A Barbara Barry Moment

“Hi, I am Barbara Barry. Have we met before?” was the first question of the day a few weeks ago, on a Saturday morning, after I had just turned on the lights and music of my shop in the Market. I was a bit stunned, as it was still early and my coffee had not kicked in yet. Standing before me was someone I have long admired. Nope, we had not met before, but I was thrilled we were at that very moment.

“Oh, you are the tulip guy!” she announced. She had seen me a bit earlier that morning walking up the hill to open my shop with an enormous bundle of field tulips in my arms, that I had just purchased from my favorite tulip vendor. She was as delightful as I ever could have imagined, and complimentary to boot.

“This shop is filled with such love,” she told me. What an incredibly sweet, and right on the mark observation. Myself and all the amazing folks that work for me put a tremendous amount of love and passion into the shops each and every day.

“This is one of the best stores I have ever been in. It reminds me of one of my favorite shops in Paris,” she said as she made her second spin around the space filling up her shopping basket. To get such high praise from someone who is an icon in the design world, really just makes my heart sing.

Out in the current issue of Veranda, is a feature on a new piece of furniture Barbara designed, called the Social Study. Her taste is sublime, and her comments, spot on. “If you want quality in your life, you want it in everything. You want it in a cup of coffee, you want it at dinner, whether you make it yourself or buy it in a restaurant. You have a standard, and you appreciate the differences. Luxury is not about style or trends. It’s truly craft–a tradition of fine things done well.”

Speaking of Veranda, I think the new Editor-in-Chief, Dara Caponigro, has done a fab job freshening up the magazine. I find I now look forward to the arrival of the new issue in the mailbox, as it is more approachable, a tad hipper, and just less stiff.

Caponigro was last at Domino. It is fun to see where some of the talented folks have landed. I had dinner at Peels with Rita Konig on my last trip to New York, and drinks with Deborah Needleman. More on that later…

Cheers to you, Barbara Barry! It was such a thrill & honor to meet you.