High Point Market Events Galore!

We have so many High Point Market Events this fall we’re highlighting them in two blog posts, one today and one next Tuesday. Kicking off these fun and informative happenings will be a tour of the bonsai plants in our showroom with our President Brownlee Currey on Friday, October 21, at 3 p.m. He will be sharing his knowledge of the ancient technique of creating bonsai, including the history and traditions of these very particular plants. One of the specimens in the High Point showroom that he has nurtured is shown above, captured so beautifully by Beth Tilley Green. Be sure to read to the bottom of this post, as we share the story about how he first became enchanted with shaping bonsai plants as a teenager.

Other High Point Market Events

All of these events, except the panel discussion called “Luxury, A New Point of View,” will take place in the Currey & Company showroom at IHFC M110 on Main Street. The conversation on luxury will unfold at The Point. On Saturday, October 22, at 11 a.m., we will welcome to our showroom one of our favorite Brits during the event “English Tea with Homes & Gardens Magazine.” Attendees will be able to meet Lucy Searle, Editor-in-Chief of Homes & Gardens magazine and to enjoy a traditional English tea. Lucy has written about interiors, property, and gardens since 1990, working across newspapers, women's magazines, and shelter publications. In 2020, Lucy was hired as the Editor-in-Chief at Homes & Gardens, where she oversees both the magazine and website. Homes & Gardens is Britain's oldest, most well-known interiors magazine, and it now reaches a new global audience with its website. Searle is a serial home renovator and also owns rental properties, so she brings first-hand knowledge to the brand.

Teresa “Gigi” Davis in Paris where she created many of the paintings she will sell in our showroom during Market.

On Sunday, October 23, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., we will host the “Paris Portfolio Pop–Up with Teresa ‘Gigi’ Davis” in our showroom. You’ll be able to meet the interior designer and artist, who began drawing the human form nearly 40 years ago while in art and design school. She was absolutely mesmerized with the process from day one, and has remained fascinated for the past four decades. You’ll learn more about how she expanded her world view by immersing herself in art training in Paris with notable art instructors alongside artists from around the world. This past summer, Gigi returned to Paris to live, study, and experience all that the City of Lights has to offer. The works she is creating there are mainly in charcoal and watercolor. Take a trip to Paris via our showroom pop-up where Davis will display her recent artwork, each piece available for purchase. Davis says, “I’m grateful and honored to be partnering with Currey for our October 23 Pop-Up, which will be called ‘The World Is My Studio.’ I look forward to meeting all of you!”

At The Point, which is just around the corner from our showroom on Commerce Avenue, we will sponsor the panel discussion “Luxury, A New Point of View” on Sunday, October 23, from 2 to 3 p.m. Attendees will hear the panelists address subjects like “How do we define luxury today given the paradigm shifts in global culture and our desire to bring luxury experiences to everyone?” Historically, luxury meant exclusivity, couture craftsmanship, rarified materials, and wealth. These designers are extremely comfortable in the territory of opulence so the conversation will certainly be filled with rich details. Moderated by Gary Inman, the panelists, which will include Michel Boyd, Shayla Copas, Barry Goralnick, and Lucy Searle, will explore “new luxury” with an emphasis on issues such as sustainability, accessibility, and craftsmanship in the age of technology. A complimentary lunch will be served prior to the event, courtesy of Currey & Company, and we will have a tour of and refreshments in the showroom afterwards.

We will be selling an exciting new collection of one-of-a-kind pillows this market so be sure to stop by!

On next week’s blog post, we will feature examples of fabulous one-of-a-kind pillows we will be selling during High Point Market, and a triad of book signings we will host in the showroom. These will include More is More is More By Carl Dellatore on Saturday, October 22, from 3 to 5 p.m.; Vibrant Interiors By Andrea Monath Schumacher on Sunday, October 23, from 4 to 6 p.m.; and The Collected Cottage by Kathryn Greeley on Monday, October 24, from 3 to 5 p.m. Be sure to stop back by next Tuesday to read more about these wonderful new releases and the remarkable pillows we’ll have for sale.

Brownlee’s Passion for Bonsai

Beth Tilley Green captured this asymmetrical bonsais last spring in the High Point showroom.

About the allure of bonsai, Brownlee says, “Japan and Japanese culture fascinated me early on, when I was about eleven or twelve. Toys, especially giant robots, then anime fixated me initially, but that brought me to other things, sushi for example and an interest in other traditional cultural arts. This eventually led me to bonsai. My mother, being more than clever, gifted me with bonsai lessons for Christmas one year, the course lasting for six or eight weeks the following spring; and that was it, I was hooked! While my interest in bonsai took a detour in the latter years of high school and during my college days, my father kept many of the trees alive. When I moved back to Atlanta in 2001, he and I started working together on plants again. When I finally traveled to Japan in 2013, my interest was deeply renewed.”

Brownlee watering on of the Bonsai plants in the High Point showroom during Market.

This escalation continued as he revisited the country numerous times: “Traveling to Japan and seeing the professional gardens there changed my perspective on what is possible with these trees. There is such a difference in reading about something and looking at pictures versus seeing it for oneself. Understanding what really is possible made me focus my efforts, step up the care of our trees, and begin planning what might be done.”

Brownlee trims one of the Bonsais that are brought to the showroom each spring and fall.

He describes how it felt to broaden his point of view: “Visiting the master’s gardens and exhibitions like the Kokufu has been an enormous influence, as it has expanded my ideas of what is possible with proper care, and allowed me to study in detail what might be achieved. Bonsai affords my father and I a creative outlet that is disconnected from western aesthetics and from our culture of immediate gratification. As modern Americans, we engage in very few tasks that are governed by the seasons or which require many years of development.”

A lovely detail shot of one of our High Point Market Bonsai plants, also captured by Beth Tilley Green.

He adds, “Understanding that these projects may never be completed, as trees are living things, or that they might require more than my lifetime is very appealing. I’m only at the beginning of my understanding of Japanese aesthetics, but learning how to build a composition without the use of symmetry has changed my perspective on how one can achieve balance in design.”