The Spice Lady

When you step inside Barbara Nass' new shop - THE SPICE LADY - your enveloped in the perfume of every imaginable spice  - sending your senses soaring. Just open three months, this airy and orderly shop is a veritable repository of both  familiar and exotic spices like galangal, ground sumac and fennel pollen. The latter says Nass, is quite lovely sprinkled on just-cooked potatoes tossed with goat cheese.

Photos by C.Whitney-Ward

Open shelves are filled with flavored salts, curries, teas, extracts, spices, herbs and dried exotic mushrooms.

Wood Ear...Matsutake...Morels anyone?

 Bushels of dried chiles beckon.

And, it's expected that you'll unscrew a lid and take an inquisitive sniff.

I'm a dedicated tea drinker and look forward to sampling the Earl Grey teas, but

also some of the more unusual teas that Barbara has found.

There's a small but nice offering of tea accessories. 

Snazzy mortar & pestles.

And several varieties of vanilla extract and vanilla beans.

Spice books too.

And there's no going back to just plain salt when you sprinkle these special seasonings on your next bowl of popcorn .

T H E   S P I C E   L A D Y

www.thespiceladysantafe.com

509 W. Cordova - El Mercado

505) 471-3833

Art of a Studio - Leonel Capparelli

A R T I S T  .   D E S I G N E R  .   R E S T O R E R

Photos by C.  Whitney-Ward

LEONEL  CAPPARELLI  IS PASSIONATE ABOUT WOOD.

He gathers it, slices great chunks of it into beautifully-grained boards, and marries them with gathered Colonial architectural elements to make unique, one-of-a-kind furniture and accessories. A native of Uruguay -  born to Italian parents - Leonel moved to Santa Fe in 1986 and opened his  shop.  Over the years he has  honed his skills, stretched his design sensibilities and cultivated clients. He has done collections and commissioned pieces for Ralph Lauren, Bloomingdale's and the  Max Factor family. Here in Santa Fe you can see his work at the Inn of the Anasazi, Hotel Loretto and most recently,  the St. Francis Hotel.

Leonel collects New Mexican and Mexican antiques and his great barn-of-a-building, tucked just off E. Rodeo Road, is brimming with eclectic finds - many that he has painstakingly restored.

This beautiful religious statue was found in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and is in the throes of being restored.

A soft brush begins the process of sweeping away layers of loose paint. Then the real work begins - filling  and repairing cracks, re-painting and restoring her to

her near-original self.

Usually clients will come in, Leonel explains, roam around and find an artifact they would like incorporated into a piece of furniture. Occasionally they will bring in a piece that they love and want re-cycled into something quite different - a  treasured headboard into a table, for example.  Leonel will do drawings...

And once approved, he and his staff create the piece in a huge workspace, filled with  electric saws, sanders and stacks of just-cut wood panels.

What emerges is a beautiful amalgam of woods and a unique

 hand-wrought treasure. Rescued from the Past - Preserved for the Future.

H A N D S   O F  A M E R I C A

401 E. Rodeo Road

505.983.5550

www.handsofamericainc.com