplace by making it easy (finally) to search for and locate the exact piece a busy decorator needed to find in a jiffy. With only 500 dealers on the site and a waiting list of over 800 more, 1stdibs.com maintains the kind of standards that their clientele expect.
Many dealers, Sinotique included, are the same dealers you would find at the Armory Show in Manhattan, numerous shows in the Hamptons, and Connecticut. What Michael has done has brought a level of confidence to buying online by vetting out dealers who do NOT have a brick and mortar location. Decorators and the public at large know that there is much less risk in buying from someone they can visit in person.
There are items on 1stdibs.com that range in price from $250.00 to 125,000.00 and over. It's common to hear of sales from 1stdibs.com in the $5000.00 to $20,000.00 range based solely on what a client sees on the site. That would never happen before on the net prior to 1stdibs.com, at least not so in the antiques world.
Today assistants who work for Martha Stewart , Sills Huniford, and Peter Marino are combing 1stdibs.com daily with efficiency, clarity and dare we say - fun?

a teak bench for a client's shower room

This bench was made for a shower room. It is made from teak that I procured while in Thailand. Thai farmers had used this particular teak in the rice field to thrash the rice plants upon to release the rice from the plant. After decades of use and exposure to the weather the teak has great character and we left the "raw" edge showing on the end of the bench to accentuate the rustic nature of the piece.
The natural oils inherent in the teak will protect the piece from constant exposure to water and moisture in the client's shower room.

Teak bench for a shower room

I made this bench from reclaimed teak I procured in Thailand. The wood for this bench was originally used by rice farmers in Thailand in the field. The original shape was slightly curved, and very rough, I cut it, then milled it so it was flat, and glued up the pieces to form the top and leg "slabs".
This client requested a bench that would withstand repeated exposure to water as it would reside INSIDE her shower enclosure which is large.
Teak was the natural choice as it has natural oils which repel water.

End of Season sale

Sinotique is having an end of season sale - most items are 50% off list. Stop in soon.

Kanik Chung at Sinotique - Mott St.

Kanik's latest work at the Sinotique Mott St. location.

Kanik Chung's tablescapes expand and contract, at times encompassing as many as two dozen pieces of his handblown glass forms. They are exquisite. I spoke to Kanik at length about his tablescapes and he told me that he envisions the pieces in relationship to each other. Negative and positive space play equally important roles in the total expression of his work. I believe the beauty and sensitivity of his work speaks for itself. Kanik's work is available through Sinotique.
Commissions accepted.

Buying Vintage is "green"

The website produced by Discovery.com - www.planetgreen.discovery.com
lists as #8 on their tips on going green 'buy vintage', here's what they have to say:
"Buy vintage -
With all the slick, mod, "eco" brands jumping into the market it can be hard to keep in mind that pre-owned goods can be the most green purchase of all. Vintage and second-hand and furniture requires no additional resources to manufacture, is often locally sources (cutting down on transportation), is pre-offgassed and eases the load on the landfill. Quality vintage furniture can also have excellent resale value (sometimes selling for the same price it was bought) which certainly can't be said for most new furniture, green or otherwise."


Those of us who have been dealing in antiques have known that for years but I suppose the public should be reminded that buying local, buying vintage, and buying antiques is far more "green" than purchasing a newly produced item.
I'm also in the manufacturing business and of course there is a place for high quality long lasting furnishings as well.



The mindset that furniture can be disposable is what needs to change, like many things in our world for every disposable piece of furniture you'd consider for your kid's dorm room, or starter apartment there's probably a comparable piece in a vintage quality used version. Buying low price does NOT have to mean buying disposable.

Although IKEA goes to great lengths on their website to explain how they are using sustainable materials and what they've done to reduce VOC's and their carbon footprint, the reality remains that their products more than likely will end up in a garbage truck and not being handed down or even in a thrift store for someone else to purchase. Think for a moment of all the American families who run to IKEA or K Mart stores to purchase throw away furniture for their kid's room or dorm rooms simply because it is convenient. There are quality alternatives in thrift stores and a can of spray paint goes a long way to update much of what is found.

Protests of thrift store finds not being "cool" by the kids who have to live with the pieces are a perfect opportunity to educate the next generation about the importance of reuseing what we've already created so we don't have to produce more.

In nations all over the world poor people used their lack of resources to fashion furniture from such mundane objects as car and bicycle tires. The access to resources we've enjoyed in America have become our biggest threat. We're literally drowning in what we produce.


Saving pennies to buy a quality piece of furniture, even if it is one slipper chair to go next to the bed, or a kitchen stool that will get used ten times a day, is worth the effort and the patience it takes to acquire since its life will likely extend beyond your's. Extend that to larger pieces in your home and you start to make a difference in your own "presence" on this earth and your impact on it.

My brother, Tim Lee, who has lived as a photographer in East Hampton for the past 30 years lives this philosphy virtually daily. His beautiful home is filled with yardsale finds and antique store treasures. His keen eye has scooped up plenty solid wood funiture items and vintage candlesticks for sure, however, his cooktop (an $1100.00 value) was bought slightly used at a yard sale for a tenth of that, as was his stainless steel cabinetry, 12' dining table and even bathroom tiles (which were over runs from a new construction).

