By JUDY WELLS, The Times-Union
The Ninth Earl of Spencer was on display along with his new line of furniture at Hugo’s Interiors on Philips Highway recently. The event was part of a nine-day U.S. promotional tour, and Times-Union home and garden editor Brandy Hilboldt Allport served as eyes, ears and photog for this report.
Spencer, brother of the late Princess Diana, owns Althorp, the family’s 300-acre ancestral estate. Proceeds from the sales of Earl Spencer’s Living History Collection help preserve the home.
Clad in a blue suit and silk tie, Spencer posed for photos and answered questions about how to integrate classic furniture into any decor. He said part of the beauty of well-made pieces is their versatility. At Althorp, he stores tennis and cricket sports equipment in a chest that belonged to George Washington’s ancestors.
“It’s roomy . . . quite sturdy,” Spencer said. “For the collection, I thought perhaps it would make a nice coffee table, but the proportions weren’t exactly right.”
The Washington chest for sale is an exact replica; other pieces integrate features of furniture from the Althorp estate, with sizes adjusted to suit contemporary needs.
As for walking into showrooms across the United States and seeing reproductions of the furniture he lives with and uses every day, Spencer offered a lighthearted response. “It’s rather like you returned home to find that a lunatic rearranged everything.”
Indicating a bed in the showroom, he said: “The chest next to it isn’t actually in the bedroom. It’s in the billiard room. But it looks very handsome there. . . . It gives me ideas. One does tend to get settled in one’s ways.”
Indeed.
Regrets
It’s going to be leaner and probably meaner out there in our city this year as businesses and non-profits reprioritize, reorganize and bid farewell to staffers they hate to see go.
Latest to be affected: the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, where four full-time and two part-time staffers have been trimmed, including Chief Curator Jeanette Toohey.
According to Director Maarten van de Guchte, that leaves 29 full-timers and 17 part-timers to fill the gaps. Hope McMath, director of education, has been named the museum’s deputy director and will add the curatorial department to her responsibilities. Maarten will be more involved than ever in development and fund-raising. His new slogan is “I will eat for the Cummer.”
“I can see many lunches and dinner parties in my future,” Maarten said, adding that his museum colleagues around the country report the necessary multitasking is a growing trend.
I’m not sure misery loves company, but it sure has a lot of it these days.
Bye-bye
Another local loss, Blair Woolverton is closing her eponymous Avondale clothing store after 33 years.
Said Blair: “I’m tired of telling women they don’t look fat; I’m tired of husbands who laugh at their wives’ new clothes and say ‘Take it back’; and I’m tired of women dressed in pink who say ‘I don’t wear pink.’ ”
The irrepressible Blair says she told one person she was calling it quits and pricing everything 50 percent off. Word of mouth did the rest; she’s been dealing with a packed shop ever since.
Blair voiced one concern about the shop’s eventual close: “Liberals, feminists and Democrats won’t have a place to come.”
Pssst! Did you hear about . . .? You did? Call and tell me about it. Call, too, if you’ve seen, planned or are about to do something smashing, if you stuck around after your last meeting to hear all the good stuff that gets hashed over in the parking lot, or if you’ve encountered a hidden facet to one of our area’s notables. The tip line is (904) 359-4155.
