Kabinett & Kammer: Contemporary Art Meets Centuries-Old Antiques
Sean Scherer doesn’t really do things by the book. At Kabinett & Kammer, his antiques, curiosities, and natural wonders shop in Franklin, NY, Sean curates a collection of vintage objects with a contemporary point of view. It’s a place where 19th century furniture plays alongside taxidermied fauna and locally made blown glass objects. And, while traditional antiques dealers would balk at Sean’s disregard for pedigree and provenance, he sees it as a natural expression of both his art background (as a Manhattan based contemporary artist) and his lifelong passion for vintage. “It can be a $.50 item or a $5,000 item. It doesn’t really matter to me as long as I see something of value in it aesthetically.”
Before heading upstate, Sean lived in downtown Manhattan until the events of September 11th compelled him — like so many New Yorkers — to consider leaving the city he loved. It took just one visit to a friend’s farmhouse near Andes for Sean to contact a local realtor. What he found — Andes’ original 1800s post office — not only came to be an ideal setting for his curated collection of vintage objects with a contemporary point of view, but also, most recently, the place he calls home. The store brings in a range of customers — from celebs like Martha Stewart to casual passersby or tourists from Denmark, but Sean’s favorite patrons are the ones who’ve never owned or purchased antiques before. “My shop really is showing people a way to bring disparate objects and old objects into their life and their home that they probably didn’t think was possible before or they didn’t even realize they could fall in love with.”
This store has since moved to Franklin, NY. The images seen here are of their previous space in Andes, NY.
Photos by Christian Harder, Words by Melissa Andersen