For the wildly creative, it can be exasperating to live in a prosaic one-bedroom apartment. “They all look the same. It’s impossible to doanything different with them,” laments Chicago hairstylist John Lanzendorf. But rather than complain, Lanzendorf managed to make his ho-hum, 1,000-square-foot Streeterville apartment unique. “I started collecting,” he says, in a tone that suggests the answer was obvious.
Did he ever.
First came several hundred Steiff teddy bears, followed by parrots–more than 300 in bronze and 10 rare live ones. Whenever he would tire of a collection, which took about 10 years, he would sell it off and start anew. “My mother used to drag me antiquing as soon as I could walk, so the acquisition process is in my blood. I’m a little obsessive-compulsive about it,” he admits.
In 1994, he decided he wanted to collect “something intellectually challenging.” Inspiration came from a toy dinosaur he had saved from childhood. Within seven years, he amassed more than 1,000 dinosaur artifacts, a collection of such significance that it was exhibited at the Field Museum of Natural History when Sue, the world’s largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, was unveiled in 2000. Lanzendorf had also become an authority on the topic and wrote “Dinosaur Imagery” (Academic Press, $49.95) at the time.
Then the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis came calling in 2001, angling to buy the collection to anchor its dinosaur exhibit. “I hadn’t made it to the 10-year mark yet, but they took me to Mongolia to see fossil sites and I fell in love with the furniture and art there,” he explains. So when he came home he sold the museum his entire dinosaur collection.
With his apartment empty except for his bed and a coffee table, and cash to re-invest, Lanzendorf was free to pursue his new passion: Asian art. He began amassing pieces under the tutelage of Doug Van Tress, co-owner of The Golden Triangle, a River North antique gallery.
At first, he says, “I went crazy and had over 500 pieces.” But the furnishings took up more space than the dinosaur artifacts, and he decided to trade out anything made for tourists or less than 100 years old, and replace them with pieces that had more significance.
Today, he visits Asian destinations frequently, to see the sights and to buy artifacts.
But he now has a ripened philosophy on the collecting process. “All the fun is in the hunt. We don’t really own anything but what we have in our hearts. And the only important thing is the difference we make in other people’s lives. So if someone came along and wanted to buy it all, I’d sell.”
Of course, that would give him an opportunity to start something new. “Maybe dog breeding … or collecting canine [oil paintings],” he muses, inspired in this case by Louis, his Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen (the name of the basset breed as published has been in this sentence and in a subsequent reference in this text). The 1-year-old dog was the first of this rare pedigree to be bred in the United States, Lanzendorf says. “He’s very different and interesting.”
Given Lanzendorf’s quest to be unique, we can’t say we’re surprised.
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RESOURCES
Sitting room: Chinese elmwood latticework wall panels and late 19th Century British Colonial bench–both at The Golden Triangle, Chicago; 16th Century bronze Buddha from Thailand–collection of owner. Living room: dragon and phoenix teakwood carving from Thailand, early 19th Century cabinet from Shanghai, British Colonial armchair, 19th Century Chinese daybed modified into a coffee table–The Golden Triangle; Burmese blessing urns–collection of owner; Turkish carpets–collection of owner. Living room detail: 19th Century lacquered elmwood Chinese chest–The Golden Triangle; Indian deities–Asian House and collection of owner. Living room: late 18th Century Thai gilt-lacquered Buddha–Harlan J. Berk Ltd.; paintings and maps–collection of owner; pair of 19th Century Chinese armchairs–The Golden Triangle; carpets–collection of owner. Bedroom: 18th Century pharmacy chests (at bedside), 19th Century Thai bench back (used as an ornamental wall piece), late 19th Century British Colonial storage chest; pillows made from vintage Thai textiles–The Golden Triangle; Ralph Lauren bedding–Ralph Lauren, Chicago; Kane wall-to-wall wool carpet–BC Smith Design, Chicago, www.bcsmith.com.; late 18th Century Thai gilt lacquered Buddha–Harlan J. Berk Ltd., Chicago.
