Have a Story Behind Your Favorite Piece of A&C furniture? Get it Published in the National Arts and Crafts Catalog!
The National Arts & Crafts Conference and Shows attracts collectors from all over the country yearly to one of the top Arts & Crafts hotels in the world: the historic Grove Park Inn in Asheville, N.C. During the conference, it is a very common sight to see friends gather together and exchange stories about how they got their latest addition to their collection. In honor of both experienced and new collectors, the catalog will publish stories of obtaining special collectors items with the 2025 theme of Arts & Crafts Antique or Contemporary furniture.
If interested, please click here to fill out the form.
The booth space of Kindred Styles Antiques at the National Arts & Crafts Antiques shows at the Grove Park Inn. Photo courtesy of Ray Stubblebine.
According to Kate Nixon, the conference’s director and catalog editor, the inclusion of collector’s stories into past catalogs was the perfect way to not only reflect the interests of conference attendees but to start a dialogue between attendees. “Collectors come here yearly to find a cozy spot in the Great Hall or one of the inn’s many comfortable rockers and they talk for hours about their collections. They have all of these stories and advice to give younger generations, so why wouldn’t I give them a space in a publication that’s a collector’s item in itself? Relating to each other over their love for creating an warm naturalist interior and populating those spaces with this beloved vintage style — that’s a massive reason you can come here a stranger and you leave with an entire community of people wanting to continue a conversation with you.”
Collector stories were published in the 2023 catalog and will return to the catalog during the 2025 National Arts and Crafts Conference and Shows.
Our own conference founder and author Bruce Johnson submitted this story and image back in the 2023 catalog:
“Anytime I am asked about my favorite Arts and Crafts piece, invariably my answer is, ‘The next one.’ One that has stayed beside me through all of my moves, apartments, homes, and offices is Mrs. Zamansky’s bookcase. Technically, it is a Gustav Stickley, double-door bookcase: original finish, great hardware, and a blazing red decal centered on the back. But it weighs a ton, especially going up a flight of stairs. Back in 1979, Mrs. Zamansky called me at my refinishing shop in Iowa City, inviting me to come to her house to see her bookcase. It was stunning, and I confessed to her I had no idea how much it was worth. ‘That’s not a problem,’ she replied matter-of-factly. ‘My carpenter is going to charge me $1,000 to build me a closet right where it stands, so that’s what you’re going to pay me for it.’
Fortunately, for both of us, I did.”
– Bruce Johnson
If interested, please click here to fill out the form.
Please write your name if you would like to be identified and use the space to write your story. Please try to keep it to a 400 word maximum. You can also upload an image if you wish to supplement. Lastly, fill out your email – your email will not be published but will be used to let you know if your story will be featured.
.