Are Young People Driving Antique & Vintage Prices Into The Stratosphere?
The sustainable eco-generation wants you to know they're in it for the long-haul.
Growing up in Brooklyn, this 28 year old says that in the past her primary source for decorating often involved a trip to Ikea or Crate & Barrel. "Flat-pack furniture was just part of my generation," says Roan, "but somewhere along the way, it just started to shift and align with my ideas about sustainability and creating a living space that felt warm and cozy rather than austere and cold." Prioritizing her belief in a balanced socio-economic future, Roan says that her discovery of buying 'old and used' items came to be somewhat revelatory.
"I simply had no idea there were so many unique designs and pieces from the past that were out there and still available for purchase," she says, "it was almost like the lifting of a veil."
DeVries thinks that while millennials may have started the trend, it's definitely Gen-Z's who are moving the ball forward today.
Nostalgia is in says Emily Harris of the collectors co-op, a loosely knit group of store owners on Etsy that come together to share tales of buy-and-sell stories with the intent of targeting specific offerings to prospective clients. "It just keeps getting younger," says Harris, "we're almost solely concentrating on online buyers in their mid-thirties and below now because that's who's driving our sales." Items like wall, chandelier, and furniture-top lighting are all seeing steep price increases due to demand says Harris. "We're buying from salvage yards, home-reno companies and more, and we still can't keep pace." Harris believes the post-pandemic need for a world that's more comforting and inviting, rather than minimalist and modern is at the root of the younger generations 'buy-old' craze. "I think the pandemic maybe showed just how vulnerable our modern world was," she said, "and why those ties to the past can be so enticing."
Ashford Institute of Antiques Staff Writers October 2, 2022
