Fan Tan Tastic

I'd like to show you these boxes that I bought at Fan Tan Market at the weekend. They are vintage Chinese and they are so pretty. Fan Tan Market, not to be confused with Fan Tan Gallery, is a rabbit's warren of a store that you enter on Fisgard St and you exit into the dark and spooky narrowness of Fan Tan Alley(below)! They stock every Chinese import you can imagine from cheap little plastic whistles to vintage silk lanterns all piled high in an ancient cave-like space. Anyone who's been there(Hanna?) knows what I am talking about - it's brilliant fun!

Here are a couple of pictures of Fan Tan Alley - it's as creepy and cool as it looks.

The boxes remind me of the 1930s Shanghai posters that we found last summer at that local yard sale. The posters are about 20 years older than my new boxes, I think. I still love these posters - I see them on Ebay now and then but they get snapped up really fast.

Good morning!

I'm back from my mini vacation to Victoria. It was a lovely break. Victoria has such a beautiful climate - they don't really experience winter at all(we lived in Victoria for 3 years and I loved it!) So around about this time of year it's always great to fast forward ourselves into spring and take a look at how the warmer half lives! We were only away for 3 days but we managed to pack a lot of eating drinking and walking in. I took lots of photos with my iPhone so I thought I'd share those with you. today. Doug took some great ones on his camera too so I'll get those downloaded some time tomorrow and sort through them for a post here in the next couple of days(hint: he got quite obsessed with the red lanterns hanging all over Chinatown!)

The flight into Victoria is gorgeous - flying right over the Gulf Islands.

Below - Fan Tan Gallery

One of our first stops in Chinatown was a favourite of mine Fan Tan Gallery(who I featured right here a year or so ago - these 1st two pictures are from the previous post just to give you an idea of what a cool space it is.)

I was really impressed with the new steel furniture that they have. Great patina!

These sweet little vintage egg cups were in one of the wooden cupboards at Fan Tan - they have a few choice vintage pieces in the store.

Next stop was Chintz and Co(below) - which is a bit of an institution in Victoria - another fabulous interior space - probably originally a warehouse, on the waterfront - high ceilings and brick walls, lots of levels and tons of cool stuff.

How sweet are these little blue dressers?

Stopped and bought some tea at a great new tea house (Venus Sophia) across the street from Fan Tan Gallery on Fisgard St - owned by some former Nelson residents - it's a wonderful new bright spot in Chinatown - below - and the decor is WONDERFUL.

Victoria | Fan Tan Gallery

I am so excited to introduce you to one of my favourite stores, Fan Tan Gallery in Victoria BC. This wonderful store has been in this location for at least 25 years and has evolved into a fabulous collection of curious decorative items from around the world and truly gorgeous homewares. The location, in China Town, just adds to the mystery and intrigue and makes it all the more exotic. The wonderful storefront with the floor to ceiling windows is so dramatic - I get so excited when I'm going for a visit. I don't think I have ever left empty handed. It's a big store with 2 main retail areas joined by a "bridge", a back courtyard where the sun shines in and a very cool upstairs that looks like an attic(many of the China Town stores have these elevated gallery areas that are original to the building). The store inside is dark and colourful with old plank floors and brick walls. You can buy everything from furniture and rugs to jewelry and linens - all beautifully displayed in vintage fixtures and baskets.

This is the front area by the front door - you can see the elevated attic space that many of thee  China town stores seem to have.

Above is the front of the other side of the store where most of the furniture is(below)

This is the very back of the store - it's like a porch with a courtyard. There's lots of cool textiles and vintage kitchen wares back here - check out the huge selection of oil cloth - I have never seen so many great patterns. And aren't these aprons so cute!

Fan Tan Gallery is located at 541 Fisgard St in Victoria BC. You must go.

Merchandizing - that undefinable something . . . . .

If you have been following my blog for a while you will know that I am a big fan of eclectic shops with quirky personality and bundles of style. The kind of shop that offers a selection of old and new and imported and handmade and displays all those treasures in fabulously vintage cupboards or hanging from old tin ceilings and piled on top of perfectly scruffy old tables. You know what I mean - I know you do. There is a fine line that some stores seem to understand - kind of chic but not shabby chic, slightly bohemian, not too antiquarian, not too much imported stuff but definitely edgy and ethnic, not too many reproduction tchochkes and definitely, no definitely not twee. Why are there so few stores like this now? What has happened to them all? Why is it that Anthropologie is the only large chain store that seems to have figured it out that the average gal wants something special when they go shopping? Why is it that we really are drawn to this undefinable, abstract style of merchandizing?

So far in my travels there are only a handful of stores that fall into this category for me - here are a few(but not all) - Fan Tan Gallery, Victoria BC. Any Anthropologie anywhere. The Rubaiyat, Calgary. Salamagundi, Vancouver BC. Cabin Fever, Sandpoint Idaho, ABC Carpet and Home, NYC. Fish's Eddy, NYC. The Cross, Yaletown Vancouver. Watson Kennedy, Seattle. Most of which I featured here over the last few months.

Now it's your turn - I want to know what stores you have found in your neck of the woods and beyond that just have that undefinable something that sets them apart. Let's make a list . . . . . .

Happy Monday - I mean Tuesday!

Hello - hope you all had a nice weekend - It's a bit of a late start on the week for me. We got back from Victoria rather late last night after a couple of delayed flights. I'm feeling a bit blurry this morning! I didn't have a chance to upload all my pictures yet but I thought I would start off with a few images from China Town in Victoria - a small but very historic and intriguing area of Victoria which has also become a very stylish little corner of the city - and always one of my favourite haunts. We used to live in Victoria a few years ago and I spent a fair amount of time in this part of the city for a few reasons -  great fresh produce at the Chinese market, some of the best and most stylish stores in the city and my favourite coffee shop. So tomorrow I will show you my favourite store, Fan Tan Gallery, and today I have a few local shots and a couple from my fave coffee shop, Bean Around the World.

China town in Victoria is home to some cool, edgy shops, bakeries, cafes and tattoo parlours(above)

Many of the store fronts are very old and the buildings, I suppose, would be perhaps 150 years old(?) Below is the interior of Bean Around The World. Great coffee and atmosphere that you can only get after being in the same location with a loyal fan base for many years. Like many of the China town stores it is a very long skinny building with a brick interior walls and very high ceilings. They have an old wooden phone booth at the back for making calls with a great neon sign hanging over it. Lots of Chinese lanterns and vintage signage - oh and great coffee too - Black Dragon is my favourite.

I loved this tiny piece of stenciled graffiti - Victoria is a harbour city, in fact the city is built all around a fully functioning inner harbour, so the tall ship image is very appropriate!