#ephemera

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fromInsideHook
4 hours ago

Don't Underestimate the Appeal of Punk Rock Flea Markets

The Seattle Punk Rock Flea Market is part renegade art gallery, part unfathomable yard sale and part curated vintage mall, showcasing a blend of creativity and commerce.
Portland food
Marketing
fromTasting Table
1 day ago

13 Bizarre Vintage Food Ads We Can't Believe Are Real - Tasting Table

Marketing trends evolve with consumer habits, showcasing bizarre and memorable campaigns from various eras.
Photography
fromAol
6 days ago

31 photos that show what life looked like in 1985

1985 was characterized by iconic pop culture, fashion, and childhood experiences captured in everyday life through photographs.
#nostalgia
fromBuzzFeed
1 month ago
History

49 Photos of Forgotten '70s Things That Will Make Any Boomer Feel Instantly Nostalgic

fromBuzzFeed
1 month ago
History

49 Photos of Forgotten '70s Things That Will Make Any Boomer Feel Instantly Nostalgic

#vintage-decor
fromApartment Therapy
1 week ago
E-Commerce

My Aunt Taught Me About Collecting This Antique Gem - Now, I See It Everywhere

Glass fairy lamps are becoming a popular vintage trend, offering versatile decor options and a candle-powered light source.
Remodel
fromApartment Therapy
2 weeks ago

Designers Say These "Thrift Store MVPs" Will Never Be Outdated

Vintage home decor is trending, with a focus on timeless pieces that add character and depth to spaces.
E-Commerce
fromApartment Therapy
1 week ago

My Aunt Taught Me About Collecting This Antique Gem - Now, I See It Everywhere

Glass fairy lamps are becoming a popular vintage trend, offering versatile decor options and a candle-powered light source.
Remodel
fromApartment Therapy
2 weeks ago

Designers Say These "Thrift Store MVPs" Will Never Be Outdated

Vintage home decor is trending, with a focus on timeless pieces that add character and depth to spaces.
Arts
fromArtnet News
5 days ago

Lost Cecil Beaton and Lee Miller Photos Turn Up in Old Scrapbook

A previously unknown scrapbook of over 150 unseen photographs by Cecil Beaton and Lee Miller has been sold to the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library.
Fashion & style
fromI Love Typography Ltd
1 week ago

A Brief History of the Dust Jacket - I Love Typography Ltd

Dust jackets evolved from protective covers to marketing tools, first appearing in the 1760s and gaining popularity in the 1920s with advances in color printing.
Graphic design
fromMedium
2 weeks ago

Disruption has a shape. Design history shows us what it is.

AI is causing anxiety in design, echoing past technological disruptions like the printing press and desktop publishing.
fromArtnet News
1 week ago

The Business of KAWS: What Data and a Museum Show Reveal About His Market | Artnet News

KAWS has shown an uncanny ability to connect with a wide variety of people. Younger buyers clamor for his $50 Uniqlo T-shirts, while trophy-hunting collectors shell out millions for paintings.
Arts
fromFast Company
2 weeks ago

'Leverage the local': The fashion trend that explains why everyone around you is channeling their inner tourist

Clothing that bears the name of a city near or far has become a closet staple for many consumers in recent years, evolving from impulse purchases to mainstream fashion.
Fashion & style
Online marketing
fromArchitectural Digest
3 weeks ago

Everything You Need To Know About Vintage Shopping and Selling Online

Ten vintage furniture experts share best practices for sellers and insider strategies for buyers navigating online vintage marketplaces successfully.
fromBusiness Insider
3 weeks ago

I went to an estate sale to find out why millennials and Gen Zers love buying cheap stuff from aging baby boomers

I call it the tsunami of stuff. It's cresting. There are a lot of baby boomers. America's over-65 population reached 55.8 million in 2020, and an additional 42.4 million are in the 55-64 age group. This adds up to nearly 100 million people who have amassed a large amount of possessions - stuff they bought, stuff they got from their own parents, stuff their kids stuck them with.
Boston real estate
fromArchitectural Digest
3 weeks ago

