CURIOUS AT CURIOS

Everyone has something tangible that transports them back to their childhood. Maybe it’s a doll, a China pattern, or that same cookie tin that every grandma had that was actually full of sewing supplies. For us – and particularly Cheryl – it’s this curio cabinet.

There is an innate allure to anything you can’t touch, especially as a child, so of course we were captivated by all the fragile and fascinating things in Little Mary’s sacrosanct display. Cheryl would spend hours and hours in front of that cabinet, peering in at the assortment of tiny tea sets, figurines, and sailor’s shell boxes, sitting and staring in absolute awe and wonderment. This curio cabinet sparked her lifelong insatiable quest for collecting, always an eye out for the uncommon.

“I’m not sure what the technical definition of a curio is, but to me, it’s anything unique or unusual; anything that speaks to you, anything with a story,” Cheryl said. “It’s really not about monetary worth – although a lot of curios are very valuable, actually, especially the really old, handmade ones – but I can promise you that every piece in a person’s curio cabinet has value to them. A family heirloom, a childhood trinket, or maybe the story is simply that it randomly caught their eye in a storefront window as they strolled down the street and they simply had to have it. I think as long as it strikes curiosity, it’s a curio.”

Much like the joy she gets from sharing an exquisite piece of jewelry with y’all, part of the joy of collecting curios for Cheryl is sharing them, passing them on to a new home. In the past couple years, as we’ve really done a deep dive – and deep clean – on our design archive, we’ve made many of these fabulous finds available to y’all and it’s so exciting to see how much y’all also appreciate them! And if we know anything about Cheryl, the collecting is not stopping any time soon, so we definitely recommend checking back often, because sooner or later, one of these little guys is going to speak right to you!