October 2000
Richard Fishman, better known as Mr. Rick to Art Deco aficionados who know him, started collecting Art Deco cocktail shakers before they were trendy. Rick loves everything Art Deco----the furniture, the decorative pieces and the culture and lifestyle that go with it.
Mr. Rick’s Martini Club is just one of the out growths of Rick’s passion for Deco. It’s a Bay Area Club that meets several times a year for special events complete with live music, period attire held in a setting befitting the period along with, yes, martinis served in the most Art Deco of Art Deco martini shakers.
Another outgrowth of Rick’s passion for Deco has been his very successful Internet store, Art Deco Collection.com. Over the past years, Rick has been importing the finest Art Deco silver, glass lighting and pottery pieces from Europe, specifically from England, France Belgium the Czech Republic and Germany.
His business had grown to a point where he was running out of space to store his shipments before he could turn them around to send to his customers. Rick decided to get a larger space where he could inventory his shipments, photograph his pieces for the Web and generally more efficiently operate his growing business. An ideal location became available right on Grand Avenue across from Lake Merritt in Oakland and one thing led to another. It seemed the perfect location for not only his office and warehouse but a retail location-----and Art Deco Collection .com the retail store, was born.
Rick feels the East Bay is read for a high end Art Deco shop. In the past, San Francisco was the area destination for this genre. Walk in to Rick’s store and Art Deco permeates the bones. With elegant black velvet drapes as a backdrop, the glass showcases which line the wall sparkle with sterling cocktail and coffee sets, glass pieces and ceramic cloisonne pottery from Belgium and France. This set is sold, but if the opportunity presents itself, its worth a stop by just to see a most unusual and stunning 1926 American sterling Gorham cocktail set which recently sold for over $10,000.
In addition to the decorative accessories, Rick is focusing on bringing in a fine selection of European Art Deco furniture and lighting which had not been his focus when his business was just Internet based. He is anxiously awaiting his first shipments which are due in this month.
A Grand opening celebration was held at his store on Sunday, September 24th and, even just after a short afternoon visit with Rick, I’m quite sure it was done with class and panache.
Looking for very fine Art
Deco? Art Deco Collection.com is located at 546 Grand Avenue in Oakland. For
a preview, visit the web sit at www.artdecocollection.com where you will also
find a link for Mr. Rick’s Martini Club. For information and store hours,
call (510) 465-1920
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