Professionally, I am both an author and a furniture curator. On the surface, those may sound contradictory, but in real life, they mesh beautifully.
When stories flood my mind, it's always an event in the lives of the protagonists that I'm telling. Love, life, loss and all the emotions that those life events create.
However, as humans, hopefully, we don't live our lives bombarded with huge life events, at least not those note worthy enough for an author to write a novel about it.
The everyday things like getting up to go to work, waking up late on a Sunday morning, or binge watching your favorite streamed shows. Those are just as significant in my mind as the life events I write about.
Furniture, especially the antique and vintage pieces I sell represent those everyday things to me. A settee, armoire, or a favorite chair, or buffet, those are ever present in our lives. We find them, purchase them, embed them into our homes, then we live our lives around them.
I know it's cliche to say, "if these things could talk," but it's cliche for a reason. Our things not only represent us, but they are ever present. So, when I collect beautiful things (because that is what I specialize in), I can almost feel the lives of those who have lived with these pieces. The love for friends, family, and spouses. The tragedy that we all endure as social creatures. The heartbreak and the celebration of life. Then as I said before, the simple living of our lives.
I'm so thankful that I can share my stories with the public through the stories I write under Blake Allwood and Adam J. Ridley, but I also LOVE that I can share the real life stories of the people who have owned and lived with these very special furniture pieces.
I'm also thankful that I have the opportunity to live in the glamourous Palm Springs, California, where furniture representing the world's history surrounds me. I will be bringing you those pieces in my shop. Everything from the 1700s, up until recent times. Anything that's beautiful, significant, or just pretty. So, come by often and check out what fun items I find on my Southern California treasure hunts!