Inspiration Archives - Page 2 of 2

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Paul Cody

Vintage Furniture London Online

VINTAGE FURNITURE

When we are out in the markets, we are always on the hunt for unusual, beautiful and most importantly, useful pieces of vintage furniture to bring an environment to life for our customers.

We source for retailers, offices, hotels, restaurants and cafes as well as individuals and find that more and more people are looking for that “special piece” of furniture, to add personality to a space.

Vintage Black Chest of Drawer

Recently we sold this amazing vintage school shoe rack (below) to a hotel in Germany. They told us they had been trying to source something like this for months for their lobby and this was just perfect.

It’s so satisfying sourcing and supplying for companies and people when you can find them that perfect piece. It is often really difficult for people to know exactly what they want until they see it, and that’s how Vintage Matters can help. We are regularly sent photographs of spaces or rooms and asked to find furniture or props to work in the space.

Our vintage leather club armchairs that we source from France are hugely popular, as they add such character to a space and are amazingly comfortable. We supply Le Labo Fragrances with these chairs, for their retail stores in the UK and Europe.

We are always on the lookout for those special pieces for our retail customers too, like this old vintage wooden workbench below, which is an ideal piece for displaying product on.

Researching the provenance of a vintage piece is always fun and interesting. We found that this workbench was used by a company called Frederick Pollard, who were established in 1911 in Leicester and were the makers of high speed drills.

Old bakers racks, factory shoe racks or fruit drying racks, like the one below, are really versatile pieces of furniture and can be used in so many rooms within a house. They provide a great deal of storage space and are also ideal in a retail environment providing a great display piece for visual merchandising. We think they look pretty cool too!

We are excited to be working on a large commercial project, sourcing numerous pieces of industrial and mid century furniture pieces for a huge reception space, opening this Summer in Shoreditch, London. We can’t say who it is right now, but we think you will know them!

We have found some pretty cool pieces, which we are being reupholstered, so they comply with all UK fire regulations.

Our vintage beer table and bench sets are now back in stock! These are authentic pieces, originally used at various beer festivals in Germany and are perfect for al fresco dining or outdoor entertaining, this Summer.

The orange painted pine table is heavy duty and sturdy, with two wooden benches with folding green steel legs. It has a very simple but effective design, that has stood the test of time, that makes each piece quickly and easily fold flat for storage.

We have to mention our vintage school chairs on this blog, as people really connect with them, reminding them of old school days! These authentic chairs were hugely popular in the 1950’s and 1960’s, not only in schools, but in hospitals, community centres and church halls, as they took up much less space when stacked.

These vintage stacking school chairs are ideal for the home, a cafe or restaurant, or office, wanting a vintage look and with lots of different styles and coloured frames to choose from.

So, if you are looking for a special, unique piece of vintage furniture for your home or business, please email [email protected] with a description, approximate dimensions and your budget and we will happily source for you and send you photos when we are out in the markets.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Paul Cody

Reclaimed Letters | Competition | London | Vintage Matters

WIN A RECLAIMED VINTAGE LETTER!

As I am sure you all aware we have a thing for letters!

We personally, have been collecting vintage, reclaimed and salvaged letters ourselves for years and then we started reconditioning them to sell at Vintage Matters. As I’m sure you can imagine our collection just keeps growing, as we can’t resist a bit of beautiful or unusual type.

We source our letters globally, which gives us a fantastic variety – from illuminated to non-illuminated and in a variety of materials, from metal to wood to resin.

Like so many of our products we wonder what life they had previously and how they were used – most are reclaimed from shop fronts, pubs, railways and demolished buildings.

We love to know the provenance of our letters – some you instantly recognise like the red T.G.I Friday ones above and some stunning Mercedes Benz letters that have just come in.

Sometimes we just hit a blank though, like we did when we found a number of blue and yellow letters at a market – then in a light bulb moment, realised they were from Blockbuster Video stores!

We still have some of these letters available at www.vintagematters.co.uk/letters/

Mostly we have our letters for purely decorative purposes, lovingly scattered around our home, but they can also be used for branding or signage in bars, cafes, pubs, retail stores, offices etc., both inside and out, to make a real statement.

The image below shows a mix of vintage letters and letter lights that we sprayed red, for a commercial project, showing the company’s name in their reception area.

Some of our favourite reclaimed letters we stock are these amazing large illuminated ones that we get from the US – everything just seems bigger and bolder from there!

When they arrive though, they certainly need some serious tender love and care. Most of them would have been exterior signage, so have been out in the elements for most of their lives, which gives them great character and also means they need some work before we can get them online.