How Alexander Widener Turned His Vintage Obsession Into a Career

In the digital world that we're in, you know, negative videos are what goes viral. People are always knocking people down a peg and it's really easy to fall into that. If something bad happens-which, when you own your business, something bad happens every day- it's easy to circle in despair. But my challenge is to look for the positive and figure out how to pivot, and if something isn't working then figure out a different way to get it done.
Digital life
Arts
fromArtnet News
3 weeks ago

Museum Treasures, History-Making Guitars-And Collectibles to Watch

Brooklyn Museum is auctioning 200 objects, including rare American furniture and artworks, to enhance gallery space and adhere to deaccessioning guidelines.
Graphic design
fromItsnicethat
1 month ago

Lydia Chodosh probes design rules through archiving and cataloguing

Designer Lydia Chodosh interrogates how knowledge is acquired and transmitted through language, archival systems, and interdisciplinary design practice informed by literature, publishing, and visual communication.
Parenting
fromBusiness Insider
1 month ago

My mom has been collecting miniatures for 50 years. They have taken over our 1000-square-foot basement.

Celina Myers' mother has collected miniatures since age 14, filling their entire basement with thousands of organized tiny treasures that continue to bring her joy despite physical disability.
Remodel
fromApartment Therapy
1 month ago

Designers Say This Vintage Piece Is the "Jewelry" Every Room Is Missing

Vintage lighting, particularly sconces and torchères from the 1930s-1950s, is a major 2026 home decor trend that transforms spaces with unique character and visual interest.
Mindfulness
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

How to Start an Analog Hobby

Analog hobbies gain popularity as counterbalance to digital culture; start by identifying activities requiring patience and present-moment focus.
fromInsideHook
1 month ago

Where Have All the Good Memes Gone?

The lyrics have a rather annoying quality to them, similar to the way that other songs like "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen, "Fireflies" by Owl City or even "Friday" by Rebecca Black did in their time - songs that gained rapid popularity and, just as quickly, sparked rapid backlash from many due to overexposure to them.
Humor
Fashion & style
fromApartment Therapy
1 month ago

Designers Are Quietly Quitting These 4 Vintage Trends

Interior designers caution against overused vintage trends like grandmillennial style and generic secondhand pieces that lack intentionality and feel overly themed or predictable.
Digital life
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

The Rise of Analogue Nostalgia

Analogue nostalgia—longing for physical, offline media—drives people to choose complicated, expensive technologies over simpler digital alternatives despite digitalization's convenience.
Graphic design
fromApartment Therapy
1 month ago

This Vintage Find Is Everywhere Right Now - and It's Surprisingly Timeless

Vintage needlework samplers are experiencing a resurgence in popularity as collectors appreciate handmade fiber arts pieces available at thrift stores and flea markets.
US news
fromNewsday
1 month ago

Sleepy owl found resting among items on a New York antique store shelf

An eastern screech owl was discovered sleeping on a shelf in an antique store in upstate New York and was safely removed and released into the wild.
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

Psychology says the reason boomers get emotional watching old home movies isn't the people in them - it's the background, the furniture nobody saved, the wallpaper nobody photographed, the ordinary details of a life that felt permanent until it wasn't - Silicon Canals

We photograph people obsessively, but we rarely capture the everyday spaces where life actually happens. And when those spaces disappear, something profound goes with them. The furniture was never just furniture—it was the stage where decades of family life played out. Every scratch, stain, and worn patch told a story.
Digital life
Renovation
fromLos Angeles Times
36 years ago

Architectural Antiques Used as Home Decorating Elements

Architectural antiques from salvage houses and demolition sites are increasingly used as distinctive building and decorating elements in new home construction, driven by renewed historical interest and their status as art forms.
Books
fromThe New Yorker
1 month ago

What Fetishists Can Teach Us About Consumerism and Desire

Fetish cultures transform ordinary objects into sources of transcendent meaning and sustained erotic power that resist the disappointment of conventional consumerism.
fromCurbed
2 months ago

Sentimental Value Is an Excellent Lamp Movie

Sentimental Value is very much a film about a house - a Victorian " dragestil," or "dragon style," home in Oslo where generations of the same family have lived for more than a 100 years. Director Joachim Trier, who found the house in Oslo's Frogner neighborhood, called its role in the film "a witness of the unspoken ... a witness of the 20th century."
History
fromI Love Typography Ltd
4 months ago