Fortunately my parents instilled in myself and my syblings that there is value in buying antiques and vintage, and as such we were surrounded by wonderful mixes of furniture from many countries and many eras. Wwen we all "grew up" we all had some of their furniture for our own homes as treasured reminders of our childhood. It's not surprising that the furniture that ended up with each of us is not made of plastic or pressboard.

NY Modern show - Balsamo

Steven and Ray are friends I met while doing Jean Sinenberg's Bridgehampton Antiques Show, that was a good ten years ago. Since then their company Balsamo has branched out into interior and garden design serving the Hamptons, NYC, Connecticut, and even Mexico.
Balsamo is described in this way on their website:
"Balsamo Antiquités and Interior Design is housed in a renovated 1837 church in the bucolic town of Pine Plains, NY — just 1 3/4 hours north of Manhattan and 20 minutes south of Hudson, NY.
Balsamo offers an eclectic mix of European 18th, 19th, and 20th century antique furnishings and accessories for the home and garden. Capture and bring home the essence of Old World
sophistication and style."
The Balsamo color pallette usually leans towards dove grey, off white, camel, but their booth at the Modern show was edited to more accurately reflect the venue. It was edgy and urban though not "expected".
The booth was dark and masculine with highlights of brushed steel. Interspersed were wood tones and opaque milk glass clock faces with appearences of galvanized tin - a nod to their mainstay of garden related objets back in the Pine Plains store.
Steve told me one of his favorite items in the booth was the huge white clock face that he said could be illuminated from behind. We both loved the distressed numbers and art deco hands.

Balsamo's collection can be seen at Balsamo.1stdibs.com
and at www.balsamoantiques.com

The NY Modern Show - Dallas Boesendahl

If you've ever been to the Modern show at the downtown Armory you surely would have noticed Dallas Baesendahl's booth at some point.
To say that Dallas is a specialist in accessories is akin to saying the Pope has something to do with religion. He's a consumate collector of everything from 1930's shagreen to neolithic Chinese Jade "bi discs", to vintage signed photographs, to 1950's to 1970's German white porcelain. Dallas Boesendahl's collection is nothing if it isn't diverse, which is why his booth at the Modern show this October stood out from the other times I have seen him. His display was stark white, crisp, focused and pristine, a real departure from the overflowing shelves of mixed merchandise that he is known for.
Dallas was busy styling his booth, filling in empty spaces on his shelves where someone had recently made a purchase, when I stopped by to chat.
About 300 - 400 vessels in various shades of white were neatly arranged on Dallas's signature tiered shelving. Some were satin, some were high gloss and others bisque.
I learned that his collection of German porcelain numbers well over a thousand, good thing since many of his designer clients of late have been buying them in groupings of 6, 12, even 40 in one fell swoop.
One of the amazing things about shopping with Dallas is that his pieces are not only unique, he often has a selection of items to choose from to form an "instant" collection.
It would take an individual months if not years to comprise a collection of even a dozen suitable specimens to present to a client, but here at the Armory Dallas had over 30 manufacturers represented.
It was fascinating to me that the manufacturers reflected the sentiments of the era, whether it was an awareness of endangered species (as evidenced by the alligator pattern on some) to the op art movement of the 1960's.
Dallas Boesendahl can be reached at 212-308-7029 , he shows by appointment only.

More work by Artist Will Hubscher at Sinotique - Brooklyn

all images copyright Will Hubscher

Pennsylvania artist Will Hubscher is showing his latest work at the Sinotique Showroom in Brooklyn. This pair entitled "Endeavor" and "Excellence" draws on imagery
from early Japanese photography. They are among the largest of Will's works measuring 38" x 25" unframed. They are available at www.sinotique.1stdibs.com
The colors are saturated and the composition, a departure from Huscher's fractured planes, is dynamic and the figures are poised to explode into their next "pose".

Just made this desk

I made this desk with a reversable bamboo top, utilizing my signature handmade artisinal bamboo. One side is stained dark walnut brown and the other is natural with dark highlights. I kept the thickness rather light at one inch. The trim is reclaimed Brazilian jacaranda from an antiques dealer friend who imports directly from Brazil. The jacaranda I bought from him was orginally used as flooring for a factory built in the 19th century.
The legs are made from American oak. I added a simple chamfer detail to soften the angularity.

Audrey Lee's Latest painting

My sister, artist Audrey Lee Waller, recently completed this painting and I just installed it in my Brooklyn showroom. It looks wonderful! I've successfully represented Audrey at Sinotique for years. She's also represented by Mark Humphrey Gallery in Southampton, N.Y., after several seasons at Gallery Merz in Sag Harbor.
This painting is slightly over 6' tall by 6' wide. The medium is collage on board. Audrey uses many techniques including scraffito, collage, metal leaf among others.
It is one of my all time favorites out of the many dozens of paintings I have sold of Audrey's. Audrey was highlighted in the East Hampton Star.
Please make an appointment with me if you wish to see it.
Location: Sinotique Showroom 70 John St. Brooklyn, NY 11201

shapes from nature continue to fascinate me

I finally mounted these swordfish bills that I got from a collector some years back.
I used bubinga wood for the mounts, metal seemed too cold.
These are available at www.sinotique.1stdibs.com