. . . Becomes your treasure at Cottage Art in Little India
By Dave Wielenga

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES

Cottage Art is to Retro Row what Meow is to Little India, which is to say they are pretty much around-the-world away from each other—and then again, because the world is round, they’re really kinda right next door.

Cottage Art is a marvelous vintage store in Artesia, situated among a few blocks of Pioneer Blvd. that the city still refuses to officially designate as Little India. But without bowling shirts, Bettie Page leopard prints, Bakelite jewelry or . . . I don’t know, what’s something else that’s old and begins with the letter B . . . its vintage appeal isn’t immediately evident to everybody.

Even after the sweet saleswoman, Desiree, explains that most of the exquisitely colored and intricately crafted clothes, tapestries and furnishings come from another era—another Indian era—I can’t tell a classic sari from a tired apology.

None of this detracts from the marvels of Cottage Art, which unfold through three magical rooms—a main showroom and a pair of side parlors—that are neatly arranged, but more according to aesthetics than categories. Jewelry, furniture, shoes, statuary, incense, lanterns, paintings, candles, curtains, bedspreads, belts and pillows are displayed throughout the store. It’s kind of like exploring a grand old house of someone with the wildly eclectic tastes of a pack rat combined with the obsessive cleanliness of a neat-freak. The experience is dizzying, but spotlessly dusted.

Like most vintage shops, Cottage Art exists in the disconnection between what is treasure and what is trash. Apparently, the phenomenon is international. It certainly exists in India, anyway, which is where proprietor Manu Nagrani travels three times a year to scoop up tossed-out remnants of a glorious past that lots of people think is passé.

“All across India there is the process of breaking down old buildings and putting up new structures,” says Nagrani, who was born in India in the 1940s when it was still under British rule and has subsequently lived in Hong Kong, Kuwait, Cerritos and Buena Park. “That goes not only for the buildings, but the things inside them. In their minds it’s: throw it out and get something new.”

In Nagrani’s mind, meanwhile, it’s: cha-ching!

“There may be no local market for these things in India,” he says, smiling, “but they definitely have an appeal to a certain clientele here in the United States.”

Most of Cottage Art’s customers are Indians seeking the familiar trappings of their culture. But they are also the store’s most careful shoppers—savvy not only about the quality of the merchandise, but also about how much it would cost to have relatives and friends back home in India ship them the same thing, brand-new.

“These are the people who keep our prices low,” Nagrani says with a chuckle.

The rest of Cottage Art’s clientele come from surrounding cities and even beyond, people who are fascinated by the color, the mystery and the pure coolness of the merchandise. They dig the affordability, too.

There’s a sense of history imbued here, but also the adventure of scavenger hunting, as well as the fun of found art. Most of the magnificent furniture in the store used to be other things—shutters, doors, windows, ox carts. Craftsmen have used their huge, heavy, and intricately hand-carved elements to make tables, bookshelves and even front-porch swings.

The effect is . . . is . . . well, anybody who has ever yearned for one of those sofas made from the back end of a ‘59 Cadillac would understand.

COTTAGE ART 18619 S PIONEER BLVD | ARTESIA 90701 | 562.924.6268 | COTTAGEART.COM