Huff Harrington’s three-story townhouse in the Galleries of Peachtree Hills is a wonderland of “crunchy” antiques, modern touches, and thoughtful accoutrements.
Meg Harrington, smartly dressed in a delicate silk necktie, flitted about the space, dropping perfectly pronounced French colloquialisms from time to time, while aptly guiding me through the three floors of Huff Harrington’s Peachtree Hills location.
Eventually, Meg and I sat down on the third floor for our interview, where Ann Huff was on the phone from her l’appartement in Paris. It was delightful to hear the two business partners affectionately refer to each other as “Madame,” while reminiscing about the past 20 years of business and the serendipity of their meeting.
“I think it was a Wednesday afternoon in 2006, we had carpool to pick up, and Ann and I said, let’s open a gallery together. We didn’t even really know each other; it was the weirdest thing, we just really hit it off,” reflected Meg.
In the third-floor design studio, a cozy, well-decorated attic with slanted ceilings and panels of black-and-white leopard-print wallpaper, I had the privilege to hear the story of Huff Harrington, 20 years later.
Where It All Began
At the time of their meeting, Ann and Meg, who had successful careers in PR and marketing, sold art out of their respective homes, Meg French art, and Ann local art. The two art aficionados agreed to meet for lunch to share ideas and commiserate over the irksome inconveniences (excessive nail holes, price tags on artwork when guests come over for dinner, and more) that came with running an art gallery out of their own living and dining rooms.
At that fateful lunch, Ann and Meg discovered that they had more in common than they could have ever imagined. “We weren’t separated by six degrees of separation; it was really one degree of separation. Ann was raised in Switzerland. I was raised in Europe. She’s bilingual. I learned additional languages. My sister went to boarding school in Switzerland. We were both kids to older parents, so we were raised with a very strong work ethic, and we just clicked on so many levels,” said Meg.
Thus was born Huff Harrington’s first business venture, Huff Harrington Fine Art: “The next thing we knew, we had this little cottage on Roswell Road,” said Meg. This cottage was nestled snugly in what was previously a Mercedes-Benz dealership turned shopping center.
It was important to both women that the atmosphere of the gallery felt both friendly and open, compared to other white-walled establishments they had stepped into previously.
“We hired Linda Mohan, who was still with us, this devastatingly chic and fun woman who was just so vivacious and warm. Because of her, the clients, I think, really enjoyed coming in,” said Meg.
Huff Harrington’s original location was often graced by celebrities staying at the St. Regis.
“Pete Townshend visited the gallery once. Linda happened to be at the store that day, and she loves Pete Townshend. She was smart enough to run back to our old-fashioned music system and change the music to his songs. She’s absolutely charming, and she went up to him and batted her eyes,” laughed Ann.
The Next Step
“I will say, we both run about at the same pace. We both have very high energy, and it’s not that we get bored quickly, but we’re always looking for the next thing,” Meg said, followed by a “Wouldn’t you say, Madame?” to Ann over the phone.
Nearly five years after opening their successful fine art gallery, Ann and Meg began searching for a new venture to pursue. “We decided to do the most difficult and the most expensive thing, which is a full-on retail store,” said Meg while laughing.
But despite their lack of experience in the retail space, Meg and Ann dove right in. They detailed various trips to the market, where their enthusiasm was often met with skepticism.
“We had a little bit of a learning curve,” began Meg, “but we were very, very lucky because we happened upon some fabulous employees,” finished Ann. According to Ann and Meg, these business-savvy employees brought Huff Harrington to life.
Going Global: Huff Harrington Returns to France
Like most business owners in 2009, Ann and Meg felt they needed a new initiative to reinvigorate their sales. The two Francophiles had previously taken a trip with friends to the south of France, and with their international upbringing and extensive knowledge, leading international trips to France became the natural next step.
On their first trip, in 2010, Meg and Ann cooked, cleaned, drove, entertained until 11 p.m., and on top of all of this, still ran Huff Harrington Home back in Atlanta.
“We also found out that we can’t be in the kitchen at the same time. We work really well together, but not well in the kitchen,” laughed Ann.
Each year, Meg and Ann lead nearly nine trips: immersion stays in Provence, watercolor tours through the countryside, and buying-and-sourcing runs to Paris for trade and retail clients.
“Those [Paris] trips are actually very fast-paced,” said Meg. “You’re buying, you’re negotiating, but luckily we have great relationships with all the vendors.”
What initially appeared to be an offshoot of Huff Harrington ultimately became a vital part of the business model. Not only do they source antiques and accessories for Huff Harrington Home while abroad, but the international trips offer a big boost on social media.
Diving Into Design and the Final Move to Paris
While Ann and Meg had plenty of experience with what they called “fluffing,” the duo took a leap of faith to launch their own design firm, Huff Harrington Design.
Coinciding with the rise and fall of COVID-19, Huff Harrington Design took off.
What is their design style? An eclectic mix of tasteful antiques and modern touches. Put simply, it’s an intentional mix of old and new.
“That’s the fun and the challenge,” answered Meg. “To create that mix. And once you create it, the magic happens. That’s in itself a very French concept,” she finished.
Thanks to her international background and previous experience in the Parisian design industry, Ann was already working with a few clients in Paris during the height of the pandemic. While much of the industry was still in lockdown, the idea came to Ann.
“I said to Meg, as soon as COVID opens up and we’re allowed back into France, I’d like to go and just see whether or not there’s a possibility we could have an office there that would really formalize our design in Paris,” said Ann.
And that is just what she did. In 2021, Ann and her husband made the move to Paris, establishing Huff Harrington’s international outpost in the city’s 7th arrondissement.
While she still visits family and friends in Atlanta, Ann now designs for Americans who are buying apartments in Paris. Thanks to her unique expertise, Ann works with clients through the entire renovation process, from evaluating the property to gutting and reworking the often antiquated plumbing and electrical systems in the historic apartments.
“Very few people understand this clientele like we do, because often they’re from the South or they are from other parts of the U.S. They gravitate towards us, because the design that we do is more typical French than even the French are doing,” said Ann.
“Everybody wants that little piece of the Parisian dream,” Meg added.
The Art of Mix Twenty Years Later
Twenty years on, Huff Harrington has become exactly what Ann and Meg do best: a mix. A Buckhead gallery with a Paris outpost. Southern clients chasing a French dream. Antiques sharing a room with the contemporary. The friendship that began at a Buckhead carpool now stretches across the Atlantic — gallery, home, antiques, trips abroad, and design from the Southeast to the 7th arrondissement — without ever giving up its Peachtree Hills address.
