The convenience of sourcing online is fraught with more pitfalls than most of us want to admit. Try finding adequate photos of a vintage piece's condition-close-ups of the fabric, video of damaged areas, any images of a piece's rear or underside!
Iceboxes were large lined, insulated wooden cupboards built to store ice, food, and drinks. The ice would usually be placed on the upper shelf, with the food and drinks below, and the cool air from the melting ice would help to keep everything nice and chilled.
"In many ways they've become part of the visual landscape of the vintage market, particularly online, where speed often replaces connoisseurship," says Rodrigo Fernández, director and cofounder of Diez Company.
The collection spans several categories in the home, featuring smart storage pieces like the electric lime Lacquer Entryway Storage Pillar and a crescent moon-shaped chair and ottoman set.
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.
"I 'm the most hated man in town," Ray McKelvie told me. The town in question was Clinton, British Columbia, approximately 350 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, on Highway 97. Later, I asked another Clinton resident whether McKelvie's claim was true. She thought for a moment. "Well, there's Joe, who lives in the trailer park," she said. "We don't like him much either. But it's about even."
Traveling to different home trade shows is a big part of my job, and sometimes it's hard for me to fully turn my editor brain off after a day of scouting new products and design trends. The fallout? I'm always looking at my surroundings and snapping photos of clever decorating ideas I see "in the wild." And what I mean by that, of course, is that every restaurant, museum, hotel, store, and so on has something to share.
Just like that coffee cup, eyewear is a complex fusion of materials. Metal hinges are screwed into polymer frames, which hold chemically-coated lenses. This mix of metals, plastics, and coatings means standard sorting machines cannot process them. As a result, they are rejected as contamination and sent directly to landfills, where they contribute to non-biodegradable waste. Unlike a disposable paper cup, however, a pair of sunglasses is built for durability. Its high-quality components make it a perfect candidate for repair, reuse, or reinvention.
First, you probably have to rewire the lamp. Unless the seller already did it for you, it's best to rewire any vintage finds so you know they've been safely updated. The process isn't that hard, but you will need to buy the supplies and spend the time to do it correctly.
Furniture made from mycelium or algae can decompose in five years, sure, but a well-made antique armoire outlives empires because no one throws it away. Columns takes that logic seriously. Handcrafted in solid oak, natural leather, and horsehair, the pieces are built to last a thousand years, which sounds like marketing hyperbole until you look at the joinery, the hand stitching, and the material choices. This is furniture designed to be inherited, repaired, and remembered.