Huff Harrington Home

Popular art gallery owners expand their brand
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Photograph by Judith Pishnery

If your bucket list includes shopping in Provence with Ann Huff and Meg Harrington, the art dealers–cum–tour guides whose eponymous gallery is just off Roswell Road, now all you have to do is drive over to West Paces Ferry. Their second store, Huff Harrington Home, is a trove of French and Belgian treasures accented with homegrown finds both spunky and glam.

The two entrepreneurs got their start showing artwork in private homes, and their gallery, founded in 2005, has always included a small sampling of furniture. Clients have naturally asked for advice on arranging interiors. “They would say, ‘I love the way you put this abstract next to that [chest]. Would you mind coming over and helping me? I have another abstract, and I just don’t know how to make it work with my Louis XVI chair that I inherited from my great-aunt Louise,’” says Huff.

Whether for art or furniture, the partners’ philosophy is simple: Buy what you love—even if it’s not the size and shape you were looking for. “By collecting what you love, it’s amazing; you won’t have to think about it,” says Harrington. “It will go with something else.”

In fact, that was their litmus test for stocking the new store. They kept asking, “Do we just love this?” If not, the item was crossed off the list. The result is a refreshingly original mix of furniture, accessories, antiques, and gifts. There are double-strand pearl bracelets fastened with vintage Chanel buttons ($325); lightweight cotton foutas, which are elegant fringed towels that can double as tablecloths or throws ($42); felt trash cans (from $36.50); Bagllerinas, leather ballet flats with scored soles for easy packing ($175); and fabulous tables, ranging from vintage bamboo, recycled Parisian bistro, and Belgian oak to an orange lacquered console with Moroccan trim.

The sunny industrial-style space, with its wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, used to be a Mercedes dealership. At first the duo had no idea how to fill its 4,000 square feet. In fact, to hear them tell it, the gallery did little to initiate them into retail. They joke about miscues, like nearly missing delivery of their first container or befriending unsavory-looking sources in the remote French countryside. But don’t be fooled. These two are zany in an Audrey Hepburn kind of way—très chic. 102 West Paces Ferry Road, 404-467-0311, huffharrington.com

This article originally appeared in our January 2012 issue.

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