Creativity Expressed
After more than five decades in business and 76 trips around the world, you'd think island designer Don Freedman would have seen it all, but every year he brings new designs into his shop that delight his many regular clients and inspire new ones.
Located in a corner shop on Centre Street just before Main, this hub of creativity offers sophisticated furnishings, unique decorative accents, and clocks galore. "My goal...my idea," Don explained, "is to figure out how to fill a home with items that are as unique as they are artistic without a shocking price." Clearly he has succeeded in pleasing his customers, many return season after season. As we paused our chat for Don to assist a woman in choosing a new mirror, her husband quipped "our yacht is becoming a Don Freedman design, just like our ski house in Vermont...there's always something new here to catch our eye."
This season, Freedman has introduced to his island clients the French Industrial look..."we've taken it back to the way it was—heavy and real," he explained. The tables have forged iron legs and the dining and cocktail tables have a wheel that works to make the table go up and down." He's also offering more glass to add an organic look, a subtlety to room design. Many of the glass candlesticks, vases, and bowls are mercury glass that harkens back to a bygone era. "You don't want every individual piece to stand out in a home. If you do then it goes from being interesting and elegant to being a novelty." The glass items have been chosen to fit in well with many of Freedman's bolder statements, such as his distinctive leather chests, bookcases, valet, bar, jewelry box, and desk.
Don also likes to introduce touches of whimsey, like his red-white-and-blue tin animals (the elephants and donkeys are perfect for an election year), stylized whales, and a variety of carvings that can add a playful, fun-loving tone to a room.
Freedman is also known for his wide selection of unique and distinctive clocks. There are twenty different designs, each in three different finishes: antique brass, shiny brass, and nickel. Some single sided, some have movements on both sides, and many sport some of Don's favorite sayings "There's no time better than now" and "Love your dreams for your dreams have no boundaries." The clocks Freedman's sells are guaranteed for the life of the store..."and we've been around for 31 years!"
Freedman's of Nantucket is located at 14 Centre Street.
Don't miss his annual Labor Day Sale happening this holiday weekend!