Dumb Ways to Die: Printed Ephemera - I Love Typography Ltd

Seventeenth-century London printed weekly Bills of Mortality, sold widely for a penny, revealing profitable public demand for mortality statistics and morbid curiosity.
fromSilicon Canals
2 months ago

9 things Boomers refuse to throw away that their kids will put straight in the trash without opening - Silicon Canals

My father kept manuals for products we hadn't owned in years, filed alphabetically in a cabinet. When I asked why, he looked at me like I'd suggested burning money. "What if we need to look something up?" The concept of finding any manual online in seconds just doesn't compute for a generation that had to rely on these paper lifelines.
Relationships
fromBored Panda
2 months ago

80 Vintage Ads That Show Which Values Changed And Which Stayed The Same Over Time

We might be exposed to more ads and commercials today than ever before in human history, but the idea of advertising itself is certainly not a new concept. According to Instapage, the first signs of advertisements actually appeared in ancient Egyptian steel carvings from 2000 BC. Meanwhile, the first printed ad was published in 1472, when William Caxton decided to advertise a book by posting flyers on church doors in England.
Marketing
Environment
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Valentine's lamps, Easter rugs: 'seasonal decor' has become a year-long tat-fest | Amelia Tait

Seasonal decor swaps for holidays drive unnecessary consumption and waste, fueling rapid trend turnover and large-scale disposal of homeware.
Design
fromItsnicethat
1 month ago

Visual communication that challenges convention: Phantasia on how graphic design can forge true collaboration

Phantasia, a Barcelona-based design studio founded in 2021, prioritizes meaningful projects that serve communities through intentional collaboration, diversity, and accessible communication.
Marketing tech
fromThe Drum
2 months ago

Adobe has recreated the ad agency office of the 90s (complete with floppy disks and Rolodex)

Adobe recreated 1990s ad and home experiences to show how Experience Cloud simplifies outdated advertising and marketing processes.
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

Does my obsession with old trinkets make me a hoarder or a sentimental maximalist? | Eleanor Burnard

It's important to state that I am the most insufferably sentimental person I know. There are old birthday cards collecting dust in my jam-packed cupboards, stuffed toys their colours long-faded sitting in my bedroom despite their prime cuddling years over, while gifts handmade by friends I no longer talk to take up real estate on my cluttered shelves. You couldn't pay me to part with any of them.
Mental health
World news
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Global photojournalists documented ICE operations, Russian airstrikes, protests in Greenland and Sakhnin, and the Africa Cup of Nations final in Rabat last week.
fromSilicon Canals
2 months ago

Treasures worth thousands: homeowners discover vintage items hidden in walls during renovation - Silicon Canals

Picture this: you're knee-deep in renovation dust, crowbar in hand, when something unexpected tumbles from behind century-old plaster. A yellowed envelope? A strange metal box? That moment when your heart skips because you realize you might have just found something extraordinary. For some lucky homeowners, these discoveries turn out to be worth thousands of dollars, transforming a simple home improvement project into an unexpected treasure hunt.
Renovation
Mindfulness
fromApartment Therapy
2 months ago

13 Creative Ways to Fill an Analog Bag if You Want to Stop Staring at Your Phone

An analog bag is a portable tote filled with tactile items to replace phone use, encourage hobbies, reduce doomscrolling, and provide relaxation and accomplishment.
E-Commerce
fromBusiness Insider
2 months ago

THEN AND NOW: Vintage photos show how department stores have changed

Department stores shifted from selling necessities in the early 1900s to struggling luxury retailers today, pressured by online sales while some chains adapt.
Photography
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

The Hidden Meaning of Taking Pictures

Photographs personalize fleeting experiences, anchor memory, express values, and reveal the aspirational self by bridging inner experience and the outer world.
fromBuzzFeed
1 month ago

50 Historical Photos That Are So Shocking, They're Changing My Perception Of The Entire World

I recently gained a new obsession, and I'm ready to share it with the world: finding and analyzing rare vintage images. A picture speaks a thousand words, and these photographs tell us more about history than a textbook chapter ever could. So even if you think history is boring, I'm well-equipped to change your mind, and give you some delicious food for your brain to chew on today.
History
fromVulture
2 months ago

