" Appreciation for the fine furniture his father brought in and out of their house stuck with Connors. "He would talk about the classicism of a piece or how French furniture had a lightness or a gracefulness one could not find in other antique furniture. When you hear this and you're 10, 12, 13 years old you pretend not to pay attention, but you're absorbing it. I think that was a big part of the influence that drove me to being not just a collector of West Indian furniture, but an authority." "

"Connors, 60, owner of New York's Michael Connors Gallery at 39 Great Jones St., which specializes in the decorative arts of the Caribbean, comes back to Memphis later this month for a talk on the furniture he loves. "

""Caribbean Elegance," "Cuban Elegance" and his latest book, "French Island Elegance," (Harry N. Abrams, Inc.) all featuring photos by Bruce Buck. Connors also designed two lines of West Indian-inspired furniture for Baker Furniture Co. "

"He will sign copies of his new book and speak on "European Influences on the Decorative Arts of the Caribbean" at a Decorative Arts Trust presentation Feb. 22 at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. "

"It was the idea of architect John Tackett, Brooks Decorative Arts Trust board member and co-chairman of education and programs, to bring Connors back to Memphis to speak. "What makes this truly special is that the history of the decorative arts of the Caribbean have been such an integral part of his life that this all has special meaning to him," he said. "The books were not just an assignment but a project of particular personal significance and the results of his extensive studies." "

"Connors was born in New York and moved in the 1950s with his family to Memphis, where his father began an interior design business, Jack Connors Inc. "

"Connors, who graduated from Christian Brothers High School, often went along with his dad on "what he called his 'installations'" -- when the draperies were being installed or new furniture brought in or antiques placed in his client's home. I was always in the background, absorbing all of this design and interiors." "

"His dad also took him to Chicago on buying trips to bring truckloads of antiques to Memphis. "

"Connors began collecting satinwood tea caddies and tortoiseshell boxes. "I was a box nut. I loved boxes. Then that grew into furniture." "

"He studied art at Memphis Academy of Art (now Memphis College of Art). He got his liberal arts bachelor's degree from Bellarmine University in Louisville, his master of fine arts degree from Universidad de Las Americas in Puebla, Mexico; and his PhD in decorative arts from New York University. "

"In 1972, he opened Eagull Gallery in Deer Isle, Maine, with hopes of selling his paintings. Nobody bought the paintings, but they bought the painted American furniture he used to furnish the shop. "

"Connors then began searching in attics, basements and barns for more antique pieces. "The furniture flew out of the gallery. That's when I really started cultivating my eye. I began understanding I could buy a chair for $200 and sell it for $400." "

"He was hired as the antique furniture buyer for Lord & Taylor department store in New York. "I traveled throughout the world, Southeast Asia, China. We could bring anything back and put it in the windows of Lord & Taylor. Everything sold there." "

"In 1987, May Co. bought Lord & Taylor. "The first thing they did was do away with what they called the 'image and prestige departments,' which included antiques and furniture." "

"That same year Connors opened Michael Connors Gallery. He kept his Lord & Taylor contacts. "I was bringing in Louis Philippe cherry furniture from France and beech and birch furniture from Scandinavia, Chinese wedding beds from Southeast Asia. And I was also bringing in Colonial West Indian furniture from the Caribbean." "

"He began to concentrate on the Caribbean furniture, which was a "new-found style. People had never even heard of it. I learned you never predict a fashion or a style. You create one." "

"Designers began incorporating the furniture in their rooms. "Not doing a whole room necessarily, but using one piece -- for instance, a West Indian four poster bed with mosquito netting. Or one of the West Indian planter's chairs with long extended arms. It was a new look. It made people take notice. "

""It has a simple, cultivated look. It's not intricately inlaid and there is no gold ormolu or that kind of thing, but there is a sophistication to it that you don't find in primitive furniture. It's simple, but it does have an old world sophistication." "

"In the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries, wealthy sugar planters had fashionable softwood furniture shipped from
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