More young people are seeking out vintage furniture for statement pieces in their homes, according to an antiques dealer.
Julie Parte (58) has been running the Potting Shed in Clogherhead, Co Louth, for the past four years. Her collection of antique and vintage homewares are drawing an increasingly younger customer base, she says.
“More younger people, especially in recent years, are starting to appreciate well-made furniture and having that one unique piece in their home that no one else will have. It’s no longer shiny and new but old and vintage.”
Her interest in antiques was sparked young. As a child she held jumble sales, selling off her sister’s Tiny Tears doll and her mother’s perfume, “all of which I had to buy back”, she says with a laugh.
Julie Parte in The Potting Shed
“Now I eat, sleep and breathe antiques and vintage pieces. Social media has been my shop window.”
Parte’s passion for period furniture takes her mind away from worrying about her nine brain tumours.
The mother of four says she was diagnosed in 1998 with 10 brain tumours due to the genetic condition neurofibromatosis. She had a large mass removed at that time, and medics believe the other, smaller growths are no longer a threat to her health as they have stopped growing, she says.
For years she worried “all the time”, she says. “It was only when I got into vintage that the tumours took a back seat in my mind.”
She has met people from “all over Ireland and abroad” because of antiques. Parte travels across the country and into the UK and France to buy vintage and antique pieces. Many of her sales include lamps, mirrors, rugs and small cabinets that fit into modern homes.
Recently she has been surprises by the number of young people contacting her.
“I’m delighted that young people are getting into it. I love their faces when I tell them a table might be 100 years old. They are gobsmacked.”
One of Parte’s customers is Rose Scanlan, who has bought several pieces and had them delivered to their homes in Killaloe, Co Clare.
Scanlan (23), who holds the junior world record for riding side saddle, which she obtained at 14 years of age, has a saddle from 1918, and an apron and coat from 1932.
“I’m kind of fond of old things,” she says.
There is “a lot more life” in vintage pieces, and they bring “more character” to a room, she says.
Rose Scanlan is ‘fond of old things’
“A lot of the rugs and lamps that are in fashion these days are boring and basic and there’s nothing to them but vintage pieces make a room more cosy. They’ve a nicer look to them.
“I’ve bought lamps and the most beautiful Persian rug from Julie and they are much better quality than a lot of the stuff you’d find being made now.”
Beauty therapist Alice Murphy (23) lives in the seaside village of Clogherhead, not far from The Potting Shed.
She has decorated her work cabin in her parent’s back garden with her vintage buys, including a mirror she says receives regular compliments from her clients.
Alice Murphy with her beloved vintage mirror
“I’d tip in and out of Julie’s and, when I saw this particular mirror, I just had to have it,” she says. “I’d buy things from Shein [a Chinese online retailer] too but this mirror is something else, and everyone who sees it just loves it.
“It’s nice to appreciate things that no one else has. Things that are vintage are different and one-off statements.”
Aedín Cosgrove (32), who is originally from Cavan but living in Drogheda, Co Louth, is filling her new home with what she describes as “investment pieces”.
“I grew up in a farmhouse full of antiques, so I associate vintage furniture with nostalgia and as being safe and warm,” she says.
Cosgrove loves the “character and history” of each piece and “wondering what the story was behind each little scratch”.
Cosgrove and her wife have a number of items they bought from The Potting Shed, including two writing desks, a lamp, a 200-year-old dining table and a bookshelf.
“I would rather spend a little more now and have it forever than spend little and have to replace it in a few years,” says Cosgrove.
Vintage furniture in The Potting Shed
Many of Parte’s sales come from online interest, including from John Williams (49), who has “always appreciated old-world style and furniture”. He buys his pieces online and gets them delivered to his home in Borrisokane, Co Tipperary.
“You meet so many other people through a shared interest in art deco and vintage,“ he says.
“Buying vintage is sustainability on top of sustainability. Each piece has its own vibe and brings a room to life,” he says.
He purchased an antique lamp from Parte, having been taken in by how “evocative and nostalgic” it is. “It just gives off a warm, fuzzy feeling,” he says.
A mahogany table in his diningroom “takes my breath away”, he says, making it “the perfect place to make memories with family and friends over a meal”.
“I think social media now has opened up the world of antiques to the younger generations who otherwise may not be on [sellers’] radar.”
Parte says people are now more interested in vintage items than fine antiques.
Perhaps Instagram and the visual nature of social media has an influence: “People are now going for the look. It’s almost like we are in the fashion business.”