Last night we attended the Chicago launch of Sundance channel's new Man Shops Globe, a documentary-style show profiling Anthropolgie's buyer-at-large/world shopper, Keith Johnson, on his sojourns abroad. We took a few snapshots in the Chicago store, but the show really digs deep into Keith's finds and beautiful objects...
After a lot of store roaming and visual, antique-y stimulation that one can expect from Anthropologie, all guests turned to the first episode of Man Shops Globe. Set in France, we watched Keith and his crew at flea markets searching for everything from creamers to chairs, lamenting an ongoing buyers' frustration: "It's beautiful, but expensive." Through a lot of bargaining, haggling, hoping and searching, Keith didn't find the BIG pieces he wanted at the Paris markets, so we then followed the quest on to Provence.
The behind-the-scenes glimpse at a buyer's life also showed various roles within the group, both in the planning and execution of the hunt. Everyone's got their eyes set on particular goals, and there's someone with a tape measure right alongside someone quickly evaluating whether or not an old piece is salvageable. Our favorite part was learning how Keith's early, quiet discovery of a painter (he bought one of her pieces in her mother's shop, then the commissions kept coming) allowed her career to really take off.
If you too saw the premiere episode, what did you think??
Images: Heather Blaha
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Loved it.
At first I thought I wanted his job, but on TV it looked very harried and stressful: only 2 days in Paris! stuff here is too expensive! hurry, rush down to Provence! run run run!!! gotta find that big important piece for less than 3000 euros, or whatever!!!
Got tired just watching, but loved some of the stuff he found. Also loved how he kept bellowing "SERGE!!!" every time he found something he wanted his French assistant to measure, carry, whatever. Funny and entertaining.
I get a lot of home DIY's inspiration from Anthropologie stores. They create such interesting and well thought out spaces inside the actual stores. I share them on my blog.
http://www.modernests.com/
Oh I wish Sundance would post full episodes online. I would love to get a glance at this man's job, or how he selects his artisans. Maybe one day, he would discover the artisans of Denver and I could be a contestant!
I agree with mirandabee. Looked stressful. But clearly it's still a joy when they find just the right thing at the right price.
I wish the show were longer and went a little deeper into his process. I also would have loved to have seen the final displays or environments where the pieces he purchased end up.
I really enjoyed the show, funny - I thought the stress was an adrenaline rush. Then again I thrive on that and had full confidence that the pieces desired would be found.
I enjoyed seeing how Keith worked - but like Slow Lorus would have like to see a little more of the process between the acquisition at the markets to the final product. I believe it was a 2 mins clip of a chat with a designer over one piece (the hollywood bed) and then a pic in the anthro catalogue of the reproduction. Then again I suppose that would eat into the time of the shopping scenes.
Hour long show perhaps? I would definitely watch it!
the part i didn't get was how the one piece he finds turns into stock for stores. at the end they tell you which pieces were offered at select stores, but how do they have those huge armoires and iron beds available online if they find one in a flea market. do they have copies produced? that's what i want to know.
interesting that he looked for things to go in stores as simple display pieces when we so much of their most eye-catching displays are paper crafts.
I do not have access to sundance tv but have been watching the clips and webisodes on-line. I find his process fascinating. He goes in and looks at stuff, antiques, art, and maybe doesn't find something just right but improvises and makes something new and marketable. The dealers and artists even seem amazed by the new ideas at times and the creative process gets circulated back. I would love to learn more about his creative process in general. Clearly, though, his process is collaborative, which is so beautiful and refreshing.
I also don't get the Sundance channel, but I've been watching clips of the show online. It's a great show and I was surprised how I initially wanted his job but after watching a little of the show I wasn't so sure. What a hard job! You travel all over the place and try to envision how something looks with other pieces that you've picked up along the way in an environment so far away. Oh, and you do it on a budget as well.
Like a lot of other people here, looks like a completely tiring job, but I'd love to spend a few days alongside Keith watching the process . . . oh wait, that's what the tv show is for. =)
so...since watching a few more episodes I find myself thinking a lot, like LadyJ, about the reproductions that come from pieces found on these shopping expeditions.
It's one thing if they are inspired by antiques or vintage pieces but I'm really wondering about the pieces that they buy from crafters and artisans. Do they buy a few originals and then turn around to "tweak" them and have the pieces mass produced somewhere super cheap instead of commissioning the original artists to produce pieces to Anthro specifications?
They did show how they commissioned a woman in the Turkey episode (to produce the kilim pillows) but the text that pops up in between segments specified this resulting order as a large commission for pillows. So what about all those orders that seem to consist only of a handful of original pieces? In what form do those pieces end up in the stores? And what is that process?