Guitar picker turns his hand to picking antiques
Beau Kavanagh combines his passion for music and eye for treasures in hit reality-TV show
Near the entryway of an expansive blue building on the outskirts of St-Hyacinthe, a young man in jeans and a white T-shirt peels back some old gas station signs while a cameraman hovers over his shoulder. Inside Encan Gélineau et Fils, a dozen long benches take up space in the centre of the room, surrounded by masses of dressers, tables, chairs, lamps standing or hanging from the ceiling, dolls, bottles, side tables and more.
Tucked in a corner of the room, a second cameraman focuses on dishes and wooden treasure boxes, getting some background shots while Beau Kavanagh, camera following, joins Ken Meany and François Saint-Georges, and the three dealers begin discussing their finds. They are filming the second season of their realityTV show La Fièvre des encans, nominated for a Gémeaux in 2013 in the cultural category.
Each antique dealer on the show has a different skill set, says producer Marie Nadeau, and nothing is staged.
For the series, the trio have attended auctions in StHyacinthe, Sherbrooke and Ormstown, visited Randal Finnegan’s auction house near Huntington, and the popular annual flea market at Rockburn. “We hope to go to Vermont next season,” Nadeau said.
While the older men are experts in Quebec antiques — Meany often supplies furniture for film and TV — Kavanagh’s eclectic interests and youth (he’s 32) serve as a fascinating counterpoint. “Beau is a beautiful young man who looks and speaks differently from the other guys,” she said.
“Ken is the encyclopedia, François is the antique lover, thinking about making a profit on his buy, and Beau has a great eye, very contemporary.”
The tension of the show, once they’ve chosen the pieces they want to bid on and the price they’re willing to pay, increases as their items come up for auction.
“We give t hem a small stipend,” Nadeau said, but sometimes they go much higher.” They sometimes end up spending some of their own money.
Inside the building, Kavanagh hones in on an old Esso sign, a glitter ball chandelier, a spinning wheel, wire bistro chairs.
“When I walk in, my eyes are drawn to certain things, and I have to enjoy what I buy,” he said. “Plus, I like variety, smaller items, a mix of mid-century modern and industrial, which is high priced today.”
Who would have imagined that less than a decade earlier, Kavanagh’s stage turn was not as an antique dealer but as lead singer and guitarist with the blues trio Beau Kavanagh and the Broken Hearted. Although familiar with the antiques business since his youth — his antique dealer father, Leo Kavanagh, had a popular shop in Westmount — all the teenager wanted to do since he started playing guitar at age 14 was to play music.
“I never saw myself doing anything else,” he said.
In 2000, the group landed a record deal with Justin Time Records, but the grind of a life on the road was wearing.
“You get responsibilities, and everybody was tired of making very little money,” he said. “We grew up, I guess.”
But while life as a musician didn’t stick, Kavanagh had learned something else while touring — the allure of the vintage clothing scene.
“In the band, we always used to wear vintage clothing, and while we were playing in England we went to Camden Town Market,” he said. “I realized that the whole vibe there was exactly what I wanted to recreate here.”
Often, he had discovered, antique clothing shops might have great stock, but the atmosphere was boring. The shops in Camden Town used antiques as props.
“I wanted a shop that looked like it had been here forever.”
So, five years ago, he decided to spend less time on his music and opened a vintage clothing store on Sherbrooke St. W. i n N.D.G., offering women’s and men’s accessories, clothing and footwear in old display cabinets and on mannequins.
“We specialized a lot in leather, bags, jackets and boots; everything had to be old and legit,” he said. ginal brass studs.
His brand is pure eclecticism — as long as he likes what he’s looking at.
“I try to carry from every period that I like, including art nouveau and art deco,” he said. “I like old signs, old neon clocks, leather club chairs. I’ll try to make it all work in the shop, and will put a couple of teak pieces next to a rustic pine table.”
Current favourites in the store are an arts-and-crafts copper ceiling fixture and a massive 2.1-metre anchor.
“For me, it’s about variety — vintage with a difference,” Kavanagh said. “It’s got to be both decorative and unique.”
The TV show, he points out, came along as a direct result of his musical background and friendship with one of the trio, collector Ken Meany.
“He asked if I would do the music for the show, and I agreed,” Kavanagh said. “I did a little interview, played guitar and we ended up going from there.”
Not only was he able to provide the music for the series, but Kavanagh has managed to develop his immersion-school French so that he can contribute meaningfully to the show. Plus, he said, “I’ve learned a lot from the other two guys, who know so much about Quebec pine furniture. My father dealt in more European-style antiques and that’s what I tend to collect.”
He has been finding even more pieces because of the series, Kavanagh said.
“I go to a lot of auctions, to garage sales, estate sales. I know a lot of people in the business, a lot of old dealers I keep in contact with and a lot of people come in with stuff to sell.”
Now, after 32 episodes of La Fièvre des encans, he thrives on the fast pace of the show, all the information that comes from examining pieces and the uncertainty about what will happen during the auction.
“We basically describe the item that we’re going after, talk about its history, the price we would buy it at the auction. Sometimes we get it and sometimes we don’t.
“I buy with my eyes and what I picture that piece doing.”
The show has achieved quite a following and has been more fun than work, Kavanagh said, although they’re waiting for word at the end of January about renewal for a third season. In the meantime, he has decided to move his business from storefront to online, freeing himself from paying rent for a retail space.
“I get a lot of business from decorators, who will look at photos I post online,” he said.
Although what he plans to do with that anchor is anybody’s guess.
But it became hard to sell these items in the face of a copycat industry.
“I remember selling bags to buyers from big stores who would copy and sell them for less.”
Kavanagh’s teen years working for his father had piqued his interest in acquiring vintage musical instruments, and that grew to buying furniture, light fixtures — so many older pieces, in fact, that eventually he ran out of room at his house. So he refocused his store to carry interior design pieces, developing a décor style that seems to merge with the latest trends in interior design.
“I have industrial and I have high-end antiques, and I find there’s a way to mix it all,” he said.
He carries some mid-century, which is still popular, but loves industrial design, like metal bases, old factory tables, metal industrial lighting, all items that were mass produced for an industrial workplace.
“This is a great look, simple design but with tons of character,” he said. “These pieces have a natural patina and can be repurposed.”
For instance, he would offer a metal workbench that can be transformed into a kitchen island, glass-fronted cabinetry from medical offices or industrial stools from sewing factories.
“Sometimes, it can be a piece of machinery or an old factory mould that is a work of art,” he said.
On the other hand, people still buy high-end antiques, Kavanagh said. He carries a more unique style of vintage, like a gilded, drop-leaf Swedish empire sofa table made during the early 1800s, and an early 20th-century handpainted leather bed with ori-