Welcome to Conversation Pieces!

Conversation Pieces is a weekly newsletter about how to read objects, art, and interiors - where they come from, what they reveal about the places and people behind them, and why we sometimes can't leave them behind - written by a former fine art appraiser and lifelong collector.

About Sarah

Sarah Spieler is a Chicago-based writer, former fine art appraisal specialist, and lifelong collector of beautiful things and the stories behind them.

She began her career appraising fine art and decorative objects, where she developed a trained eye for quality, provenance, and the difference between something that merely looks good and something that’s genuinely worth knowing about. That same eye now guides everything she does - from sourcing objects at flea markets across three continents to choosing hotels based on their interiors.

Her travels have taken her across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America, always with an eye toward the objects, interiors, and design details that reveal something true about a place and its people.

Conversation Pieces is the newsletter she always wanted to read.