Gloria Sehnke`s dark eyes sparkle when she talks about the banners she designed in memory of her late mother. ”I felt I had to create something as a tribute to her,” she said, ”something dramatic, shimmery. I wanted it to glow.” She and a New York artist friend, experimenting with different materials and painting techniques, came up with a series of bunched-fabric wall hangings, hand-painted and flecked with bits of mirror. The banners have become popular sellers in a shop filled with decorative accessories that range from the breath-taking to the bizarre.
”The things we carry, you have to have an imagination to use,” Sehnke said.
Her years of experience in visual merchandising-creating department store displays in which the props often attracted as much interest as the merchandise-gave her the idea for Fragments. She opened the business two years ago with the assistance and encouragement of her mother, Evelyn Huecker.
Sehnke regularly travels to arts-and-crafts shows across the country in search of what she call the ”unique and affordable”: picture frames, baskets, bowls, candles and candle holders, wall and table sculptures, pillows, jewelry-and other objects that defy classification. She encourages customers to collect what they like and make it work, allowing merchandise to go out on 24-hour approval.
A large part of her business is plaster columns, which come in various sizes and dozens of finishes. Sehnke suggests using them as bases for glass tables, pedestals for sculpture or draped with fabric for visual impact.
Though she has an art background, Sehnke doesn`t consider herself an artist and prefers to focus her talents on design and display. Every two weeks she changes her windows, and four times a year she changes the look of the store entirely, right down to the shopping bags and gift boxes, which she has hand-decorated with seasonal themes.
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Fragments, 444 W. Northwest Highway, Barrington, is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, but to 8 p.m. Thursday. Monday hours are by appointment. Phone 708-304-9090.
