Velvet & Linen

bobo intriguing objects, restoration hardware and ?

Mark Sage, owner of 

Love Train Antiques and co-owner of Bobo Intriguing Objects was kind enough to take time out of his very busy life to talk with me for much longer than I'm sure he expected. You can read the first part of my interview here.

During the second part of my interview, Mark spoke with me about starting his own furniture line....

V&L: When did you decide to start your own furniture line?

Mark Sage: 

We started Bobo about 4  1/2 years ago. We were importing 40 containers of antiques a year and we started to see patterns develop. Sometimes I would buy something and I would think "Was I drunk when I bought that?"  and people would end up having fist fights over it. So I started thinking that if I had 50 of those things, I could sell 50. Unfortunately they were antiques, so I'd only have one of those things. 

I decided that  we should use old materials and make unique pieces as close to the original antiques as possible. 

We started Bobo with 12 products based on antiques. 

We had three guys from a particular town in Poland that would repair our antiques in our warehouse in Belgium. They were very good craftsmen. When we decided to make our furniture line, these three guys said that they had a bunch of family in Poland that could make it for us. So we started making furniture in their families' farm workshops.

V&L: We carry several of your pieces in our store, including the 3 drawer industrial counter. Most people who see your pieces can't believe that they aren't antiques.

Mark Sage:

Most of the people who manufacture furniture fall into two categories.

The first group are made up of people who look at magazines, put stickies on the the pieces they like, and then decide that they are going to reproduce those pieces.

The other group are the people from China and India who look at the pieces that are selling well and try to make them cheaper. 

We don't fall into either of those categories. We start with the raw materials. So the Three Drawer Industrial Counter, for example, was designed because we found 4,000 of those drawers in an old factory in Germany. So those drawers are from the 1920's.

We found these old oak wine barrels from the North of France with great patina. The material was "seeped in its own juices" as they would say. It's had a life before as a different product. We took that material and designed the Wine Barrel Chandelier....

We had oyster sticks from the South of France, and we made coffee tables and lamps, chandeliers and mirrors....

 

We bought a lot of brick makers palettes from a stone quarry, so we made tables out of them....

Mark Sage:

We start with a cool old original raw material. We really work from the ground up. We start in the attics and the mud of the flea markets in Europe looking for the materials and make a marriage between those two. That is what gives the Bobo pieces their soul. The materials have been used somewhere before. 

V&L: Until this interview I didn't know that you had a partner. How did you two meet?

Mark Sage:

Rudi is Dutch and lives in Belgium. He used to have the best antique store in Antwerp. When he and his partner had a falling out, I started using him as a picker for antiques. We had a similar eye. We started drinking beers and hanging out. Before I was married with kids, I was in Europe at least one week a month, and Rudi and I  started going out to the bar every night and designing ideas on cocktail napkins. That's how it started Just drinking beer in a bar with a pile of cocktail napkins. He would change a line and I'd change a line. We'd come up with a prodct that we thought was cool. He would go to Poland with our three workers and make it. 

V&L: It is unusual to find someone with the same design aesthetic as you.

Mark Sage:

It is similar but not the same. I feel that if two people think the same then one of them is not needed. Rudi will design things that are a bit crazy, fantastical, amazing. I'll look at his design and say that there is no way we can ship this. Maybe one out of 1000 people are going to find a place where this can work in their house. I'll have to reel him in a bit. Most of the things that I design are a bit more on the classical side. I don't like a lot of ornamentation. When you look at the Brick Makers table it is linear lines and a brick makers top. I strip every piece of ornamentation off of it to where it resonates. I don't like stains or varnish. No curly q's. So Rudi and I  design in a different way. When we meet in the middle where we can say that this is a product that is fantastic., when we both nod our heads and say "Yes", then it seems like it is always a good product. 

V&L: I love the Brick Maker's Table. It's beautiful in its simplicity, but I know that there are now similar tables being made. How do you deal with being knocked off?

Mark Sage:

We are not going for that low price point, so we are set to be ripped off. 

They can try to cop us but they get to about 85% and it is the last 15% that is the soul of the piece. They can't reproduce the old materials. 

They even copy our showrooms down to the color we paint our walls. 

I was one of the first people to combine vintage with the Bobo look and to paint the walls of our showroom dark grey. We wanted the walls to disappear. Now every showroom does that. So, we have to shift our gears. As long as people are following you, I guess that is the position I want to be in. We live it. If you don't live it, you can't make a piece of furniture that's right. Rudi and I can come up with a thousand ideas.  You just keep making things you love and move forward. 

