“Forget the Hamptons – Connecticut is the height of chic.”
Former media powerhouses Bobby Graham and Matthew Marden debut the lifestyle store Dugazon. TED HILDNER pays a visit.
Sharon, Connecticut has always been a secret society enclave. Carolyn Roehm has her house Weatherstone, and Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick have a 40-acre farm. Jasper Johns lives and works in Sharon too, and at 95, has decided to turn his pastoral estate into an artist’s retreat when he dies. Forget the Hamptons–Connecticut is the height of chic. And now Sharon has Dugazon, Bobby Graham and Matthew Marden’s design and curio superstore on Main Street.
Once the local watering hole (rumor has it they might still pour you something good), Dugazon is like hanging out at your stylish friend’s country house. “We want to create a collected experience, rather than a decorated one,” Graham says. “It’s simple. We sell what we love.” Vintage Tabasco holders, paintings by self-taught Louisiana artist Alvin Batiste, Junior League cookbooks and sexy black and white surf photographs by Matt Albiani fill the space. In the back room, a kaleidoscope wall of candles in over 30 shades hang like exotic fruit in the metal cages they were cast in by Ester & Erik of Denmark.
Before Dugazon (the name comes from Graham’s maternal family), Graham spent 24 years at Conde Nast and Marden was a major fashion editor. “Bobby has been talking about Dugazon since our first date 21 years ago,” remembers Marden. “Dugazon comes straight from my creative soul,” Graham says, mentioning they also send out a weekly newsletter featuring family recipes, design ideas and BTS content from the store. “It’s about my entire past, my roots, my family, my friends, and sharing that with the world means everything to us.”
“It’s simple. We sell what we love.” – Bobby Graham
19 West Main Street Sharon, CT 06069 #860-397-5196
Wednesday-Sunday 11am-5pm
