What I Saw (& Loved!) at Marburger Atlanta
A recap from the country's best antiques show
If you are familiar with antique shows in the U.S., you have likely heard of Marburger Farm, which takes place twice a year in Round,Top, Texas and has been attended by everyone from A-list celebrities to notable interior designers (Kelly Wearstler frequents the place).
I’ve been to Round Top and love it, but it is a trek! It’s proudly home to a population of 90 (at least, according to their welcome sign) and requires that you fly into a more major city, like Austin (about an hour and fifteen minutes away) before driving in to Round Top.
So when Marburger announced that they were planning an event in Atlanta this year, I jumped at the chance to attend. Atlanta is much more easily accessible and a place I frequent anyway, so why not?
I was fortunate to get an early view of the show at the patron’s preview the night prior to the show opening up to general admission and I left feeling so full of inspiration. Below, I’ve rounded up my favorite finds and the trends I felt were really running rampant through Marburger Atlanta.
Anything Figural
I love anything shaped like a person or a body part and I saw plenty of both at Marburger. Tables shaped like faces, chairs shaped like a fabulous couple having conversation with one another…. figures are very much “in” and I am on the hunt.
Animal Prints (Especially Leopard)
Animal prints have never really been “out” but I noticed them ALL over the place at Marburger Atlanta. I especially love how many of the vendors treated leopard print as a neutral, pairing it with other patterns and colors and allowing it to anchor a space. My favorite iteration of the trend was a long, thin, Chinese bench than the vendor had topped with a custom leopard pillow — it created a great juxtaposition between antique and modern and primitive and luxe.
Plaster and Ceramic Draping
I have such a soft spot for trompe-l'œil — an artistic term for the optical illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. It’s so whimsical and fun. Case in point: these pieces above. The draped fabric table is actually ceramic and the curtain-like mirror is actually made of wood. Both are incredible.
Pop Art
I’ve always loved pop art and fondly remember when it seeped back in the discourse circa 2006, when Factory Girl put Edie Sedgwick (and Sienna Miller) on all our radars. These days, I like tiny touches of pop art — bright colors, nods to consumerism, child-like shapes. The paintings above touch on everything I like about the genre. And those little ceramic clouds on the right? Oh man, are those good. I want a hallway full of them.
Vintage exhibition posters
I will talk about exhibition posters until I’m blue in the face and no one can stop me. Especially now that I saw them all over the place at Marburger. If you can’t afford a Jasper Johns original (we don’t all have Stegosaurus money, after all), you can still find a Jasper Johns exhibition poster! Look for posters with dates and locations (i.e. the gallery or museum where the exhibition took place).
Malachite Accents
I have long had a love for malachite jewelry but something clicked in me when I saw these little ottomans covered in a malachite-like fabric. What a gorgeous pop of green and the marble-like swirls add so much interest. I’m now on the hunt for malachite fabrics, lampshades, wallpaper (to use to cover small boxes and accessories) — you name it.
Rapid Fire
The balm I’m taking with me everywhere: I have done a lot of travel over the past year and I have been desperate to find a travel-sized cleanser that works (i.e. removes makeup, impurities, etc. without stripping your skin of all its own oils) and won’t leak all over the suitcase. Enter this under-$16 miracle. It’s a balm, so the consistency is a bit like Vaseline — which means it won’t leak even if it turns upside down in your carry-on. You also only need a tiny smidge rubbed onto your hand, then mixed with water and it becomes a foamy cleanser. It removes makeup (especially hard-to-remove eye makeup!) exceptionally well but it also functions as a cleanser, so it cleans pretty deeply.
A collab worth shopping: Remember when Target used to do stellar collabs with the likes of Missoni and Proenza Schouler (I still dream about the Neimans x Target collab, during which I scooped up so much Rodarte, Eddie Borgo and Tham Browne)? The Target collabs in recent year shave been pretty meh, in my opinion. But over at J. Crew, they are crushing it, joining forces with notable designers to create really luxe-feeling pieces that won’t break the bank. The latest from the Maryam Nassir Zadeh X J.Crew collection includes this sheer chiffon top that feels at once prim and sexy (a white lace bra peeking out from under this? Imagine!) I also really love the pink, one-piece swimsuit.
Let’s chat: I want to make use of all Substack has to offer — but specifically, the chat function, which allows us all to speak to one another. This week, I’m opening the convo by asking what’s inspiring YOU lately. I think this is a fascinating question because often when I shop, even if I don’t buy anything, I am storing away ideas for later. This might mean I go to Saks Fifth Avenue and see a killer mesh bag by Khaite, then later see something similar at an estate sale and a bell goes off in my head. Or it might mean I see a 1950s Nascar jacket at Marburger (yes, this happened) and decide I will simply die if I don’t get one — so I start hunting eBay every day for it! What are you looking for and how is what you see in the wild inspiring your shopping these days? Are you buying what you see? Or are you shopping to gather inspo, then trying to track down the items at a better price elsewhere?
and I’ll leave you with this…