New York's Cabinet of Curiosities Creel and Gow Opens Upstate
Moroccan wicker furnishings, Chinese opera headdresses, Loulou de la Falaise baubles, and silver-plated seashells made by the people who repair the Vatican’s silver. These are among the rare whatzits at the new Creel and Gow in Millbrook, New York. Jamie Creel, the co-proprietor, opened his first emporium, on East 70th in Manhattan, almost a decade ago, and it has become a destination for antiquarians around the world. In July he and partner Marco Scarani opened an outpost in the Hudson Valley to service the recent influx of full-time residents, alongside such fixtures as Martha Stewart, Bunny Williams, and Glenn Close.
Gesturing over the brilliant plumage of a taxidermy crane, Creel points out pressed flowers framed on the wall: “These 19th-century herb specimens were collected by naturalist Emile Deyrolle,” he says. “I bought 900.” Vitrines packed with treasures from Tangier and the Paris auction house Drouot form a line down the center of the store, carved mushrooms blossoming on the floor beneath.
Next door, Creel and Scarani partnered with landscape architect Anthony Bellomo to open the Orangerie; it’s a plant store and nursery that would have made Bunny Mellon swoon. “I’ve heard the word maximalist thrown around a lot lately,” Creel says mischievously. “We’re kind of like that.” Here more is not only more, it’s mandatory.
This story appears in the December 2021/January 2022 issue of Town & Country.
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