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player ready...Maybe there’s magic in that storefront. The place certainly cast a spell when it housed Hydrangea, the Wilmette tea room that made you feel like you had pulled up a seat at your favorite auntie’s antique-strewn table, and everything down to the sugar lumps was just as you’d read it in some cozy English primer.
And so, once Hydrangea was no longer and someplace new seemed to be stirring behind the glass at 1105 Central Ave., heads aplenty turned to catch a gander. Whatever could take the place of that tea-room treasure?
Well, welcome to Flourish, a jewel box of a shop stuffed to the rafters with drop-dead taste dripping from every last morsel — antique reproduction furnishings, the lamp you’ve been looking for, pillows to sink your weary head on. Heck, even a few racks of impeccably handpicked women’s yummies, raw silk wraps in sorbet colors. Or, get this, the line of luxury candles, soaps and lotions that Oprah and Madonna call their No. 1 favorite (at least according to O, the magazine). Votivo’s scents include red currant (Madonna’s fave), joie de Noel and black ginger (Oprah’s pick).
Be it the hand-rubbed black chest with hand-painted yellow tulips ($1,125), the whimsical chandeliers strung with Venetian glass droplets and freshwater pearls ($600 to $1,063), or the to-die-for Terry’s Toffees ($12.95) that you would have found packed in your Academy Award basket had you been a winner, you might not make it out the door empty-handed.
Mary Ruth Ryan is the proprietor, the one with the taste oozing from every corner. An interior designer by trade, she always dreamed of opening a shop, and it became darn near essential when her basement stockpiles nearly crept up the stairs to take over her Glenview house.
“My favorite thing when I was a kid was my 64-pack of Crayola crayons and my Sleeping Beauty coloring book because then I could use all my colors,” says Ryan, who once was a pediatric neurosurgery nurse.
Seems she’s been synonymous with color ever since that 64-pack. At Flourish, one wall is pistachio, the other could be called Pepto-Bismol pink, and the ceiling that brings them together is a celestial blue.
Ryan’s trick to keep everything from looking like so many Easter eggs? “Black,” she says with the confidence of a woman who knows her way around a color wheel. “I always think a room needs black to be grounded.”
For more information about Flourish or Mary Ruth Ryan Interiors, call 847-251-7141.
— Barbara Mahany
WORK IT: The bigger-than-life-size black-and-white photograph of a swinging Inga at Workroom is the first of many clues that this is not a typical window-covering shop.
Its intimate space at 1906 W. Belmont Ave. (773-472-2140, www.workroominc.com) captures the look and feel of a film or stage set.
It’s no wonder. Workroom’s owners Joel Klaff and John Diekmann come with years of film and television experience (Klaff, “Ray” and “Road to Perdition”) and visual merchandising experience (Diekmann, whose Inga photo serves as the greeter).
— Pamela Sherrod
NEW DIGS IN RIVER WEST: Woman Made Gallery moved into its new River West location at 685 N. Milwaukee Ave., last month and is all set for holiday shoppers..
Look for original designs at its Annual Holiday Bazaar, which runs through Dec. 23. Things such as the “Peace-full” coconut masks ($50 to $80) by Chicago artist Joyce Owens; paper, beaded and copper wire masks ($50 to $245) by Tappan, N.Y., artist Sandra Golbert and metal sculptures ($100 to $500) by Lostant, Ill., artist Suzanne Shafer-Wilson.
The not-for-profit gallery, which used to be at 2418 W. Bloomingdale Ave., supports women artists. Find out more about it at 312-738-0400 or www.womanmade.org.
— P.S.
SHAG, ANYONE?: Artist-entrepreneur Vidal Sasson may have to explain who he is — or who he isn’t — but not his Rug-Art. (He is not the popular hairstylist — different spelling, different man.)
Sasson’s designs are colorfully cool, like modern art for the floor. And they arrived last month at the Watson Smith showroom at The Merchandise Mart (Kinzie and Wells Streets, Suite 6-127). They are sold through the design trade. For more information, call 312-337-3202.
— P.S.
STUDIO SALES: Marva Lee Pitchford Jolly talks with her hands when she shapes clay into candleholders, boxes and story pots.
Find out just how much the self-taught Chicago potter has to say at her annual holiday sale Saturday at Mud Peoples Studio, 5326 S. Hyde Park Blvd., lower level, 773-324-4730.
Jolly, co-founder of the African-American women’s art collective Sapphire and Crystals, says the holiday sale started “years back with a few friends coming over and hanging out.”
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“I think people should see the artist and see where the artist works,” says Jolly, whose work is exhibited in museums, art galleries and private collections, including that of author Toni Morrison. “So I’ll be here the whole time mixing and talking with everyone who comes in.”
Prices: $65 to $5,000 for candleholders to story pots. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
— P.S.
MORE ARTISTS’ OPENINGS: Marilyn and Peter Frank will show off their latest glass designs Saturday at their F2 Lab, 840 W. Washington St., 2nd floor, 312-371-1391; www.f2.cc.
The husband-and-wife design team is known for their mouth-blown glass vessels, lighting, sculpture, paintings, new media and mixed-media sculptures. … From noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, industrial designer-turned-ceramist Sabrina Tongish is staging her 4th Annual Terrace Studio Holiday Show. Location: 5412 N. Kenmore Ave., #G (garden unit, enter from the street), 773-450-7244. Find a selection of Tongish’s teapots, mugs, serving trays and vases in a style she describes as “Eva Zeisel-inspired.” Some prices: $5 for a small leaf (meant to be a tiny serving plate); $15, mug; $250, large vase. … Chicago textile designer Laura Foster Nicholson has corralled six of her Chicago artist friends for her Annual Holiday Studio Sale. It’s set for 4 to 8 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Nicholson’s southeast Ravenswood loft studio: 1700 W. Irving Park Rd., Suite 205B, 773-883-1888. Along with Nicholson (who will be selling her ribbons, tapestries, ribbon-festooned tea towels and other products), the show will include Akemi Nakano Cohn (hand-dyed silk and felted wool scarves); Lynn Basa (tapestries and hand-tufted art rugs); narrative embroideries from Danielle Clements; handmade cards and stationery from Deborah Flate Ziran; hand-blended teas from Heather Rae; and pearl jewelry from Helen Tsatsos. Prices: $2 to $12 a yard for Nicholson’s ribbons; $25 to $75 for Clements’ embroideries, some with computer sound chips sewn inside so they “speak” to you. Basa will be selling two 6-by-6-foot hand-knotted rugs with a Christmas theme for $1,500 apiece. … And then there’s Bari Zaki’s main event — Zaki being a Chicago bookbinder known for her beautifully detailed handmade books, albums and boxes. Shoppers will find her paper arts and other goodies at Zaki’s 5th Annual Holiday Sale, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Dec. 11. Location: 2119 W. Roscoe St., 773-294-7766. Prices: $10 for holiday candies to $350 for a vintage typewriter. Zaki’s boxes will sell for $25 to $95. For a sneak preview, check out www.barizaki.com and hit the link to “studi-oh-la-la.”
— P.S. and Karen Klages
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