V&L:You certainly do keep moving forward. That can be seen in your new show room at Americas Mart in Atlanta. You really think big.  You didn't have one or two taxidermy birds, you had a whole zoo!

Mark Sage:

That's just the way I think. If you have one or two or three of something then it's interesting. If you have 50 of something then that's amazing. It becomes an installation. I am always looking for things that I can buy in huge multiple lots, because visually it makes things more appealing. 

Mark Sage:

Your eyes widen and you just say "Wow". That's the reaction I want to get in the showroom. We also do things in a much bigger scale than most people. I always make a joke about the antiques I buy. If it is big and un-sellable then I'll buy it. 

V&L: When I was in the showroom I did notice that you play with scale. There were pieces that were much bigger than you would expect.

 

Mark Sage:

I'd rather make a table that is higher, lower, bigger because then there is an impact there. That is something I've never seen before.

V&L: I was impressed by the size of the artwork you were selling in your showroom. The walls were covered in these huge canvases!

Mark Sage:

That is a brand new product and our most successful brand new category. I went to a paint factory and everyone was doing paintings of dogs, horses, landscapes in bright colors. You see it everywhere. 

I love photography, and I have been saving images. I found an image in Argentina of a prize winning bull, and I took it to the painter. I said that I wanted to paint this bull, and I want it to be oversized. I want it 4' x 6' with no color. I found old images

of old planes, old sailing ships, old race cars, an old French fencer. Things I would want in my own house. They looked at me like I was out of my mind, but these paintings really resonate with people. The price point is phenomenal. You can barely stretch a canvas for what we sell a 4' x 6' oil on canvas painting for. 

Mark Sage:

If you see one of these huge paintings behind the desk of a man's library, it just takes over the room. You just think that's an amazing image. Those are the types of things we do.

V&L: They really looked great against the eggplant paint color on the walls.

Mark Sage:

Yes, that is our new color. My way of design is that you want the pieces to be the stand outs. I want the walls to drift away. The furniture should fly off of it. It is a dark velvet color. It is really dramatic when we paint the ceiling the same color. When we do photo shoots we even paint the mantel the same color. So you have a complete cube that is all one color. When you do that in the eggplant, it is very dramatic. 

V&L: As if you don't have enough on your plate,  I just received an e-mail from Restoration Hardware about their new Wine Barrel Chandelier designed by you, Mark Sage. Are you using the same old material for their chandelier?

Mark Sage:

Yes, same materials. Restoration came to me in October and said that they went around the world and saw everything. Bobo is what they wanted in their stores. They wanted me to design furniture for them. To date they have 14 products that my business partner, Rudi Nijssen and I have designed. Some of the products are private label that we designed just for them. Other products they took from the Bobo line. 

V&L: It seems like many of the Bobo pieces are at a higher price point than the average Restoration pieces.

Mark Sage:

That is the big shift that Restoration is going through right now, and I think they are on point. Restoration is positioning itself as a higher priced, more bespoke home furnishings company that sells furniture with more character. That is why they are doing their ad campaign where you see the designers standing over the piece that they have made by their hands or in their own factories in Holland or England.

They give us full creative license and allow us to control the quality. Restoration Hardware is repositioning itself as a brand that will appeal to the higher end market. So far it has worked really well. 

V&L: So what's next?

Mark Sage:

I don't know. I'm going to Belgium, France, and Argentina next week. I'll be in attics, barns, flea markets. You don't know what it is that you are going to run into next. We have a treasure trove of things in our Belgium warehouse that are in production right now. Some of them we'll be able to make, and some of them we won't. 

I don't know what's next. It sounds like a crazy thing, but I like it that way. 

We'll probably concentrate on more decorative items. 

We haven't pigeon holed ourselves. You can out fit an entire room just from the things you can buy in Bobo. That is a bit unusual. 

V&L: Thank you so much Mark  for giving us this insight into your incredibly creative design world!

I'd love to hear what you think of Mark's designs. 

xo

Brooke

Don't forget to sign up for my e-mail feed, so you don't miss out!

mark sage - love train antiques

One of my favorite parts of owning a store is shopping for unique and beautiful merchandise. I used to think that the only way to find these treasures was to search flea markets and antique stores, until I found companies like Bobo Intriguing Objects. Owners Mark Sage and Rudi Nijssen have an incredible ability to turn old materials into fascinating new furniture, lighting and accessories. I had always wondered about the story behind this one of a kind company, so you can only imagine my excitement when I bumped into Mark Sage during my trip to Atlanta. 

