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It was the summer of 2020 and I had been working as a project manager at a creative agency. For a while I had felt like if I could have started my career over, I would have pursued interior design, but I didn’t have the nerve to quit my job and go for it. When the agency closed the New York office due to covid, it felt like the moment to make the leap was presenting itself to me. I sent a cold DM on instagram to a showroom that had recently opened in Williamsburg called The Somerset House. I stopped by the showroom the following day and this turned into working there and spending the next year helping them with their staging and interior design projects. It was there that I got a crash course in vintage and antique design from Alan. Witnessing how he boldly layered Baroque pieces with American midcentury and Italian Modern pieces to create beautiful and cohesive compositions - it showed me that there is no singular, cookie cutter way to design with antique and vintage collectibles. You don’t have to be a purist or pigeon hole yourself into one lane. If you are mindful about materiality, scale, color, and form you can combine pieces from different eras, regions, and styles in a way that feels really refreshing.
This gave me the confidence when I founded Past Lives Studio in the summer of 2021 to trust my own design point of view and know that I could still be playful and experiment, even with more serious, historical design pieces. Over the past few years, I have established the design language for Past Lives Studio through experimentation. Early on I was collecting and selling items that were from the second half of the 20th century - a lot of 1980s postmodern pieces, a lot of 1970s Italian pieces. I still collect and appreciate pieces from that period, but as I’ve continued my sourcing practice, my taste has changed, and these days I tend to gravitate towards the first half of the 20th century - collecting mostly from the 1920s - 1950s. The pendulum may swing back in the other direction again in the future, I think that’s what’s so fun about not needing to put myself in a box - the brand and the vision can evolve and that's okay!
Tell us about how you source vintage items for your clients and your shop? What periods do you like to focus on in your findings?
I try to make it a point to fit a trip to the local flea market into my itinerary when I’m traveling - visiting Brimfield in Massachusetts, the Rose Bowl flea in LA, the Marche Aux Puces in Paris, and La Lagunilla market in Mexico City - but I’d like to be able to do even more in person sourcing in the future. It’s so valuable to be able to see items in person, feel their weight, see the signs of age. Sometimes sourcing online better fits the project timeline, so for my shop and for interior design projects I do a lot of online perusing - scouring ebay and auctions. I tend to focus on a few areas and design movements, these being (but not limited to) Swedish Grace, French Art Deco, Italian Modern, and Viennese Secessionist. When I’m sourcing - I like to look for a mix of designer furniture pieces and lighting, and completely unknown found objects and artwork - items that you can’t find anywhere else that feel like they’ve been treasure picked. Whether it’s a figurative sculpture, a Danish School oil painting, or an ashtray with a pictorial relief. Items that have flair and ornament are really striking to me and capture my heart.
What’s your favorite part about the New York interiors community?
There is so much talent and originality here. Although I specialize in vintage design, when I’m working on interior design projects I welcome the opportunity to collaborate with independent contemporary artists, makers and designers whose work I admire so greatly. This ends up being such a highlight of the interior design process and results in a more layered project. I’m working on a few interior design projects right now and I’m really excited to see my Bedstuy project come to life. We’re working with a few independent woodworkers, lighting designers and artists to create custom pieces for it.
Your new showroom is so stunning! How has having the physical space impacted how clients interact with your collection?
Thank you so much! It’s really been a game changer for people to understand the vision I’m working to communicate. There is only so much world building you can create when staging items in a stark photo studio with a white backdrop. Having a physical space has allowed me to meet more designers, increase access to my collection of vintage furniture, art, lighting, and objects as well provide additional visibility to my interior design and furnishing practice. I also tend to source in collections - based on materiality. Right now I have a large collection of bronze GAB Sweden decorative items from the 1930’s, a large collection of Turquoise ‘Argenta’ ceramic pieces by Wilhelm Kåge for Gustavsberg, and a very large collection of 1930’s Swedish pewter objects by Svenskt Tenn. Being able to have a physical space to show these large collections all together has been really helpful.
Do you have a favorite type of furniture piece, object or textile you enjoy sourcing best? How much research goes into the pieces that you source?
I love sourcing lighting. Vintage lighting can drastically transform a room and a sculptural lighting fixture can provide light, warmth and dimension while doubling as an art piece. For designer items - I’m looking at the material used in the manufacturing of the item and the material quality of the item, paying attention to the design details - the dimensions and scale of the piece, and looking for the markings that that particular piece might have that provide proof. These are stamps, labels, tags. Labels and tags can get picked off throughout the years - so this isn’t the sole thing I rely on. Knowing the selling source and the provenance of the item is also a helpful indicator to know if what I’m buying is real. I also source a large group of furniture and objects that are from unknown designers. These might feel more like found objects - one of a kind pieces that don’t need a designer marking to understand their value. They are unique in material, shape, patination, and this gives them intrinsic value.
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