When Christopher Radko began designing ornaments 30 years ago, in the 1980s, he made a personal appearance at Neiman Marcus in Dallas. Little Rock native Bill Tarkington — then the national visual manager for Godiva Chocolatier — was there and the ornaments caught his attention.
“As most of my career was in visual merchandising, I have always loved Christmas décor, especially European glass ornaments,” says Tarkington, who is now the head concierge at the River Market Tower.
He took a shine to the Radko ornaments in particular because they were unique. “At that time, no one was producing that type of ornament. Even though many designers are now producing this type of glass decoration, I feel his are most unique; they always have a clever title, wonderful use of color and are so detailed,” Tarkington says.
Since the 1980s, Tarkington’s collection has grown from a few to almost 700, the majority of which were gifts from friends and coworkers. “I have a very close friend, Sandy, who lives in California, who would give me three or four for my birthday and Christmas, and then one for Halloween and another holiday during the year. I finally realized she enjoys the thrill of the hunt of a special ornament just as much as she likes giving them to me,” he says.
One of the most valuable Radko collections Tarkington owns is the “12 Days of Christmas” set. While decorating his Christmas tree one year, he broke one of the ornaments; it took him three years to replace it. For this reason, he decided to build a permanent Christmas tree room in his house. Now he’s able to keep the 13-foot tree decorated year-round and just close the door during the off-season.
Tarkington has slowed his collecting over the past few years simply because he has “run out of room,” but he is still collecting the “Broadway Legends” series, which benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Ornaments in the collection include Carol Channing in “Hello Dolly,” Angela Lansbury in “Mame” and, this year, Barbra Streisand in “Funny Girl.”
