Tandem Antiques in the Maine Antique Digest – A Disclaimer
Published on October 19, 2012 :: 3 Comments
Back in the spring of 2012 Steve and I had a very cool thing happen. We were approached by a writer for the Maine Antique Digest, one of the long-lived and venerable trade journals of the antiques business. He said he would like to do a story about us. He said he was interested in us because we are “not eighty.” We were flattered and excited.
Several weeks later he (Frank Donegan, a lovely man) came to our house and we spent an enjoyable several hours talking and laughing. Reminiscing about how the business used to be, how Hudson used to be. Discussing how things are changing.
Steve and I had recently done our second show at the Antique & Design Center at the High Point Furniture Market in NC, and had attended a very successful tweet-up during the May Brimfield. So I was all up on my social media horse, talking about the connections and relationships that can be made across the interwebs.
And talking a bit too much, apparently…
The conversation covered so many topics and followed so many little rabbit-trails, we wondered afterward what in the world the article would be about. Well, some six weeks later we found out. It was published! We were excited! I was full of plans to tweet it, fb it, write about it here! Promote, promote! Right?
But then I read it, and my heart sank.
Parts of it are fine, good even. But parts of it make me cringe. It makes us sound (and I swear it’s the way the quotes are put together) so condescending! So much smarter than everybody else, especially all these “young designers” – the very ones I’d been enjoying getting to know online and in person! Not to mention my customers – all idiots too, apparently. The whole thing has a tone that I would never want to convey!
I do know more about antiques than some of my designer friends (if I don’t then there is a problem) but I am learning so much from them that is relevant to my business and today’s market! They are broadening my perspective and educating my eye in new ways all the time. And I have so much respect for what they do that I’ll never understand and would never have the patience for! My whole point in wanting to get involved with decorators and design folks in the first place is that I believe there is so much room for synergy and collaboration – not snarkiness.
Ugh.
So I just let it sit. Didn’t tweet it. No fb posts. Every once in a while I’d think, “They say all press is good press. Just promote it.” Then I’d re-read it and cringe all over again.
Since then we have gotten some nice feedback from people in the antiques business. Our 15 minutes of minor fame – folks at the September Brimfield saying, “Hey, aren’t you the couple I read that article about?” And at the Rhinebeck show last weekend a favorite customer, a gentleman of a certain age, thanked me and said that he had learned a lot from the article about social media, etc. That was nice.
But then I saw some friends at the High Point Market this week who confirmed my fears. “If I didn’t know you, I might think…” Ugh.
So here it is, the dreaded MAD story.
Judge for yourself, but please don’t judge too harshly. I’m not, even if it sounds like I am. We are not know-it-all snot bags, just folks trying to make a living selling 19th and 20th century objects in a 21st century environment, and doing the best we can.
There. Off my chest. Next….
