We love a good antiques show, and last month the Antiques, Garden & Design Show at the Chicago Botanic Garden in suburban Glencoe offered a festive preview party, a wealth of design and art, and a welcome start to spring.  The show has been taking place each spring for over a decade and a half now, at a time when there is no other antiques show taking place in the city. This show brings truth to the adage "what's old is new" as it makes the case for incorporating a dynamic mix of objects into a real life home environment, both indoors and out. Wandering the show floor and perusing the many beautiful booths, and chatting up expert dealers, makes the case that one doesn't have to fill a home with standard issue pieces from a big box store. Instead, examples about of how a unique piece of furniture with a history behind it, or a small decorative item can lend much needed life to a room at a time when so much out there seems the same. 

At the preview night on April 14, over 650 party goers raised more than $200,000. Celebrating its 16th year, the Show inspires stylish living and presents beautiful gardens and objects together in a new way, making antiques fresh and appropriately vibrant. Held on the early spring grounds of the Chicago Botanic Garden, one of the most visited botanic gardens in the United States, the Antiques, Garden & Design Show is the “ribbon cutting” to spring, inspiring attendees to brighten up their homes and gardens.

More than 90 exhibitors of antiques, garden antiques, midcentury modern pieces, and art and design from around the United States and Europe created incredible tableaus in their booths for guests to shop. Martyn Lawrence Bullard was keynote speaker and honorary co-chair. Other featured speakers, Timothy Whealon, Mario Nievera and Jeff Ross, also attended the preview evening and delighted attendees during the weekend. 

Proceeds from the Show benefited the Chicago Botanic Garden’s conservation, education and research programs.

Also on view at the Garden was Laurie Tennent's Botanicals: Intimate Portraits, which continues through September 25.