Our meeting  really was unexpected. My friend Angela, Steve and I were leaving Scott's Antique Market when Steve noticed a cool looking antique store, called Love Train at the bottom of the hill. Even though we were exhausted, we knew that we would regret not stopping in.

Angela noticed that one of the items had a Bobo price tag on it. We soon found out that Love Train and Bobo are both owned by Mark Sage, who was actually the man who was helping us in the shop! Well, I couldn't have been more excited if I were being introduced to Brad Pitt or Gerard Butler. I wanted to ask him so many questions, but I was way too nervous. Fortunately, Angela said, "Brooke, you should interview Mark for your blog". To my surprise, Mark said that he would be happy to talk with me.

So,  here we go.....

V&L:

So, how did you get started importing antiques?

Mark Sage:

I was the director of operations and the vice president in charge of international for a chain of hair salons that included Super Cuts, Cost Cutters, and City Looks. I would place these salons in cities in Europe. While I was in these cities I loved going to flea markets and antique stores. Everyone always wanted to buy the things I found. Meanwhile, the corporation I was working for decided that they didn't want an international division, so they gave me a golden parachute and an apartment in Paris for a year. 

I started buying and storing these antiques. Once I had enough for a container I shipped them to Atlanta. I started contacting antique dealers, and by the fourth container I was making a profit. We now import 40 containers a year.

V&L: 

What types of items did you start importing?

Mark Sage:

When I first started, my bread and butter were three things:  pairs of leather club chairs from France and Belgium, French dress mannequins from the 1910's-1920's, and old primitive French farm tables.  Now I hardly buy those things because the prices have become crazy. Ralph Lauren went into France and bought every great leather club chair. 

V&L:

You have a really unique eye. What triggers you to buy something now?

Mark Sage:

I always think that a bad question is "What trends do I see coming?" If a designer tells you what trends they see coming, it's already finished. 

I don't buy for trends. I always buy based on the premise that you buy what you love personally. If you come into "Love Train" there is a point of view there. You can tell there is one person, one eye that is buying everything. You buy what appeals to you personally and just hope it sells.

Mark Sage:

If you look through "Love Train", I don't buy any period pieces. I don't buy "Queen Anne" or "Chippendale". I buy things that are more "commercial antiques". I buy things from old bakeries, old churches, old pharmacies, old bistros. Things from stone quarries. Anything that had a commercial application or is just a little quirky or pleasing to the eye. That's what I buy. 

Mark Sage:

If it has good color, good patina, good lines, or if it is something I'd like to have in my own home, that's what I buy. I don't buy what the designers are clambering for right now, because if you do that you get yourself into trouble real quickly.

V&L: I did notice that you had a lot of industrial or commercial pieces, but you also had several Swedish pieces.

Mark Sage:

Swedish pieces are just something that appeal to me. I like the color. They have a warmth to them, especially the Gustavian pieces in the original paint. I think it's fantastic. furniture to design with. A lot of people are doing second houses on the water or houses in the mountains, and they want these houses to be less formal than their main houses. It is the Swedish Gustavian pieces that work in those homes.

If you have something dark and English, and you put an old primitive work table from a factory next to it, they just don't work well together. You can mix any of the industrial commercial pieces with Swedish, and it all seems to work.

After Mark and I discussed Love Train our conversation turned to Bobo Intriguing Objects , his new showroom (you are going to love it as much as I do!), and his exciting new project. I'll post that part of the interview in the next couple of days.

Don't forget to sign up for my e-mail feed so you don't miss out!

xo

Brooke

anxiety as part of the design process

In April I went to the Design Leadership Summit. One of the speakers at the Summit was Stephen Covey Jr., author of The Speed of Trust. According to Mr. Covey,  as designers our relationships with our clients goes more smoothly when they trust us and our ability to create the home of their dreams.

 I thought this was an interesting premise, but my sinking question (that I was not confident enough to voice) was "What do you do if you are not sure that you can create your client's dream house"? To my amazement, one of the interior designers that I have admired for decades raised her hand and said "Every time I start a job, I am afraid that this will be the job when I will fail. How am I supposed to gain the trust of my client when I'm not sure I can do the job?"  Now, this is a woman who has written several design books, has her own furniture, lighting and fabric lines, and has been doing this for probably 40 years!  

