North Shore treasure trove

Sheridan Keith. Pictures / Carolyn Robertson

It was always in the back of Sheridan Keith's mind to have an antiques store. But her experience with her two flower shops, Cottage Gardens, in Ponsonby and Parnell 12 years ago rather put her off another shop. The idea to turn away from the "hideous" floral arrangements of the time and do something far more natural with them was sound - it was just the partnership that proved difficult.

Keith went to London with her partner David Auburn of Auburn Antiques, Greenlane, on his buying trips around the shops, markets and fairs and was inspired to follow suit.

"I thought 'well this looks fun'," she says.

Keith, the author of a novel called Zoology and two collections of short stories, then stumbled across a shop for sale in Northcote Point.

That was 10 years ago and Antiques and Angels has been a haven for beautiful objects - many of them French - ever since. She's a firm believer in buying only what she likes so she can pass her enthusiasm on.

That rules out brown furniture. She can't stand the stuff.

"I used to think I like poignant things that have a sadness or distress about them. I do like painted things. I like unusual things. At the moment I've got a rather wonderful Portuguese fish trap, which I've lit up with white lights inside. I like things that you can use in a decorative way.

"I have an interest in things that have some sort of interesting relationship to light, like mirrors that reflect light. I'm very interested in glassware and things that you can see through."

She is known for her mirrors. She has a huge one for $18,000 that stands tall in her shop alongside the chairs, smaller tables, garden furniture, silver, glassware, Chinese cabinets, African artefacts, old Persian rugs, 60s Panton chairs and quirky finds such as the French shop sign in the shape of a bed end.

For antiques to work in a home, Keith thinks they should be mixed with things from different periods.

"I very much like the idea of a clash of modern and ancient. I think mirrors work very well with Chinese sideboards. It's really a matter of finding a look that you like.

"You can't just go and look for something you want. You've got to go and find something you love and make that work - not the other way around because you're never going to find it if you're looking for the exact thing you've seen in a magazine. Antiques aren't made to order."

It is the story behind each of the antiques that Keith loves most.

"I do like the feeling of history you get with an old piece, the idea that it's been around for a long time, that it's been used and been a part of other people's lives and it builds up what I almost think of as a dignity.

"A lot of things don't survive but the ones that do are rather heroic. They've been alive for 200 years and somebody has looked after them all that time."


10 FAVOURITE THINGS

1. My Swedish longcase clock, circa 1820. When I heard it strike for the first time it was like a voice calling from another age.

2. The new bamboo flooring in my shop - pale and dappled, it gives an entirely fresh look.

3. The air conditioning in my rather ordinary car.

4. Two Chinese 19th-century watercolour and ink bird studies. Absolutely beautiful.

5. Brahm's clarinet Quintet in B Minor, Opus 115

6. A small old mirror - probably Russian - surmounted by a double headed eagle 7 Fabric, especially linen, in mattress ticking or chinoiserie designs.

8. All colour charts, but especially the UK National Trust one, the names of the colours are pure poetry: mouse's back, eating-house red, ointment pink, sugar-bag blue.

9. My large soup tureen in Imari colours.

10. A good cup of coffee.