According to The Japan Times, “zakka” emerged in postwar Japan as a catch-all term for “everyday tools and objects such as kettles, brooms and buckets.” In 2001, the International Herald Tribune noted that latter-day Japan had elevated it to …
World Pieces
According to Akil Tanriguden, proprietor of the upmarket Re-Unique Art & Antique Center in Old Saybrook, a certain magic happens when someone enters his shop. “Say you come in looking for a statue of Buddha. If you stay just …
One Woman’s Treasure
“I call it, in a very affectionate way, the affliction. Because people are afflicted with the urge to collect things they know they can resell for a little bit of profit.” Carolyn Thompson is giving me an impromptu tour of …
Home Addition
Vintanthro Modern & Vintage has been a Westville staple since 2018, selling well-preserved dresses, belts, suits, boots. But there wasn’t a lot of room to carry the things that dress up homes: tables, chairs, lamps, kitchenware and more, with the …
Plant Therapy
Dogs Joplin and Gino, their chain collars jingling, are the first to greet me as I enter Anika Stewart and Georgina Gross’s Hamden home, where shelves holding carefully positioned plants climb half the perimeter of the living room. The plants’ …
Rugged Individual
At the top of the staircase to The Kilim Company, a subterranean shop tucked between Donut Crazy and Toad’s Place, a bulldog welcome sign is framed by a few exotic rugs. It’s barely a hint of what waits at …
Green Thumbing
Inside Wilson Branch Library, nine-year-old Laila is trying to decide what to plant in her garden. …