Field Report: The Tom Cary Collection

It all started in the Summer of 2011 in one of my favorite shops in the world, The Seven Seas, on the very special island of Nantucket. I was visiting for a full two weeks, a luxury that I was only able to take full advantage of last year for the first time.

Since I now live in California, far from old friends and family, I had waves of guests coming out to visit and stay with me, and as each of them passed through the island, I took them to my favorite spot. After more than a few weekly visits, I got to know Mike Thom, Vanessa Noel's Executive Assistant, who was taking care of her shop for the summer. We kept in touch and met for a drink in Connecticut over the holidays when I was home for Christmas. It was there that the story of Tom Cary and his famous collection of rare books and collectibles came to life. After hearing about his collection, I realized it was his appreciation for rare and vintage finds that I loved so much about The Seven Seas. I just had to meet him.

I was in New York for work earlier this month, and Mike was gracious enough to set up a meeting. But not just any meeting - a private tour of his Upper East Side apartment-turned-gallery! I embarked on what became a peek into the fabulous, rare and vintage world of Thomas Cary. 

The first thing one notices upon walking into his shop is the breadth of collectibles he has. Once you explore a little more, you notice that it's not just a collection of 'stuff', and the quality and detail of each object cannot be overlooked. 

Tom has a background in fashion at Brooks Brothers and Paul Stuart, which helps to explain the preppy aesthetic that runs through the space. During the tour, Tom offered his colorful commentary about the history of how he personally found each piece. It's not hard to see why the likes of Kate Spade, Tory Burch and Ralph Lauren all shop here to decorate their retail stores.

Surprisingly, Tom doesn't have a emotional attachment to too many of his pieces (I found this hard to understand considering I was only a passerby and felt a sense of separation anxiety when it was time to leave). But before we ended our day, we went to a lovely lunch a Swifty's, an Upper East Side restaurant at its best, and checked out some of his pieces for sale at William-Wayne & Co around the corner. It was a truly special afternoon that I'll not soon forget. Looking forward to another visit on my next trip to New York- it's simply a stop that cannot be missed. 

Be sure to check Tom's shop here, and his new Tumblr site here.

A full set of Bond books! 

 Books

 Embroidered loafers and matching socks, of course!

More books...

And some more...

Tom giving us the tour 

 Loved that jacket!

Adorable to have on your bar cart..

An original painting of the now famous Scalamadre print! 

Original paintings of vintage Lanvin advertisements. Amazing! 

Hermes box collection 

 Another original painting of a vintage Lanvin advertisement

Cheese souffle at Swifty's

*images via myself and anne oburgh

15 Things I Love About Nantucket

Adding to my '15 Things' lists, here are my top 15 on why I love Nantucket so much.

Field Report: The Seven Seas, Nantucket

One of my favorite stores of all time is The Seven Seas in Nantucket, Massachusetts. There's no website for the shop/gallery and there's only one of it's kind- found only on the small island of Nantucket (which makes it such a great little secret!). 

Vanessa Noel is the founder and owner, and she has her shoe store right across the street. She can sometimes be seen between the two shops in the summer months. 

If I were to have a shop, this is exactly what it would be. It's a vintage store filled with the most amazing selection of art and design books, hotel ashtrays (love them), men's Lilly Pulitzer pants and jackets, sunglasses, needlepoint loafers.. ah! I could go on. 

In the back half of the house-turned-heaven is an art gallery that features the works of Peter Gee, a British artist who was active in the pop-art movement of the 1960's. His works are so fun and fit right into the lively aesthetic of the rest of the space. 

I'm heading to Nantucket this upcoming weekend for a two-week vacation and I'll definitely be spending some quality time here... and hopefully coming back with some treasures!

*photos by kathryn ierubino

Summer Vacation

It's almost that time of year of when my family and I go on summer vacation in Nantucket. Even though I live in Santa Monica and super close to the Pacific, this water is way too cold for me. So, until July 23 (yes I'm counting down), I'm longing for the salt in my hair, the sand under my toes, and a dark n' stormy in hand.

*image via bippity boppity boo

Out and About

The rain cleared yesterday afternoon and we spent the day around town and at the artisinal market. Today was a fantastic beach day that we began with a leisurely bike ride through Sconset. The surf was a little wild and the water was closed for the morning, but by the afternoon they opened it back up and it was perfect. My skin is now Nantucket Red.

Tomorrow I made a plan to get done as much as possible. We're going to the aquarium in the morning (yes, I was able to drag someone with me), I'll go for a run, back to the beach (beach bag complete with Dark 'n' Stormies), Cisco Brewery in the late afternoon and then seeing Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds tomorrow night. I'll be posting pictures of all of my excursions once I get back to New York. Happy Monday!

Nantucket Bound

We're leaving tonight for our week in Nantucket and I'm thrilled to finally go back. Since this hurricane might be hitting the Grey Lady while we're there, I'm guessing I will be doing some postings during the week!

Photography credit to Matt Albiani.

Louise Fili

Louise Fili Ltd. is a studio here in New York that specializes in logo, packaging, restaurant and book design. Louise Fili was the art director for Pantheon Books during the ‘70s and ‘80s where she designed over 2,000 book covers. She is the recipient of many awards, including those from The Society of Illustrators, New York Art Directors Club and three James Beard nominations. She has taught graphic design and typography and her work can be found in the Library of Congress and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. In 2004, she was inducted into the Art Directors Hall of Fame.

Some of her work includes two restaurants here in Manhattan, including the logos for Sfoglia and Picholine. Sfoglia also has a restaurant in Nantucket, and the two mermaids in the logo represent each island. They also redesigned the logo for Manhattan Fruitier, showcasing their fruit baskets that are inspired by Dutch still-life paintings. The New York Times’ Senior Art Director Steven Heller and Fili designed the book Typology, which goes into seven time periods of typography and the main international influences for each.

Amy Smilovic on Tibi

In 1997, Amy Smilovic and her husband Frank moved to Hong Kong when both of their jobs at American Express transferred them there. Amy found herself in an interesting position if she stayed with the company- her husband would become her boss! This was when Tibi was born.

Just one month after the move, Smilovic began designing a line of dresses that combined American sportswear with a splash of international influence. She brought certain pieces to the attention of some friends in the industry while she was there, who then brought them back to Nantucket and the Hamptons during the summer. Tibi’s international success began then and there.

Smilovic comments on the Tibi woman: “There are three major influences to the line; Hong Kong, Paris and Palm Beach. We like to think that our girl never looks uptight and that is where the Hong Kong influence comes from. Hong Kong is about the ease of wearing things, throwing on things that aren’t too encumbered. The French side is effortlessly chic, the mandate for runway is that the girls always looks fabulous but she didn’t spend more than 15 minutes on herself. Our girls definitely didn’t spend hours in front of the mirror. Palm Beach is always on the clean side, the girl may wear something that is laid back but she is not a hippy. It’s clean and minimal.”

In 2005, The Cloister on Sea Island in Georgia chose Tibi to develop a collection that would represent the lifestyle at their world-renowned luxury resort- she then designed tunics, bikinis and one of their suites. In 2006, Smilovic opened the first Tibi flagship store at 120 Wooster Street in SoHo. See Tibi's full line here.

One of their amazing sample sales starts today at 409 West 39th Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues). See the times below!

Wednesday, 13 May: 1 PM to 7 PM

Thursday, 14 May: 10 AM to 7 PM

Friday, 15 May: 10 AM to 6 PM