How I Source

People often picture a vintage dealer's life as fairs at dawn, market stalls - that sort of thing. I get asked about it a lot 'where do you find everything?’ and I think the answer usually surprises people, because the unfortunately for me its far less romantic, more... me - sat at my laptop at the dining table.

I source almost entirely online. eBay, Facebook Marketplace, the odd auction site — that's about it. No early starts at car boot sales for me, no travelling the country hunting things down in person. It's not how most dealers work, but it's how Studio & Store works.

It didn't start this way, either. For a long time, sourcing had to happen in whatever gaps I could find - a scroll here, a saved search checked there, snippets stolen between everything else that needed doing with three small kids at home - often scrolling in bed gone 10pm is where I’ve found some absolute gems!

I remember right at the start, finding some lamps on Facebook Marketplace (below!) that I really wanted. The seller didn't want to post them, and she was too far away for me to collect — by all normal logic, that should have been the end of it. Instead, I talked her into letting me send her all the packaging materials and a pre-paid return shipping label, so all she had to do was pack them up and send them back to me. Looking back, that's a slightly extreme way to buy two lamps. But it worked and they were sold straight away - it taught me early on to trust my gut and that if you want something enough, there's usually a way — you just have to be prepared to do the legwork.

Now the kids are all a bit older and at secondary school things are completely different. I’ve much more structure to my day - most mornings once they’ve all headed out for the day I get an hour to myself at the gym, then home or studio for around half nine, and then I properly crack on with work - packing orders, organising the courier, searching & following up on things I've had my eye on for days, sometimes weeks.

I’m not sure if it’s a real skill to sourcing this way or whether it’s sheer persistence that pays off. Knowing which search terms actually work or staring with one search that gradually leads me down a different path, spotting a good piece from a bad photo (often!), knowing when to message straight away because something won't last long or the piece that I just have to have (!) - its an instinct, built up the same way any dealer builds theirs, just from my computer screen instead of a market.

More recently, I spotted an amazing table on Facebook — right down on the South coast, and expensive enough that I didn't want to just send cash over to someone I'd never met. So I asked the seller if he'd list it on eBay instead, so I could pay securely through there. He agreed — and it sold before it had even arrived with me. Whilst I do still often doubt myself I do very often go with my gut - knowing a piece is worth chasing and sometimes finding a way to make the deal work safely from a distance. That said sometimes its also a complete gamble but so far it’s paid off!

It wasn’t the best deal, but my gut was saying it was something I just had to have - let me know in the comments if you think this table was worth the extra effort?

Thanks for reading!

Ali x