It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas Market: Market Hill brings holiday magic to Round Top. In 1981, visions of sugar plums danced in the head of longtime Houston Ballet supporter Preston Frazier when he approached the board of Houston Ballet Guild with a new concept to raise money for the Houston Ballet Foundation. His dream of creating a holiday market in the spirit of the European tradition became a reality.
Henrik and Mary Follin gave us an exclusive tour of the must-see Round Top Ranch Antiques.
Upon visiting Round Top for the first time “just to see antiques” at the Fall 2018 show, Henrik and Mary Follin had no idea that they would be permanent residents, moving their school-aged children and successful Denver, Colorado-based business to rural Texas in a year’s time, but that’s exactly what happened.
Andrea Schutter Reibeling finds her natural talent as a realtor in Round Top.
One of Texas’s smallest towns, Round Top (population 90) is located on the eastern edge of Texas Hill Country. It’s about an hour-and-a-half drive from Houston and from Austin. Whichever way you arrive, it doesn’t take long for the sense of place to surround you.
Houston-based Susan Horne Antiques was born out of a love of friendship and antiques.
“For many years, as my girlfriends and I traveled to Round Top for the spring and fall Antiques Festivals, my knowledge and my passion for antiques grew, and I realized my deep desire to be in the antiques business,” Susan says.
In 2013, she started with a small booth at The Arbors.
The literal translation of “renouveau” is renewal, or a revival of something as it becomes popular again. This is the inspiration for Renouveau Antiques, a direct importer of fine European antiques. Owned and operated by Houston native Ashley Radack, Renouveau Antiques is new to Market Hill, but Ashley has been coming to Round Top for 20 years and selling here for six years, after she began importing in early 2014.
Based in Durham, N.C., Nomadic Trading Company has hand-picked items from markets around the world, including Turkey, Hungary and Germany. Since 1995, Nomadic Trading Company has stayed true to progressive vintage design concepts and specializing in reclaimed, handwoven rugs as well as vintage furniture, industrial lighting and other practical pieces for the home and commercial projects.
Based in Houston, Tribute Goods is a luxury Italian linen company that combines art and home decor. Founder/interior designer Karen Pulaski collaborates with fine artists, graphic designers, and linen purveyors to create original artwork, which is then evolved into exclusive linen collections through digital printing. The result is a canvas of the finest Italian textiles with breathtaking art and meaningful themes.
Gosia Korsakowski, co-owner of Architectural Anarchy, presents Modern State Atelier, a concept born from her love of mid-century modern design. Her focus is showcasing American, French, Italian and Scandinavian designs from well-known designers, such as Milo Baughman, Vladimir Kagan, Paul McCobb, Knoll, Gio Ponti, Marco Zanuso, Gabriella Crespi, Venini, Folke Ohlsoon and Borge Mogensen, to name a few.
Chicago-based Architectural Anarchy is known for its mix of art, architectural salvage, vintage advertising, and antique industrial pieces. Its owners, Gosia Korsakowski and William Rawski are veterans of the industry and are in their fifth year of taking their unique inventory on the road to Round Top.
Nashville native and internationally renowned designer Vincent Peach crafts a combination of casual elegance and sophisticated luxury in his fine jewelry. As a third-generation pearl man, Vincent has taken the Peach name global with designs in personal collections and over 250 retail locations all over the world.
When we reached Rudi by phone for an interview, he was seven hours ahead of us and on a seven-hour drive with his children in the car. We got disconnected briefly, and when we connected again, he had pulled over to chat with us about Schwung Home. We get the impression that this is the life of an antiquing family.
Coming from a long line of “pearl men,” Vincent Peach has created a signature brand of fine jewelry, combining rare pearls with mixed metals, exotic leathers, premium diamonds, and his newly expanded equestrian designs. A native of Nashville, Tennessee, where he still resides, Vincent designs his pieces in a studio attached to his namesake boutique in Marathon Village, and at his new flagship store in the Green Hills area. Drawing inspiration from his love of all things equestrian, luxury lifestyle, and travel, his pieces are vintage and modern, masculine and feminine, bohemian and baroque.
Houston native Stacy Graubart is a Round Top regular and returns to Market Hill in the spring. What she loves most about what she does is ‘the thrill of the hunt.’ “I also love all the creative, inspiring people I meet along the way,” Stacy says. This is especially true in Round Top. “I have been coming to Round Top for forever,” she says, “since I was a young girl. I have some long-standing relationships with vendors I’ve met in Round Top and have known for many years.” It continues to be a worthwhile experience, she says, “As a seller, I am able to clear out some of our inventory, and as a buyer, I am able to buy for our current projects. Round Top is special because of the variety of products offered at every price point.
For Jessica Fairbrother, creator of Sacred Heart Antiques, each piece is special. “I look for things with meaning, things that touch my heart, things that stop me in my tracks. I have to fall a little bit in love with it,” Jessica says. “I never know for whom I’m buying it, but my things always seem to find where they are meant to be.” Jessica shares with us a sampling of items you can find exclusively at Market Hill at Sacred Heart Antiques.
Susan Horne started her business out of a love for antiques and a desire to help clients find special pieces. Susan shares with us her excitement for the spring show at Market Hill where she will showcase her goods. “Market Hill allows us to design a beautiful showroom we can tailor to our own brand,” she says. The brand she has created is based on a promise to her customers to provide quality English antiques, unique one-of-a-kind pieces, and a wonderful experience when visiting her showroom. Her customers have been loyal customers and friends, because they have come to expect and depend on all of these things.
At Scoville Brown, you won’t find a chaise lounge or ottoman, but instead a fireplace mantel or stained-glass window. Jim Braunscheidel is in the business of architectural salvage. Unless you’re in the home building or resto industry, or a fan of HGTV’s Fixer Upper, you might not be familiar with what architectural salvage is or what it involves. When a building or home is scheduled to be demolished, Jim goes in and dismantles it, painstakingly removing items of value or intrigue, decorative or functional, including wooden floors, barn doors, crown molding – anything that displays fine craftsmanship or reflects historical significance – and finding other uses for them.
