4 ms·

Worlds colliding. This Economist article plus our antique and vintage focused startup, ATTIC (https://attic-dc.com https://attic-dc.com), is featured on Cloudin

Worlds colliding. This Economist article plus our antique and vintage focused startup, ATTIC (https://attic-dc.com https://attic-dc.com), is featured on Cloudinary's blog today: http://cloudinary.com/blog/10_startups_managing_images_in_the_cloud_part_7 http://cloudinary.com/blog/10_startups_managing_images_in_th... The E article points out the waning demand for certain genres and increasing demand for others. This can't be emphasized enough. Midcentury modern is what younger furniture shoppers seem to appreciate and it's reflected in the designs of the big box retailers like West Elm CB2. Their assessment of younger shoppers seems a bit off too, as outlets like the Washington Post and Apartment Therapy cite mixing old and new as one of the top 5 (!) design trends: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/apartment-therapys-maxwell-ryan-shares-5-top-design-trends/2015/10/02/e1aa9c2e-6787-11e5-9223-70cb36460919_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/apartment-ther... We also think that consumers have moved away from these goods partly out of convenience (or lack thereof). Furniture is something you want touch (and smell) before you buy. You want to inspect its integrity. It's a market that doesn't lend itself to buying online, at a distance. At the same time, it's not particularly easy to shop locally either -- furniture dealers are not necessarily the most tech savvy and don't always have the resources for comprehensive marketing. That's one of the reasons we built ATTIC -- to help aggregate and showcase local opportunities to buy antiques and vintage furniture from small businesses. In general, shopping local -- especially from small businesses -- is a difficult proposition when it's so easy to shop online. That's a problem that we think could use some solving.

bryanlarsen 11y ago
I believe you're right -- while mid-century modern is not technically antique because it's not quite 100 years old, I believe it is currently occupying that niche in furniture fashion. However, there's one major difference in this market -- many of the classic midcentury modern designs are still being made. You can buy a brand new, fully authentic Series 7 or Eames Lounge Chair or many of the other things on my wife's shopping list. And even new designs in the mid-century modern style do not have the same feel of inauthenticity that fake antiques do. Mid-century modern has always been mass-produced in a factory.
- at-fates-hands 11y ago
  I came to say the same thing. midcentury anything has been going strong for at least the past decade or more. It's not just furniture, but art, reel-to-reel recorders, record players, nearly anything that came from the 50's is gaining traction in nearly every niche you can think of. The prices are starting to level out a little bit as well, making it more affordable. There's also a TON of retro shops where I live (Minneapolis) where you can get amazing MCM furniture. Places like http://findfurnish.com/ http://findfurnish.com/ where you can get a very nice Danish Teak credenza for around $500. And yes, I know, midcentury can be anything from the 30's on up through the 60's. It is a rather a broad category of time.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]

bryanlarsen 11y ago

I believe you're right -- while mid-century modern is not technically antique because it's not quite 100 years old, I believe it is currently occupying that niche in furniture fashion. However, there's one major difference in this market -- many of the classic midcentury modern designs are still being made. You can buy a brand new, fully authentic Series 7 or Eames Lounge Chair or many of the other things on my wife's shopping list. And even new designs in the mid-century modern style do not have the same feel of inauthenticity that fake antiques do. Mid-century modern has always been mass-produced in a factory.

at-fates-hands 11y ago
I came to say the same thing. midcentury anything has been going strong for at least the past decade or more. It's not just furniture, but art, reel-to-reel recorders, record players, nearly anything that came from the 50's is gaining traction in nearly every niche you can think of. The prices are starting to level out a little bit as well, making it more affordable. There's also a TON of retro shops where I live (Minneapolis) where you can get amazing MCM furniture. Places like http://findfurnish.com/ http://findfurnish.com/ where you can get a very nice Danish Teak credenza for around $500. And yes, I know, midcentury can be anything from the 30's on up through the 60's. It is a rather a broad category of time.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]