My trajectory on this path began a long, long time ago. It started out before my kids were born, when I went out on off-duty weekends, strolling antiques markets trying to still the hunger I had for finding quality pieces that ‘connected’ with me. I don’t really know how to put words to what that means, I think you either understand it and feel it, or you don’t. No judgement.
Where this hunger for true design and craftsmanship comes from, I really can’t say.
After 70 years there’s not a great many things that I get truly excited about, you know?
And yet…. when spotting exquisite art or design – my heart still jumps and my feet carry me with a lightness I remember only from many, many moons ago.
I have to admit, I revel in the hunt, this primal instinct hard-wired into our collective brains.
Hunting has been a part of my life for 40 years – criminals, not animals mind you! – and so it’s only logical that I needed some other ‘hunt’ to quench my thirst of this primal instinct…
The truth is, a couple years ago I came to a point in life where having thousands of objects scattered across several locations really wasn’t practical anymore. And so, in an effort to put a dent in my inventory, I started VintageDesignVault. Aided by my son, who had also taken an interest in glass & ceramics in the meantime, I have been able to share my items with the world and find new and exciting places for them to shine in and bring joy to.
Letting go of much of my collection has offered me space, literally, to re-focus my attention and put my efforts into building a smaller, high end collection.
Whilst doing this, I have been spending the past years trying to find ways to put our combined cultivated expertise to other use, by not just furthering our own collections but offering others access to that expertise as well.
It started out just offering advice to collectors around the globe, helping them find focus in a general way or locating specific pieces when they know what type of piece they’re looking for but don’t have the connections to find it.
More recently we’ve been asked to perform appraisals and valuations as outside experts for insurance companies and auction houses, and it’s been a catalyst to building this platform.
I envisioned this to be a place to connect with us, the people behind VintageDesignVault, to request independent and accurate appraisals on (parts of) your collection, to task us with mediating a purchase on your behalf or to find that piece you’ve been unable to locate for so long already. So please, be welcome here and connect with us.
Warm regards,
Paul, collector of glass & ceramics and founder of VintageDesignVault