TRYON – When Linda Chalker’s husband Brian decided he wanted to have a change of course after building an antiques business in Florida 10 years ago, the couple set their sights on modern furniture.

Today, the Chalkers have a gallery in downtown Tryon at 157 N. Trade St. known as the Remi Danielle Modern Gallery. The gallery is named after Brian’s daughter Danielle and niece Remi, according to Chalker, and has pieces from the 1960s and ‘70s. 

“In Mill Spring, 18 years ago, my husband opened up Silver Creek Antiques at that big white house right where the traffic light is,” Chalker said. “It’s a two-story house and him and his wife decided to open up the antique store and they lived in the house. That’s where their daughter Danielle was born.”

Chalker said Brian’s father asked him to move to Florida to open an antique store where Brian would repair and refurnish antiques.

“The name for the gallery came when the dad was trying to think of a cool name and then somebody said why don’t you just name it Remi Danielle?” Chalker explained. “He moved to Florida and took Danielle and his wife. He worked for his dad doing antiques and then, about 10 years ago, he told his dad he’s done with antiques to open up his own store and do modern.”

The gallery on N. Trade Street opened in November. Chalker said she has pieces in The Nest, and at a booth at the Tryon Antique Mall.

“The business in Florida just grew and grew and we had decorators and designers – Marisa Tomei and Martha Stewart – come in. The difference with this store is that he picks up everything and re-lacquers everything,” Chalker said. “He’ll get a piece that has been dragged down the road and scratched and beat up and destroyed and he takes it and restores it back to the way it was.”

According to Chalker, white lacquer was a popular style in West Palm Beach and Brian became known for the white lacquer in Florida.

“Our prices are also very common sense because we want the items to move and we don’t want items to stay here and get stale,” Chalker said. “People would come in every day to see what’s new because Brian would just pump it out. After eight years, we decided the cost of living in Palm Beach was too much. We sold our business and our last day was March 31.”

The gallery is open from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. They can be found on Facebook at Remi Danielle Modern.