CAZENOVIA — This spring, Cazenovia High School graduate Tracy Morford opened Afterlife Antiques, an upscale antiques shop in Hudson, New York.
Morford is a fourth generation antiques dealer, whose father, Bill, and brother, John, run antique auction businesses in the Cazenovia area.
Located in booth 40 at 99 S Front St., Afterlife Antiques is one of many shops in Door 15, a large warehouse space near the Hudson train station.
According to Morford, the aesthetic of her retail space and inventory is very similar, if not identical, to that of her personal home.
“[It’s] a mix of different styles and periods of furniture spanning 200 years that I’d like to think work together,” Morford said. “I try to buy things that you don’t see every day, or classically beautiful pieces in really great condition. If I’m having an impossibly hard time parting with it, I know I’m on the right track.”
Morford shares the space with longtime friend Hilary Gluck, who is selling vintage and designer clothing through her new company, Apres Daily Dose (Instagram @ApresDailyDose).
“We’d like to think between the clothing and variety of home decor pieces, that there’s something for everyone,” Morford said. “The overall goal is to demonstrate to customers that if they really like a piece but don’t think it fits the style of their home decor, that regardless of the style or time period, it can be worked in. I personally think the mixing of genres keeps an interior space uniquely your own, and it can encourage you to be a bit more creative.”
Morford started helping her father with the family business at a young age, and she eventually began collecting antiques herself.
“I remember going to the field shows and events like The Bottle Show and Tin Can Convention, so I’ve been around it my whole life,” she said. “For the past 10 or so years, I’ve been slowly collecting things I found along the way and a variety of pieces I won at auction that I didn’t necessarily have the right place for but couldn’t pass up.”
Morford graduated from Cazenovia High School in 2004 and went on to begin a successful career in the arts, working as a photographer, art director, photo editor, and web producer.
Her images have been published in a number of magazines including New York Magazine and Business Week, among others, on book covers, and in designer showcases worldwide.
Not long after the start of her career, she was hired as the photographer for several book projects, including “Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy” by Mary Tomer, “Influence” by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and “Classy” by Derek Blasberg.
Morford also has experience in commercial production and casting management. Over the past decade, she has shot, managed and helped produce shoots for a number of well-known companies, including Disney, GE, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, and Gerber.
After living and working in New York City and Austin, Texas, she decided to move to the Hudson Valley.
Morford said she was attracted to the area because it seemed to have a large population of people who were from the city but wanted a slower pace.
“After a year or more of looking into and spending time in pretty much every town on both sides of the river from the Westchester area up to Albany, Hudson was the clear fit,” she said. “There’s a great community of younger adult creatives here who all want to help each other and collaborate in really positive ways. There’s a real sense of community and pride. It starts to feel like a small town once you’ve lived here for a bit but in a great way.”
Once she decided on Hudson, Morford purchased an 1832 brownstone in the heart of the city. Since then, she has continued to “collect careers,” opening an Airbnb (“Luxury Victorian Brownstone”) on her ground floor, earning her real estate license, and now, launching Afterlife Antiques.
“After buying my house in Hudson, I started collecting [even] more things since I had a lot of storage in my basement,” she said. “It eventually hit a point where it didn’t make sense to be buying so frequently just to store things I never saw. To prevent [becoming] a technical hoarder and to validate my auction-based behavior, I felt the best move was to open up shop.”
Afterlife Antiques is now open weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For updates on the shop, follow Afterlife Antiques on Instagram.