When they arrive with us, the first job is taking them apart and giving them a good clean. Even though we are aware they have been used outside, we are still amazed by the amount of dirt and tumble weed that has collected inside – maybe they were formally lighting up the strip in Vegas?!

When we open the channel letters for cleaning, we strip out all the old glass neon tubes and wiring, which is not a particularly fun job, but very necessary.

In order to return them to their former glory and for them to be electrically safe, we recondition them with new LED’s and a UK 3-pin plug.

This has taken a certain amount of practice to get the lighting correct and also takes a fair amount of patience, fixing the LED’s around all the serifs and bends that our letters tend to have. Once we have wired them up and checked we have a good even glow, they are ready for photography, though sometimes we have to cut new light omitting acrylic fronts, if they have too many marks or cracks and replace any trims that are too worn.

It’s always a fine balance with vintage pieces, just how many character marks we allow before replacing or cleaning it up. We one have one simple rule or question that we ask ourselves – would we be happy buying that piece and having it in our house? If the answer is “yes”, then it is good to photograph and get online to find a new home.

Our letters look fantastic hung on a wall or on a book shelf and make for an amazing personal gift for someone, or start collecting your initials.

We have a huge amount of reclaimed and salvaged letters that are coming online so keep a look out, or contact [email protected] if you are looking for a specific letter.

This week sees the start of a competition, in collaboration with our friends at Warehouse Home, where you can win one of our salvaged letters*, simply by logging on to Twitter, retweeting the competition and following both @mywarehousehome and @vintagematters for a chance to win a letter of your choice that we have online.

You can also follow us on Instagram as @vintagemattersuk or our new feed, which is for fans of fonts and typography, where we have branded ourselves @thelettermenuk !

Good luck in the competition!

* the competition is to win one of our salvaged letters from a shop front or pub and does not include our letter lights

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Paul Cody

Urban Flowers | Carolyn Dunster | Vintage Matters

This month saw the launch of a beautiful new book, called Urban Flowers, by Carolyn Dunster and we were delighted to see that one of our products was featured on the front cover!

We met Carolyn at one of our pop up events at West Elm and she was impressed with all our various storage pieces that we had, that had the potential to work as planters in a small urban space.

Urban Flowers gives help and advice on choosing your style and personalising your space and selecting interesting pieces to give your urban garden character and personality.

Carolyn selected an old vintage suitcase from us, which was first lined and then filled with campanula, so it spilled out, as you can see above, on the front cover of the book.

You can see Carolyn has also used old vintage stoneware pots, as planters – we love the old glaze running down the sides, giving the pots real character!

Look out for these at the many vintage fairs, flea markets and car boot sales around the country.

We think this vintage olive picking basket, at only £45, is a perfect vessel for a small herb garden.

Originally, the small slotted holes allowed the olives to breathe during harvesting, but once planted up, they allow water to drain freely, so the plants do not get waterlogged, which is important.

The aim of the book is to show you how it is possible to have an urban garden in the tiniest and most unlikely of places, which also helps create an urban habitat for wildlife.

There is a chapter devoted to “Evaluating Your Space” and using clever design tricks to make the most of your garden and the use of pots and containers, because for many people this is their only option, as they have no soil.

At Vintage Matters, we have a great assortment of vintage zinc planters in different shapes and sizes, perfect for the urban garden or balcony.

We also carry sets of 3 galvanised planters, which are hugely popular and again, ideal for a small urban space.

Fill with your favourite herbs or annuals to create a stunning display, especially when the pots are grouped together.

We think this set of 3 planters, with aged brass handles are pretty cool! Made of galvanised steel, they are weather resistant, but will age over time which just adds to their character.

This colourful book, bursting with beautiful photographs by Jason Ingram, gives advice on choosing, using and combining plants for small urban spaces, as well as experimenting with colour.

It contains 14 easy projects to decorate your outdoor space throughout the year and lots of helpful hints and tips for cutting, drying and harvesting home grown plants for indoor displays and bouquets.

Don’t forget the use of props to help dress your space too, as these really help bring personality to a space, like old vintage watering cans, which are practical too, or vintage garden tools , like these hand forks below, which are an easy find at vintage fairs and can add a splash of colour too.

Adding a mirror to your urban garden can dramatically increase the feeling of space, whilst creating interesting reflections. We love these old windows that have been repurposed with mirrors.

Read the Evening Standard’s recent article with Carolyn – Grow Your Own – how to cultivate beautiful cut flowers in the smallest city gardens.