Obex Will Make You Nostalgic for Old Technology

What telling people to touch grass ignores, in part, is that grass is not all that good to touch. It's itchy and sticky - there could be bugs in there. There's a far more profoundjoyin touching machines, as is shown again and again in Albert Birney's Obex, which functions as both a shrine to and warning about our reliance on technology.
Film
Gadgets
fromBustle
2 months ago

60 Wacky Things For Your Home That Are So Damn Cool

Functional, playful home upgrades solve small problems and add personality, exemplified by a reusable silicone hair collector that prevents plumbing clogs.
Design
fromBored Panda
2 months ago

24 Signs That Turned Out To Be So Hilariously Absurd, People Had To Share Them

Humorously odd signs around the world provide lighthearted relief while effective sign design considers audience, message, environment, function, fabrication, and installation.
Renovation
fromArchDaily
2 months ago

Rooms as Heritage: How Interior Typologies Carry Cultural Memory

Cultural memory often survives in domestic interiors and everyday practices rather than visible architectural facades.
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Analog is back, and my millennial heart couldn't be happier | Tayo Bero

Usually, my handbag is a medley of digital devices and life essentials my phone, iPad, chargers, keys, tampons. But lately, you're likely to also find a half-done newspaper crossword, a ton of stationery, the book I've restarted three times, and whatever scraps and trinkets I've picked up throughout the day to put in my scrapbook. Analog is back, and it feels like we need it more than ever.
Mindfulness
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

Your Life's Work Preserved: Why Collectors Are Going Virtual

The traditional museum experience, pausing in front of an object, and absorbing its history visually or by reading its description, has long shaped how collectors and others relate to cultural treasures. Yet, over the last few decades, digital technology has quietly rewritten many of those rules, changing not only how collections are exhibited but also how they are documented, preserved, and even inherited.
Arts
fromItsnicethat
1 month ago

Absurd, unsettling or erotic? Carl Ander's archive of instructional imagery forms an obscure new photobook

invite new readings; at times absurd or humorous, at others unsettlingly violent or erotic
Photography
E-Commerce
fromApartment Therapy
1 month ago

I Never Go to the Thrift Store Without Looking at This Underrated Section

Thrift-store "paper bins" offer affordable vintage notecards, greeting cards, and wrapping paper that add unique mid-century charm to gifts.
fromCurbed
2 months ago

When the Ashtray Was Everywhere

When was the last time you saw an ashtray filled with stubbed-out Marlboros at a friend's apartment? At a restaurant? For some of us, the answer may very well be "never." Maybe that's the charm of the International Museum of Dinnerware Design's new exhibition on ashtrays - invoking an era before health codes and Mayor Bloomberg. Or reaching back even further, when you might see a Similac-branded ashtray in the office of your OB/GYN.
Design
Digital life
fromInsideHook
2 months ago

Is the Analog Lifestyle Trend Really Analog at All?

A growing analog lifestyle movement reduces screen time through nostalgic, hands-on activities while its online popularity risks undermining offline goals.
Photography
fromSFGATE
2 months ago

Thousands of Fotomats once covered the U.S. Now there's only one left in SF.

The last Fotomat in San Francisco remains an overlooked, decaying relic of drive-thru photo development amid modern technological landmarks.
fromItsnicethat
1 month ago

This archival book celebrates the bygone eras of the humble crisp packet

Helping people to reconnect with old memories, viewers are transported to their local corner shop, school playgrounds and childhood cupboards. "I think this project has struck a chord because there's a particular interest in hand drawn designs of the past in the current age of AI where human effort is at an all-time low. Now the first thought is 'I'll get AI to do that', rather than commissioning an illustrator," says Chris.
Graphic design
fromwww.archdaily.com
1 month ago

Museum of Broken Relationships - Chiang Mai / STA

Napat Pattrayanond + 20 More SpecsLess Specs Napat Pattrayanond Text description provided by the architects. Museum Of Broken Relationships is a renovation and a transformation of a historical Chiang Mai building into a museum space. The building, originally a shop and a warehouse built in 1904, had already been altered various times.
Renovation
fromApartment Therapy
2 months ago

