25 April 2011

Flea Market Finds... Italian Style -or- Thrift Share Monday from halfway across the world :)

Found some toned-down pieces at that flea market that we will be bringing home as merch for the future-store. For personal use/enjoyment I found a stack of vintage postcards and greeting cards with hysterical graphics for scanning when I get home. Tomorrow I have to purchase a carry-on luggage for the breakables, we always seem to be bringing lamps home!

Here is a bad iphone photo of the goodies. The teak and glass lamps are wall sconces and signed though I can't read it right now. It's raining out today and dark in the apartment ... the smoke glass lamps are table lamps; oddly enough. And I think they are definately more 70's than MCM. The planter is so painfully Italian ~ but I may keep it because I am a hoarder of planters. AND I do not have anything like this in my collection.








Again sorry for the poor quality of photos ~ it's all I have to work with here. :) I would love to hear everyone's opinions on these lamps. They are not in my range of taste; I would never have them in the house but part of having a shop, I realize, is catering to many people's tastes. It's hard to start to buy for others in mind... if that makes sense.

I also feel like I haven't shopped quite enough so tomorrow will warrant a trip to Retro.it across the alleyway and see what (non-breakables) I can pick. She had a HUGE art glass dachshund that I am in love with but I can't pack anymore fragile pieces. Today is actually a 'bigger' holiday than Easter and all shops are closed. I will have to wait until tomorrow.

Between the holiday and the rain, I've been in the apartment most of today, washing clothes and eating way too many sweets. Now I have the chance to read everyone's blogs for the first time in over a week, I'm so excited to have the time to do this!

5 comments:

Dana@Mid2Mod said...

I agree that one of the biggest challenges when you open a store is learning to look at things through other peoples' eyes and buy things that aren't necessarily to your personal taste. I'm finding that there are three distinct types of MCM buyers: the purist, who mainly wants designer pieces and will pay top dollar; the buyer who wants "the mid-century look" for less money and is happy with a pretty piece, even if it has no designer name attached to it; and the buyer who equates MCM with kitsch (which I do not). For me, that last group is the hardest to buy for.

stacey said...

precisely! although, i'm the queen of kitsch and it's VERY hard *not* to stock up on big-eyed prints, owl-EVERYTHINGS, and paint by numbers for the future-shop. we have another contingent of buyers as well... the trend-seeking hipsters. they want iconic pieces at not-iconic prices. they're happy with Ikea but will shop for vintage for the right piece that they saw in a movie. this demo is also why we're going to stock vintage clothing. that, and i have a ton of it hoarded away. :)

monogirl said...

I know, I have to keep reminding myself that there is the group who loves the chippy, white twee stuff. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it's so not my vibe. It's also worth remembering for me that there is a group in my area who likes the more Mediterranean or Italian style MCM items more than the simple Danish or American items. This is why I got an atomic lamp for $25 and an amoeba coffee table for $45 on Long Island.
It is interesting how different demographic groups vary around the country. I think the MCM=kitsch group definitely is more prevalent in the middle of the country than the coasts. Probably because there is a larger quantity of it in better shape there than there is back East.

mooboy said...

I like unique / unusual items so I love the lamps and wall sconces!

stacey said...

@monogirl - yep Long Island is thee place for anything flashy and Italian! :)

@mooboy - i like them as well... i appreciate them for what they are, i just could never fit them into the scheme of my house. i don't think.