“Urban Flowers – Creating An Abundance In A Small City Garden” is published by Frances Lincoln and is available at a special price of only £16.95 plus postage, via the following link:

www.urban-flowers.co.uk/book.php

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Paul Cody

Vintage Matters Commercial Projects

Vintage Matters Commercial Projects

Vintage Matters has been busy these past few months working on some commercial projects that we would like to share with you.

Firstly, we were given a brief to supply vintage furniture and accessories to a “an extremely awesome PR, social media and experiential agency”, based in Old Street, London, for their new office space.

Citizen, Vintage Matters, vintage, letters, illuminated, reception,

The giant vintage wall map and clock gave the company board room some warmth and character and became the focal point in the room.

The bar was a fantastic use of space that was brought to life with our gorgeous vintage soda syphons, corkscrews and silver plated ice bucket and cocktail shaker.

Vintage Matters, Bar, Barware, Soda, Syphon, Cocktail, Shaker,

In addition to the statement and unique furniture items, we sourced and supplied the company name in illuminated letters for their reception area, to create a playful and impactful welcome to their space. These are mostly vintage letters that with a bit of love and some LED lighting we gave a new lease of life to.

Citizen, Vintage Matters, vintage, letters, illuminated,

Finally, the reception and meeting areas were propped with vintage antlers, old cameras, cine cameras and enamel wall plaques that add those familiar, quirky and individual moments throughout.

You can read a feature about Vintage Matters, sourcing and supplying vintage furniture and accessories to Citizen, through INEXonline:

http://www.inex-online.com/archive/in-spire/item/2006-a-new-lease-of-life-for-vintage-furniture-and-accessories

Citizen, Vintage Matters, vintage, accessories, reception, meeting room,

Citizen, Vintage Matters, vintage, letters, illuminated,vintage, furniture, accessories,

In a retail project, we supplied a new store called Shinola that recently opened in Soho, London, which was featured in Wallpaper Magazine and described by the New York Times “as the coolest American brand!”. www.shinola.co.uk

We sourced a beautiful Mid Century Danish leather sofa, for customers to relax in the store and take 5, as well as a Scandi table and chairs.

shinola, london, store, vintage, matters, leather, sofa,

We were excited to work with the set designer for the second series of Taskmaster, made by Avalon Television, which will be launching on Dave TV, on 21st June at 10 pm. http://dave.uktv.co.uk/shows/taskmaster/

We supplied a number of props for the contestants to use to perform tasks, set by the Taskmaster, Greg Davies, in this offbeat challenge show that tests the wiles, wit, wisdom and skills of five hyper-competitive comedians!

We are happy to work on any commercial projects, including hotels, bars, cafes, restaurants, office spaces and retail, as well as prop hire, including photo shoots, weddings etc.

Please contact: [email protected] 07738 042 573

Posted on November 29, 2015 by Paul Cody

Collections in Retail

And not in London!

Collections have always been present in design, fashion and architecture, but in todays quality focused society, expertly curated collections are a thing for now.

At Vintage Matters, this is something we do online with our unique collections of vintage and new product, bringing our customers a selected range of products for their home and business. Collections are a way in which we can stay relevant and flexible, listening to what our customers want and it’s something we take great joy in putting together. We will soon be releasing further collections to our online store so keep checking in. Our collections are released and titled as letters in the alphabet – we launched with A,B & C and our next collection will be D, and so on.

In this post we are highlighting a few other retailers/stores outside of London, (yes there is a world outside London!), that are offering collection focused retail.

Starting on the coast in Brighton, the Utility store is an inspiration for us! The owners and their team have been crafting a utilitarian product assortment for years now and the store looks great for it. Their strength comes from clarity and execution of the brand – from the name, product assortment and layout of the store – the whole package screams Utility. Organisation, function and simplicity of design is a thing of beauty and is hard to achieve. Utility stocks lots of the tools you will need to bring some order to your home or business. Like us at Vintage Matters, they can clearly see the beauty of design in these products, displaying them wonderfully throughout the store. The entire store is a crafted collection of utilitarian products and we take a bow to them. We love this place and we hope you do too!

http://www.utilitygreatbritain.co.uk/

Flour-tins-and-ceramic-sets-and-crockery

Next, along the coast a bit, is Alastair Hendy, who is a food writer and photographer turned shop owner and restaurateur, that opened a homewares retail store in Hastings. The store is very unassuming and strikes us as one of those stores that the unobservant amongst us would just wonder straight past and we love that! The design of the store and restaurant interior totally embrace the building in which it is housed. We’re sure they had to work hard to deliver the dilapidation look so beautifully, or maybe the building was partly like that, but either way it’s executed brilliantly. At Vintage Matters, we are big fans of utilitarian pieces and Alastair and his team always merchandise their collections in such an effortlessly cool manner. If we had time, we could get absorbed in this store for hours, browsing every nook and cranny of beautifully housed collections.

