Southern Living - June 2007
Globe-trotting Treasure Hunter
Melissa Bigner
The adventuresome Danyluks explore distant corners of the globe, collecting finds to fill Paula’s intriguing Savannah shop, The Paris market & Brocante. They hit Egypt annually, tour France’s flea markets at least twice a year, and ferret out caches from Belgium to Budapest, India to China, and elsewhere. The resulting haul: antique jewelry, rare furniture, artisan soaps, silk pillows, crystal chandeliers, stylish number plates off some defunct hotel, gilded mirror frames, storied spiral staircases, hand-carved deer busts, and much more.
Not bad for a former speech pathologist who first set foot out of America as a 26 year-old medical volunteer. Once you meet this dynamic woman, her radical career switch from talker to treasure hunter no longer seems so far-fetched.
Today Paula lingers in the brick-walled basement of her boutique at the corner of Broughton and Whitaker streets. “Magazines have always been my saving grace,” says Paula. “When I was a teenager would pull out pictures of beautiful things and places and arrange them to my liking.”
The first in her family to attend college, she initially planned to study art. Her father urged her toward something more practical, so after tailing a speech pathologist for a day, she went that route instead. A masters degree and 11 years of practice in New Orleans and Baltimore followed, during which time she had met and married Taras, then a physical therapist and now an emergency room doctor.
Their move to Savannah came as Taras wrapped up his medical residency in Baltimore, where Paula voice coached singers, teachers and preachers. “I was reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, “ Paula says, “and I thought, ‘This place sounds funky like New Orleans.’ So we drove down to have a look. Taras introduced himself at the Memorial hospital, and days later he had a job offer.”
Taking a break from pathology, Paula briefly studied architecture, design, and painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Switching gears, she rented a booth in an antiques mall and peddled what she terms simply “old stuff that interests me.” She explains, “Just as with those magazine pictures I used to cut out, Iv’e always loved putting pretty things together. I started scrounging around estate sales and flea markets, which is how my shop got going.” Her Paris Market evolved from tiny booth to small storefront to current high-profile corner location in the historic district. (for more information, please visit southernliving.com or theparismarket.com
©2008 The Paris Market