All I could think was "Wow, I'm not the only one!". 

I share this story because this is the big dark secret of being an artist.  Anxiety and self doubt are often part of the process for many of us. I had to remind myself of this many times during my trip to Atlanta. Quite often I think we compare our inside design turmoil to the final beautiful designs of others. This certainly was true when I saw the "b inspired room" designed by Suzanne Kasler.

I saw this room and thought what would I do if I was given an empty space and told to do  anything? I must admit that the first feeling I often get in this situation  is anxiety. What should I do? What will look the best? The possibilities are limitless. What I am starting to realize is that this anxiety is just part of my design process. It's o.k. not to know exactly what I want to do at first. 

Sometimes all it takes is a piece of furniture to inspire a room. Suzanne Kasler's antique chaise is enough to set the tone for this room. The fabric  provides the blue and creme color scheme. The slim curved lines are repeated in many of the other pieces.  

A strong color scheme makes it easier to select fabrics and finishes.  Suzanne used an off white on the walls, the upholstery on her Nanette chair....

the un-glazed pottery...

the accents on her Percival Chandelier as well as her Choate Dining Table with

blue and gold accents. 

Once a couple decisions are made in a room , many of the other decisions fall into place. 

It seems like Suzanne's room was about her new furniture designs and the antique pieces that she used to inspire those designs. That idea set parameters for the room. 

 Suzanne's antique cane back dining chairs add warmth and depth to her room as well as showing her inspiration for her own Amsterdam side chair design. 

The vintage Belgian library cabinet held down the back of the room and was a fantastic back drop for a pair of Suzanne's Alexandra Side Chairs. 

I truly was inspired by Suzanne's room.

I don't know if Suzanne shares my anxiety during her design process, but it's nice knowing that other designers do.  What is your design process? If you have anxiety or fear during a design how do you deal with it? I'd love to hear from you.

xo

Brooke

atlanta love....

It took me a few days to recover from our trip to Atlanta. It wasn't that I was tired from traveling (although the thunderstorm on the flight home almost did me in!). I was just a bit overwhelmed by all of the gorgeous shops and show rooms that I saw!

Steve and I visited Atlanta to get new inspiration and boy did we get it.

If I could have spent the whole weekend taking in the beauty at Phoebe Howard's amazing shop, Mrs. Howard's. Her attention to detail is what amazed me. 

Even the little powder room was beautiful!

I was drawn to the details of this unfinished white oak desk. 

Usually a chest like this would have a dark finish. Phoebe gave this piece a whole new look by stripping it. I loved it!

All of the rooms are beautifully photographed on her website, but I couldn't resist including an image of my favorite space. What a fantastic mantel. 

The old barn beams set the tone for this room. 

We were fortunate to visit on the day that Becky Davis was having a trunk show of her botanical artwork. You can see a couple of them on the wall in this oval sitting room. 

Becky's work is much more colorful than other botanicals that I have seen.

The size of some of her pieces is incredible. How dramatic!

Phoebe and I are both admirers of MaryBeth Thielhelm's artwork. This large piece was above a sitting area at Phoebe's more casual store, Max and Company.

Here is the same seating area pictured on the Max and Company website with another one of MaryBeth's pieces.

 I would be completely overwhelmed with just the one store the size of Mrs. Howard's, but Phoebe has several stores and is opening up a new beauty in Charlotte. Check out her blog, if you want to be invited to the opening party in August! 

Plus, she and her husband just finished building an amazing new home in the Hamptons. How does she do it all?

Leslie, Angela, Steve (who always ends up taking the pictures) and I really appreciated Phoebe taking the time to chat with us. I felt like I was visiting her at her home. That's the comfortable atmosphere she has created in her stores.

After Leslie finally pulled us away from Mrs. Howard's, we were off to South of Market. 

I was impressed by the wide range of unique lighting from this linen chandelier with an industrial feel....

that came in bunch of different shapes and sizes...

I thought this basket lamp was so much fun. 

Love the scale and texture of these pendants.

South of Market carries great lanterns as well.

This green fixture gave caught my eye. What a great idea to do a simple light in a punchy color.

The "unfinished" look of these chairs is fantastic. 

Steve and I found the shape of this rusty chaise to be so inspirational.  As designers that is what we search for, a shape, a texture, a idea that will push our designs. 

Stay tuned for the rest of our trip. Oh, and don't forget to subscribe to my e-mail feed so you don't miss a thing.

xo

Brooke