A friend and I were talking about how so many shops are offering new furniture designed to look both old and industrial–she thought it was odd to buy such items new (as opposed to actual vintage pieces) and was surprised they seem so popular for 2024.
As someone who’s loved the vintage industrial trend for over a decade now, it gave me pause. Like, who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned drafting table like this one from Knox Deco?
But after giving it a bit of thought, I see her point. Usually, you can score great true vintage industrial pieces at flea markets, consignment shops, and thrift stores. So, why would you pay top dollar for a replica? And, really, doesn’t it defeat the purpose of having great vintage-industrial pieces if they’re actually neither vintage nor truly industrial?
But, honestly, I think you love what you love, and sometimes you fall in love with a certain style but finding pieces with necessary functionality in that style is a little tricky (as is the case with true vintage industrial pieces–finding something with both style and functionality takes some serious time or luck). I have a vintage filing cabinet, for instance, that holds files exactly as you’d expect, but no amount of oiling or repair has gotten the drawers to truly slide easily so these days the piece is empty and just around because it looks good.
So, perhaps it’s okay to pick up those pieces with vintage style lines but updated to have modern functionality instead of spending lots of time hunting down the right piece only to discover it still needs fixing or reworking to truly work the way you need it to.
How about you–where do you stand on the vintage industrial trend in general? And how do you feel about brand new pieces done in the style?
