The Couple behind the business

John and I have been interested in antiques since childhood. John started out in San Francisco collecting coins and stamps with his father. I loved antiquing with my mother in the atmospheric antique shops of the California Gold Country. We met while in college: U.C. Berkeley for me, San Francisco State for John. Our idea of fun was to go to the Lowie Museum of Anthropology and then to scour the Bay Area antique shops and the Alameda Flea Market in the hope of finding similar things.

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By 1972 it seemed apparent that we should set up the antiques business that we continue to run today. Our first big challenge was to expose ourselves to as much of the art market as possible. That led us to several driving trips across America, stopping at any and all antique shops and museums. It was learning before the internet.

Eventually we settled for eight years in Pennsylvania where we took advantage of the rich cultural heritage of the East Coast. In 1985, lured by England's reputation as "the attic of the world", we moved to London. There we opened the antique shop Arieta Decorative Arts on Kensington Church Street. We signed a lease which ran for three months but stayed there happily for thirty years.

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The closure of our shop and most recently the pandemic has led us to where we are now - the opening of this online shop. As always, we are offering a selection from around the world spanning pre-history to the 1980s. We hope that here you can find quality craftsmanship, something rare, a bit of mystery, the unexpected, a connection with another place, an enjoyable experience.

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Valerie Arieta