The 150-Year-Old Useful Gem Hiding in Every Thrift Store

As someone who loves vintage things, you can find me at my local thrift store regularly. I enjoy stocking my closet with secondhand finds and finding gifts or unexpected storage gems instead of buying them new. The thrill of the hunt is ultimately what keeps me going back time after time. Whether I have 10 minutes or an hour to peruse, flipping through clothing racks and scouring the shelves always brings me joy,
Fashion & style
Design
fromArchitectural Digest
2 months ago

An Heirloom Patchwork Quilt Can Redefine Your Whole Room's Vibe

Patchwork quilts provide nostalgic cottagecore bedding aesthetics through modern retailers and quality materials for people without inherited heirlooms.
Photography
fromdesignyoutrust.com
1 month ago

Amazing Vaporwave-esque Reels Where Hesitant Signals Reveal Neon Distortions And Found-footage Glitches At Precise GPS Coordinates

Diverse striking visual projects and photography span street art, surreal AI images, social interventions, illustration, and creative design explorations.
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

My rookie era: scrapbooking is like creating my own sentimental time capsule

I had always associated scrapbooking with grandmas and bored children, so, imagine my surprise when as a twentysomething with a Big Girl Job I found myself enamoured of printing, cutting, and sticking random bits and bobs into a book. If, like me, you've racked up a disconcerting amount of screen time, you may have stumbled across a multitude of craft-inspired social media posts made primarily by young women. Described as junk journalling, the hobby is distinguishable by an affinity with collecting and storing physical mementoes, such as tickets, receipts, packaging and Polaroids.
Arts
fromBustle
1 month ago

65 Kooky Things That Make Your Home More Fun & Playful

If you're not the kind of person who gets excited when they see an all-beige living room spread in a home decor magazine, you've come to the right place. Sure, we get the appeal of keeping things chic and minimalist, but sometimes you want your house to feel fun and playful. Whether you're into whimsymaxxing, dopamine decor, or just have an affinity for all things cute and colorful, you're going to love the picks on this list.
Design
fromColossal
2 months ago

Rep Your Love for Independent Arts Publishing

Our new line of Colossal merchandise is finally hitting the (digital) shelves in the Colossal Shop. We're big fans of repping publications that inspire us, and we're excited to finally offer our own goods to this special community of readers. Hats and mugs are now available, and all proceeds directly support our ongoing commitment to make art accessible to everyone. You can also receive a mug by joining us with an annual Patron of the Arts membership.
Arts
fromdesignyoutrust.com
2 months ago

Incredible Scanner Glitch Collages Exploring Emotional Fragmentation and Digital Distortions by Alg Eventual

Alg Eventual is an Ohiobased audio/visual new media artist creating glitch art, digital collages and abstract mixed media works with a reference to the roots of the early 2000s. His works feature scanner experiments, layered textures and titles like Exterior, Interwind, Articulation, Overthinking and Everything leads back to you, blending digital manipulation with tactile, fragmented aesthetics. More: Instagram
Arts
Design
fromItsnicethat
2 months ago

Elizabeth Goodspeed on the limits of imperfection as a design strategy

Design trends show a return to tactile, analogue aesthetics, but much purportedly handmade work is digitally faked, raising authenticity concerns.
Arts
fromHyperallergic
2 months ago

How Liminalism Became the Defining Aesthetic of Our Time

Crowd-curated liminal photography captures eerie, nostalgic unease in abandoned commercial spaces, reflecting a collective artistic response to late-capitalist decline.
Arts
fromHyperallergic
2 months ago

Art Books That Serve Up Beauty and Depth

A diverse selection of art books highlights contemporary women artists, historical art studies, racial justice memorials, disability advocacy in art, and provocative art-history reinterpretations.
Arts
from48 hills
2 months ago

His suburban idylls teem with the 'uncanny magic of the exceptionally unexceptional' - 48 hills

Jonathan Crow’s American Realist paintings prioritize mood, composition, and color to evoke intuitive, music-like emotional responses that resist simple verbal definition.
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