About Us

Gerry Nell Spears founder of AB ANTIQUO presently resides in Little Rock Arkansas known as the natural state. Her home lies within miles of the river market and the famous Bill Clinton Presidential Library.

As a young girl, she grew up near the beautiful mountains and lakes of Hot Springs. A true tourist town at the time and a southern city known for its blend of cultures. Historic 1890 architectural bath houses, horse racing tracks, antique auction houses, boutiques, hotels and motor courts set the atmosphere for an aristocratic and Art Deco life style. Early on,Gerry Nell’s curiosity and inspiration was sparked by the diversity of culture and this uniqueness of style. Her desire for the arts, fashion and interior design became her passion.

Some of her earliest memories are with her mother sewing and designing her clothes for some special happening, but not before spending hours looking and searching for that perfect pattern and unique textile.  When she wasn’t doing that, she was with her dad traveling miles to auction houses, estate sales and antiques shops hunting and collecting something wonderful.

Later, after studying at the university and marrying her attorney husband she became the proprietor of her own antique shop, known even then as “AB ANTIQUO”. During this time she traveled up east and out west on buying trips . She then had other numerous business and personal adventures.
After taking some time off to raise her wonderful son and beautiful daughter she moved to New York City where she spent over a decade. Her home overlooked the amazing Hudson River and the unique immigrant neighborhoods of the famous Hell’s Kitchen. There she found herself loving and being inspired by her new friends and the streets of New York City.

Gerry Nell has always been a collector of all things beautiful and unique, rather it was a delicately detailed scarf, or one of a kind piece of furniture and fabulous work of art for her European country house which is filled with architectural elements of French overtones. Even the collected pieces from various parts of the world inspire her fashion and interior designs. Her friends and family will tell you that with all of this she has loved sharing her home and has never been too busy for that special party, fundraiser or holiday celebration. That too, family, friends and social activism have been her inspiration.

Today you will find her working in fashion and interior design. Her styles are old world, European and vintage inspired and in many instances one-of-a-kind pieces that reflect a certain classic and timeless lifestyle. Thats the vision she has and the image one will find at Ab Antiquo.

Images of Antiquity, Ab Antiquo is a fashion and interior boutique weaving the past and present into designs of delicate and elegant pieces of workmanship.  AB ANTIQUO COLLECTIONS are of the finest silks, velvets, and trims. They are thoughtfully selected and designed by Gerry Nell and then carefully created in New York City. The Exuberant Italian Pieces are made in Italy and personally chosen as well.