Chinooiseries

DECORATUM BY SUSANNA SALK FOR 1ST DIBS

“One American magazine said of us: ‘If you can only get to London once in a lifetime and for one day, go to the Tower of London in the morning and visit Decoratum in the afternoon!’” Such bold exclamations from Decoratum’s owner Jeffrey Salmon are understandable once you’ve been inside Europe’s largest commercial gallery specializing in vintage furniture. It’s not only his singular passion (“We sincerely love every piece!”) for choosing his inventory that offers visitors an experience that transcends your average retail walkabout, but his unwavering quest for the unique: “I am not in the least interested in anything particularly classic,” says Salmon of his taste, “I want pieces that possess a sense of humor, that declare, ‘I’m out of the ordinary!’’

When he graduated college (where he studied law, economics, backgammon, and poker) Salmon thought perhaps his interest in the sciences would lead him into that vocation. “At that time most nice Jewish boys were trying to get into real estate but I knew that I had little interest in it,” he says. “Somehow I ended up at the company responsible for inventing pagers because I thought that was “sort of scientific.” But like any other teenager, I soon became jealous that my friends were earning forty-four dollars a week working as taxi drivers whilst I was earning a mere twenty!” So when Salmon saw an advertisement for a filing clerk position at Sotheby’s (even though he didn’t have the pre-requisite school levels required) he pursued it. “It occurred to me that if all they wanted was a file clerk then somebody with all the examinations in the world would be no more qualified to do it than I. Besides, my seventeen year old self had no idea what on earth Sotheby’s was!” His intuition proved him right on two counts: He got the job (“I probably became the best card filer in Europe.”), but it also placed him squarely on the trajectory of his true calling: antiques dealer. Salmon was soon promoted to Head Buyer of the ‘Bought In’ department. Juggling works from Renaissance to contemporary art gave Salmon invaluable insight and knowledge: “It was the best university that anybody could ever go to,” he says. “And I was being paid to learn. On top of which, I was actually able to hold the piece and not just simply look at the illustration in the reference book”. Soon Salmon had a brilliant plan: He approached the far smaller auction house Bonhams, to ask whether they would be interested in auctioning the items that Sotheby’s believed were not of high enough value for inclusion in their hallowed rooms (with Sotheby’s deriving a commission) – and before he knew it, he was managing the new “Bonhams Counter” at Sotheby’s. Things got a little complicated when Salmon’s ever-expanding entrepreneurial brain realized that he could find a quicker way of selling the cast-off items: “I called the owners and told them I had a buyer and they wouldn’t have to pay a commission. What they didn’t know was that the buyer was me!” Before long, Salmon was buying and selling up to 80 items per week in his own rent-free shop right in the heart of Sotheby’s – that is, however, until he was discovered. “I was given the choice of staying or stopping what I was doing, but I knew I could not go back to earning what was then $160 a week,” he says. Always interested in Art Nouveau and Art Deco (an emerging market at that time) Salmon decided to start buying and selling the period in his own little stand in London’s West End. “I couldn’t think of a decent name for it but I had friend who was suffering from gout who suggested I call it that, since it is also the French word for taste.” “Gout” went from strength to strength until 1981, when there was a major recession and the price of gold and silver went through the roof,” says Salmon. So Salmon changed course and started a gold and silver-buying department? About six years ago he decided to start dealing in items from the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s, but could not find a large enough retail location. Then, two years ago, the ideal space finally came along when he was offered the entire 5000 square-foot basement of Alfies Market in what is generally regarded as probably the funkiest antiques market in the United Kingdom. It had lain dormant for four years,” says Salmon. “When the owner suggested he should re-open it with 40 different dealers, I told him I’d rent the whole place instead!” Decoratum was then launched to much acclaim and sensation.

Salmon was soon able to expand his inventory base and become one of the largest buyers of vintage furniture in Europe featuring Italian, French, and American big names, along side of Brazilian vintage furniture, the latter never have previously been sold in Europe. He also started featuring young designers of the 21st century who make limited edition pieces for the gallery. Now the snappy new guard is gamely mixed with timeless masters like Arne Jacobsen, Gio Ponti, Jacques-Henri Varichon, and Pietro Fornasetti across nine different rooms containing almost eighteen different settings. “I want to help people envision how pieces would look in their own home,” says Salmon. With its up-to-the-minute layout (“we change it every two weeks to keep it fresh”) that both stimulates and soothes, it’s easy to see why Decoratum has become an international style destination. “Yesterday we had a pair of dealers who said that we ought to charge like museums for people to actually come into the store,” says Salmon. “But we don’t look at it that way. Our main philosophy when buying is: “If this piece does not sell, would we be pleased to take it to our own homes and live with it? If the answer is a resounding ‘Yes,’ then we buy it.” Clearly Salmon is somebody who understands that life’s risks can also be its great rewards, especially if met with his daily dose of humor. In May, “Decoratum Too” will open, offering another 2,000 square foot of fun at street level. “We are mad here – and we love being mad,” declares Salmon with a glint in his eye. “As Shirley Conran said: ‘Life’s too short to stuff a mushroom.’”