A Warehouse in Johannesburg

Back on Crosby Street in New York, a man named Neville Trickett walked into the shop, walked around for a long time and then came up to the counter and said he thought our shop had a soul. A soul. I had never thought about a shop having a soul before - but when he said it, I believed it. It wasn't long after that, we packed up the shop and moved FG out to California. I often wondered what ever happened to Neville - I knew he and his wife, Sharon, owned and managed a creative retail space in Durban, South Africa named Saint Verde. They hired local craft people to weave baskets, blow glass and forge metal; they grew indigenous flowers and plants and displayed them in a garden house; and, they collected old textiles which they blended in with their borosilica glass collection. The day I met Neville in New York, he was being presented with a recognition award at FIT for Retail Visionary of the Year.
About a week ago, I received a note from Neville! I had been trying to contact him for years and it seemed he had fallen off of the face of the earth. He wrote that he had discovered an old two-story warehouse in Johannesburg that was filled with tons of old stock - ribbon, notions and millinery...would I be interested in seeing what he had found? Um, YES! So here are just a few shots of some of the beauties Neville and Sharon have uncovered. Neville's daughter, Sara, is making up small beauties with all of the old trim that she's offering at her etsy site - Lucky You!
Now I patiently wait for a box to arrive from Johannesburg - I imagine it will be brimming with old colors and textures and all sorts of things that have been tucked away in South Africa since the 1930's....what could be more romantic?? To see Neville's home, look here. To see inside his mind, look here and here.