http://www.aghendy.com/

The final store/brand we have learnt to love again is John Lewis, especially with their new investment in store design in which to house their quality assortment of products. We’re particular fans of the Loved & Found department at the new Birmingham store! Loved & Found is a curated collection of designers, lifestyle brands and standout pieces and it seems the buyers of John Lewis have been thinking along the same lines as us, that too much choice is daunting for their customers and they want to give them an area of the store that is more curated. It’s great seeing such leading retailers as John Lewis being bold and providing a new and different shopping experience. Well worth a visit!

http://www.johnlewis.com/our-shops/birmingham

Please get in contact with us and let us know if you have any great other recommendations where we can go check out some collections in retail, and we’ll be sure to keep you all in the loop.

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Paul Cody

London retail that inspires us

London Retail Inspiration

We feel so lucky to live and work in such an inspiring city as London, so we thought we would share a number of our retail favourites that inspire us for different reasons.

Retail is so diverse and rich in London, where there are still pockets of independents that offer specialist treasures and the bigger boys have to work so much harder to get your attention, so they are constantly pushing themselves to gain an edge, whether it be through collaborations (such as our pop up store at West Elm http://www.westelm.co.uk/), or hosting events in store or just creating beautiful merchandising, like they do at Anthropolgie www.anthropologie.com/uk/

Club Monaco on Redchurch Street in Shoreditch, ticks a lot of boxes for us at Vintage Matters.

http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/club-monaco-mens-shop-redchurch-street-shoreditch-london

Club_Monaco_Redchurch_Street_Shoreditch_London_Mens_Shop

Club_Monaco_Redchurch_Street_Shoreditch_London

They have a perfectly formed little store on the ever gentrified Redchurch Street. The level of detail delivered in this store is exemplary, you can tell it’s all about the extra little touches with this brand and we love that. The clothes are classic, but with an understated coolness to them – nothing is over the top about them, it is almost work/utilitarian in design. The quality in finishing and material just speaks for itself. We’re big fans and just wish we had pockets deep enough to deck ourselves out! Apart from their product that they sell, they have gorgeous vintage display touches throughout, which is just right up our street. To finish off, the packaging and wrapping is simple yet beautiful.

The next spot is The French House on Lambs Conduit Street or as we are reliably informed, “LCS” for those in the know.

http://www.thefrenchhouse.net/

The_French_House_Lambs_Conduit_Street_London

The_French_Shop_Lambs_Conduit_Street_London

The French House is a little homewares store that draws inspiration from all things French. They have their own line of French House products mostly comprising of lighting, kitchen and tabletop. We can totally understand how the French House team has taken so much from France as antique, vintage and homeware wise it’s pretty hard to beat.

The first part of the store usually has beautiful displayed and French inspired tabletop and kitchen pieces with the occasional brocante piece thrown into the mix. The back room is usually used to display their own range of lighting, where we always see another fixture that we’d love for our home. The store also always uses such great and unique vintage pieces to display their product, like a really big but beautiful timber grape or grain trough. How amazing would it be to get a piece like that for your kitchen?

Talking of display pieces, Binders on Holloway Road, in North London, is one of our favourite old stores and always has a bounty of pieces to get excited by. The store doesn’t look much from the outside but they usually have some cracking product out in the street to draw you in.

http://dandabinder.co.uk/

Inside they stock primarily ex retail units, haberdashery pieces and general vintage storage counters, mixed with an ever changing range of eclectic objects – it’s just a damn interesting place to be! There are some items that have been restored and remade, as well as original pieces lining all the walls.

Finally a bit of love for South West London and Petersham Nurseries near Richmond.

http://petershamnurseries.com/

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Petersham Nurseries is a tranquil location just a stones throw from the Thames, on the outskirts of Richmond, which is totally walkable from the town center. A self titled refuge from the city, it’s perfect if you want to escape the hustle and bustle of city life.

Petersham has a series of glass houses that feature plants, homewares/antiques and an award winning restaurant too. Don’t be fooled by the glass houses ram-shackled appearance as it’s very cleverly dilapidated so you accidentally explore the wonderful little corners.

We always seem to lose hours in Petersham and that’s even before we’ve had a drink! Their product assortment is always enticing, evolving and well merchandised, encouraging you browse that little bit longer.

Please let us know what retail and product inspires you, so we can check it out next time we’re out exploring, or let us know if there is anything you want us to specifically source for you!