Shop Visit: Weston Table
January 1, 2020
Text by Erika Ayn Finch
This story begins, fittingly, around an actual Weston table.âDianne OâConnor, a Montana native whoâd had a career in finance before deciding to stay home with her five children, sat her family down one night in their Weston, Massachusetts, dining room and told them that she planned to dive back into the workforceâon her own terms.
OâConnor wanted to marry her love of decor, travel, and entertaining, but she didnât want to give up being an involved mom. A year later, in 2015, she and her friend and business partner Kate Arnold launched an immersive online marketplace, westontable.com. The duoâs purpose is to encourage shoppers to slow down and purchase with intention.
âWe wanted to change the way you think about how you spend your hard-earned money,â recalls OâConnor, âand to teach people to buy with their heart. The site was designed to offer not only a product but an experience.â
That experience includes anecdotes about the international roster of artisans Weston Table represents along with travel blogs, recipes, global restaurant recommendations, and a gift registry. The product photography on the site is noticeably different from most online boutiques. Eschewing silhouetted images, Arnold, who captures the majority of the photos, uses lifestyle shots to tell a story. Eyeing those Swedish-made oil lamps? Hereâs how they will look lit on a flower-festooned picnic table.
Last April, OâConnor and Arnold opened a physical space in Westonâs tiny downtown. Entering the shop, youâre greeted by a wall of vintage Old World oyster plates. (Thereâs one plate on the wall from the U.S.; make sure you ask about the story behind it.) Wool blankets from Swanâs Island, Maine, and sushi plates handcrafted in Arizona coexist with Match pewter, proprietary maple syrup, Simon Pearce barware, antique French cutting boards, designer fire extinguishers, and a repurposed, vintage Louis Vuitton trunk. At the back of the boutique, a wall of screens flashes images from the Weston Table website.
OâConnor bills the space as âthe new nostalgia.â Nothing insideâor onlineâis too precious for everyday use, even if that means thinking outside the box. (Champagne buckets as waste baskets or flower containers? Why not?) Itâs a place to pause, ponder, and, dare we say, relax. Thereâs a story behind each object, and once youâve heard one story, youâre curious for more. âEvery nook and cranny reveals a treasure,â says OâConnor.
Weston Table, Weston, Mass.
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