I have been stealthily guarding this astonishing armoire for several years now and have imagined it nonchalantly lurking at the back of our future kitchen in all it’s Baroque splendour - solving our kitchen storage issues with incomparable beauty and grace. It has taken me a long while to even consider parting with “the pantry” but the time has come and as we assembled this beautiful piece in the Haunt showroom I found myself contemplating the extraordinary good luck that led to it’s discovery.
It was late autumn in France the day we bought the pantry. I remember waiting before the gates of the antique fair in the early morning, the frosted air was thick with cigarette smoke, diesel fumes and anticipation. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other trying to maintain some feeling in my toes. Finally the gates opened and the global throng of dealers entered like a tsunami - streams of antique dealers heading towards the various hangar sized buildings where the antiques are displayed. This is the moment of chance - that split second choice of direction which leads to a lucky find or not and the ability to purchase it before another dealer gets there first.
That particular day Simon and I had agreed to initially go in separate directions to cover more ground with a rendezvous arranged at the central café in an hour’s time in the hope that there would still be some pain aux raisins left at 8.30am to accompany a much needed coffee. It was nearly time to head back to our meeting after my first lap of the fair and I could see the crowds building around the café. Like a formula one pit stop, the dealers shift gear, pull in and lean on the bar to drink their coffee and swallow a pastry before heading back out into the fray - always moving quickly, eyes darting back and forth scouring for treasure. I ignored my gnawing stomach and the beckoning aroma of coffee and decided to check the most distant building before I returned to meet Simon.   
In the shadows at the very back of this last building I glimpsed some heavenly serpentine paintwork. I assumed that whatever this beautiful object was it had already been sold but I wandered over to satisfy my curiosity and addiction to beauty. The alluring painted doors belonged to a majestic late 17th century, Venetian garde manger and I stood in wonderment as the ghosts of a Baroque Italian kitchen populated my imagination. Hazy figures scurrying back and forth, climbing ladders to reach the serving vessels from the highest shelves - I could hear the clatter of porcelain plates, the tinkle of ethereal Venetian glass and detect the savoury scent of roasted pheasant accented, perhaps, with peaches.
 I was transfixed, transported and very quickly transacted - to my surprise, this astonishing cupboard was not yet sold. I wallowed in the pleasant sensation of having been blessed by such outrageous good fortune and simultaneously felt a little overwhelmed by the responsibility of such a purchase … shouldn’t this be in a museum ?
The success of each and every buying trip we make ultimately relies on chance and every antique fair we visit is another roll of the dice. The purchase of this sublime cupboard was an unexpected stroke of good luck that I could happily accommodate for a lifetime.