Shop Tour: Inside Pidgin, a New Upstate Shop by a Poet-Collector
Photography by Victor Schrager, unless noted
News of Pidgin, a recently opened upstate New York antiques shop, sent ripples of excitement through the design world, and no wonder: The owner, Kostas Anagnopoulos, is a poet and, with his husband, Jesse James, the founder behind the creative consultancy/design firm Aesthetic Movement. The offerings at Pidgin are far-ranging and soulful: “I like patina and often gravitate towards the homespun and anonymous, how something feels in the hand,” Kostas says. Come see.
Pidgin—named for the shorthand form of communication—is set in the charmingly untouched hamlet of Oak Hill, New York.
Not all is vintage, but everything has a story.
The shop is set in a landmarked Italianate building, originally a general store and more recently a record shop.
The original beadboard remnants inspired Kostas to panel the entire space, ceiling and window stage included.
Handmade "woodware" ceramics by Mame Kennedy on display—no two exactly the same.
The ladder came out of the library of an old house in Bondues, in northern France.
The shop’s hemp dishcloths, towels, and other textiles are newly sewn from decades-old hand-spun yardage from Transylvania.
Photograph by Jesse James
Pidgin’s trivets are woven in New York State from Greek leather cording.
Photograph by Jesse James
“I think old things have more soul than new things, maybe because they have a history that is a mystery,” Kostas says.
Photograph by Jesse James