Big Flea Highlight

As I referenced in my short post on Saturday, I spent the day at the Big Flea, a gigantic flea market that comes to our area several times a year. I try hard not to miss it. You come to expect certain booths, because some are always there, in the same spot as the last time. You start to look forward to certain vendors. This weekend, I stumbled into a booth that I just had to share. I spent some time admiring all the lovely pieces and the highly selective curation that went into putting this booth together. I chatted briefly with the owner, asking what a certain item was and complimenting him on the booth. I bought a pair of copper candlestick holders, my mom made a purchase as well, and we moved on. In the midst of all the other booths, though, my mind kept going back to the one with the excellent curation. The majority of items in the booth were white, requiring a level of self control I probably don't have. There were architectural and sculptural pieces, and natural accents like the horns you see mounted in the photo above.

Copper was another finish that was highlighted - above you can see two copper-topped tables I loved.

Above you can see a green felt mitten, an urn with moss, a copper bowl, a partial skull with antlers, and a white wire basket of white stone balls. I had to ask what these were, and the proprieter was more than happy to tell me. He had only just found out recently himself. They are a certain type of stone that was used to separate copper ore from the material it was in when it was mined. Natural, white, and relating to copper - they were perfect in the booth.

Rusty, worn metals were another theme, as you can see from the galvanized cans above. Also take note of the bleached out horseshoe crab shell.

Various skulls were place about the booth, and though I could never use them to decorate my home (they would become a crunchy snack for the dogs, I fear), they lent a fine, natural aesthetic to the collection. White ceramic pitchers with bleached white turtle shells were on another table.

On another table a white wooden basket, minature chair, and white rings (curtain rings?) rested with another skull.

This booth had more of a feeling of "place" than any other I visited that day. Again, the mix of white pieces (ranging from shiny to chipped paint and rusting), metal, ceramics, glass and natural accents was impressive. In the basket on the left above, there were apothecary bottle stoppers.

Above is a closeup of a small pile of wrenches.

Another wire basket of the stone balls rested at the edge of a table, keeping a penant hanging for display. The monochromatic palette really brought out the textures and finishes, and let the few colorful pieces really stand out.

A pile of vintage photographs was spread on a table in the middle of the booth, amongst more baskets, skulls, and galvanized funnels with mounted horns. As I said, I kept thinking back to the booth, and when I finished the first building (there are two warehouse sized buildings that house this massive flea market), I ran outside to deposit my purchases in the car, and I ran back in to visit the booth again. I asked the owner if I could take some pictures, and he politely obliged. We continued chatting, and he told me that he appreciated that 1) I actually asked if I could take pictures, and that 2) I had bought something. Apparently people take pictures of booths all the time, which I thought was almost like stealing intellectual property. At least when it's this well done. I hoped that he had a shop name and website that I could pass on to you, but alas, he is not on the computer. But I can pass along his name if you find that you need something you see here. The owner is Frank Jacobs, from South Bend, Indiana. He gave me his phone number, but I hesitate to publish it online. If you need to find him, contact me and I'll pass it on. The pictures I took really don't do the booth justice. The effect of the entire area was fantastic. I had to zoom in pretty close, though, to keep other shoppers and booths out of the pictures. I hope to see him at the Big Flea again!