Adam Brown

Philadelphia born, BA from Temple University in Northeast Asian studies and the Japanese language. Brown apprenticed as a young carpenter in Dallas during the tail end of the Texas oil boom. After a brief period in the late 1970’s developing property in Manhattan’s East Village, in the mid 1980’s he went on to become an investor and general contractor in central Philadelphia, buying and selling residential real estate. As entrepreneur and adventurer, in the mid 1990’s Brown made a series of trips to the newly formed Czech Republic with his new partner and spouse Andrea Zemel, culminating in a series of strategic alliances in the art and antiques field. In 1996 he would meet Leon Tsoukernik, the premier dealer of Biedermeier furniture in Prague. Leon introduced Adam to the nuances of the style as only the connoisseur could, and later partnered with Brown to establish a small retail presence in Philadelphia as I. Brewster & Brown. In 1999, Tsoukernik’s Prague/Washington based antiques gallery Metternich Ltd. merged with I. Brewster & Brown Philadelphia to launch Iliad Antik New York on 58th street, combining in a single enterprise one of the largest collections of first period Austro-Hungarian Biedermeier, and one of the finest restoration ateliers in the world. In 2002, Zemel and Brown acquired Tsoukernik’s interest in the company and maintain their warm affiliation to this day.

An ardent antiquarian and student of classical and Near Eastern culture, Brown has combined his love of the ancient world and his passion for modernism to achieve an ambitious vision at Iliad’s monumental new 57th street gallery. Serving as a platform for the pursuit of art, culture, excellence, and adventure, Iliad is a tour de force in decorative and fine arts spanning more than 5000 years of the human experience.

Washington DC born, Andrea Zemel received her BFA from the University of Pennsylvania in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She later completed her MFA in 1991 at Penn’s Graduate School of Fine Arts, studying painting under Neil Welliver and printmaking with Hitoshi Nakazato. She spent three years on the faculty at Penn, having launched a collaborative and public art program that continues to this day.

In 1996, Zemel left academia and moved to New York with her partner and spouse Adam Brown to explore fine art and antiques in the post-communist Czech Republic. There she was captivated not only with the Biedermeier style, but by her first encounters with the Soviet modernist art traditions of Eastern Europe. Informed and inspired by these new lexicons, Brown and Zemel would share their zeal as collectors and purveyors of Czech and Hungarian art. In 1999 they founded ILIAD ANTIK in the heart of Manhattan’s design district. Zemel would later draw on her experience as sculptor and draftsman in 2001 by launching ILIAD DESIGN, creating high-end commissions of period inspired furnishings in the Biedermeier and Art Deco style at Iliad’s comprehensive workshop in Prague. In 2004, she set up her current studio in Hoboken where pursues her work as studio artist and furniture designer.

Oldrich Hejtmanek

Oldrich Hejtmanek is executive manager of Iliad Antik's Europe team. Czech born, a native of Prague born into a family of artists and restorers, his father began his career as a sculptor, later moved on to the field of sculpture restoration, and is now a conservative specialist working with Historical architecture on many of Prague's national buildings and cultural landmarks. Oldrich's mother is a trained gilder and specialist in polychrome. An exhibiting Czech painter, her solo exhibitions are known both in Prague and Brno. Oldrich's brother Tomas is an avid and knowledgeable collector of 19th and 20th century Czech art and objects, and is widely recognized as one of the best art conservators in the country.

Destined for a life in the arts, Oldrich studied art history and art restoration in Prague and Venice, and spent a year in the object conservation laboratory of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC as a Getty intern. Upon his return to the former Czechoslovakia in 1991, he worked for the Alfons Mucha Foundation and helped prepare a major exhibition of Mucha's work in the United States. Throughout much of the mid '90s Oldrich gained experience as a private dealer and art consultant to prominent Czech collectors. In 1999, he would move with his wife back to Washington DC, this time as general partner to co-found "Metternich Ltd., an exclusive Georgetown gallery specializing in Austro-Hungarian Biedermeier furniture. In late 2000, with friends and associates Zemel and Brown, joined forces to help launch Iliad Antik in Manhattan's uptown gallery and design district at the heart of the world's marketplace.

Today, as manager of Iliad Prague, Oldrich brings "into the fold" his formidable family team of renown experts and cultural icons. As Iliad's acquisition supervisor and onsite authenticator of European acquisitions, he provides invaluable oversight assuring the integrity of Iliad's period furniture. Acting as liaison to Iliad's restoration atelier, Oldrich works closely with shop chief and master craftsman Jiri Popelka in his role as consultant and quality control supervisor. Further, as logistical coordinator, he is also in charge of securing export permits from the Czech National Museum and facilitating the intelligent packaging and air transport of restored pieces to the United States. An ardent computer aficionado and an owner/publisher of a computer tech journal, Oldrich is responsible for the continuity of Iliad's IT systems and industry lauded web site. He is also creatively responsible for much of the photographic content and composition of individual items represented in our furniture catalogue.

Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Studied at the Prague Academy of Building and Technical arts. While attending the academy as a young man, Jiri apprenticed in a restoration atelier where woodworking became an obsession. He later decided to continue his master studies at the Technical College in Prague in the special field of artistic woodworking. While at the Technical College Jiri started his first restoration workshop where his full concentration was on furniture from the Biedermeier period. Employing precision and traditional techniques and technologies, his workshop became recognized for its high standards of craftsmanship and it's aesthetic vision for period furniture restoration. Jiri was later approached by the Czech/American company Metternich Ltd., which was then exporting Biedermeier furniture for their Washington DC showroom. When Metternich joined Iliad in 2000, that union would forge the basis for the long-term cooperation with Iliad. As artist and master craftsman, Jiri Popelka became chief of the exclusive atelier for the new organization. Under his guidance, twelve journeyman, apprentices, and polishers restore Iliad's Biedermeier furniture to an ideal seldom reached in commercial enterprise. Inspired in spirit by the great woodcraft guilds and ateliers like the Wiener Werkstätte or the Danhauser workshop, Iliad's creed is that Biedermeier furniture reach it's full aesthetic potential, to make evident the truth and aspiration of the makers original vision, plainly revealing the inherent Modernist yearning at the core of the style.

Today, Jiri combines years experience with Central European antique furniture with his informed and nuanced artistry. With his poet's sense for veneers, he interprets, and then crafts rendered designs for the new branch of Iliad, Iliad Design. Jiri works closely with Iliad's cofounder and sculptor/designer Andrea Zemel to achieve unique and exceptional period inspired creations, both functional and beautiful.