Trends ebb and flow – but antiques have consistently impacted the inspiration of contemporary design. The past continues to inform the future. The panel of experts at the upcoming East Hampton Antiques & Design Show at Mulford Farm: July 19 – 21st share their personal insight about how antiques can be introduced into contemporary design with KDHamptons below.

The common theme that resonates is how good design is cyclical and antiques offer perpetual good design.  Enjoy the insight of our Panel of Experts, and apply their knowledge when perusing the cornucopia of rare, unusual, and timelessly chic items to be offered at the 2019 East Hampton Antiques & Design Show!

Maria Vann – Executive Director of the East Hampton Historical Society

Antiques make for good design because influences of the past truly reinforce the saying that “everything old is new again.” Some say there is nothing new under the sun. That might be if it were not for the creative genius of designers and artists, who take inspiration from what has come before and imagine in a new way.  It is precisely that re-imagining which makes for not just good…but great design. The best design comes from talented people who can find insights of the past and remake the old into a remarkable new.

Richard Barons – Chief Museum Curator of the East Hampton Historical Society

Spice it up, play with different periods.  If, as Edger Allen Poe said, “The carpet is the soul of the apartment,” furniture and art are the exclamation points.  Look around at the shelter magazines and there are collections of ironstone pitchers, groupings of Victorian shop signs and weather-vanes gracing shelves and walls.  It is all about personality.  An 18th century chest that you found at a Connecticut antiques show tells your guests that you are a hunter/gatherer not a couch-shopper.  You likely don’t live in a museum, but you enjoy owning a few museum pieces.  It is far more invigorating sitting on a Modernist chair and enjoying your own post-impressionist paintings, than starring at huge flat screen…

Brian Ferguson – Antiques Dealer and East Hampton Antiques & Design Show Manager

Salvador Dali once said “A true artist is not one who is inspired, but whom inspires others.” With that in mind, considered an antique at one time was contemporary design. I would call that full circle.

Opening Night Preview Cocktail Party Kicks off the 2019 East Hampton Antiques & Design Show.  Honorary Co-Chairs Jonathan Adler & Simon Doonan Ring in the Opening Night Celebration Benefiting the East Hampton Historical Society

Preview Cocktail Party: Friday, July 19 (6 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.); Antiques & Design Show: Saturday & Sunday, July 20 & 21

The dynamic design duo of Jonathan Adler, potter and modern American design maverick, and partner Simon Doonan, TV Personality, author and window dresser extraordinaire, are the Honorary Co-Chairpersons of the Friday, July 19, Preview Cocktail Party, which offers patrons an early buying opportunity of the extraordinary array of antiques, jewelry, textiles, collectibles, and  timelessly chic furniture and accessories. Ticket proceeds from the Preview Cocktail benefit the East Hampton Historical Society.