styleNorth

Who: Wenda Thomson and Gray Abraham
What: Owned, 2,000 square foot, converted loft above two retail areas
Where: Port Hope, Ontario

Stepping into Wenda and Gray’s fantastic art deco apartment is like being transported into a 1930s film set; Fred and Ginger would be right at home dancing from room to de-lovely room. The period furnishings and details—right down to the window casings and air exchangers—are so precise it’s uncanny. Such are the rewards of a lifetime spent collecting decorative art.

I’ve always suspected that dealers keep the most exquisite pieces for themselves and now I know it’s true—Gray and Wenda’s home is a trove of museum-quality furnishings, art and accessories.

Abraham is a natty, larger-than-life character with a generous mustache and a wry sense of humour. After touring his and Wenda’s Port Hope, Ontario shop, Decollect, Abraham generously offered us a tour of the couple’s home.

The foyer of the apartment is an octagonal space crowned by an octagonal skylight that shines down on a mirrored octagonal hall table. Each side of the polygon leads off into a different part of the apartment.

First up is the living room with two seating areas and a quietly beautiful fireplace framed by two enormous line renderings for stained glass windows. A tiered Robsjohn-Gibbings Mesa coffee table sits in front of a Streamline sofa and chair set.

In the master bedroom a divine French deco bed has a wraparound headboard that incorporates night stands. Round mirrors and Streamline fixtures predominate here as in the rest of the apartment.

The master bathroom is a marvel with its octagonal window and kick-ass deco dressing table anchored by a mammoth horn chair. A long, sunken dining room is even more showstopping with its large-scale table, buffet and sideboard.

You’ll note that without exception the table top displays are immaculately styled; Gray is the co-author of a 2007 book for Schiffer called Art Deco Scapes and he’s presently hard at work on a second tome on the subject. Abraham and Thomson also provide decorating services through Decollect and are currently working on a room in Port Hope’s soon to be re-furbished Hotel Walton on the town’s main street.

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Describe your style: Hopefully evolving, usually transient but always a Gingerbread, Laura Ashley and claw-foot free zone.
Favourite element: We love all our pieces as long as they are with us, but we celebrate passing them on to their next loving relationship.
Proudest moment: Our first sale on our website www.decollect.com. It was a New York Worlds Fair paperweight to Whoopi Goldberg’s gag writer!
Best Find: An original, three panel, oil painted screen from 1925 featuring Josephine Baker.
Biggest indulgence: Our huge and impractical collection of cicada-emblazoned 20th Century faience from Provence.
Best advice: Trust your own taste and if you are trying to get a good price from a 20th Century antiques dealer, it is usually not a good idea to lead with ” oh my grandmother had one of these and threw it out.”
Why Art Deco?: It has an almost universal appeal. It’s not politically correct because it celebrates smoking, drinking and scantily-clad females holding up ashtrays, but it was fun. True, today not everybody wants to live with this style totally surrounding them but very few people leave our gallery without a slightly nostalgic smile for what must have been the “good old days”.

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