Is Vintage Ahead of the Times - I think so!
There's an interesting thing that happens when I spend my days sourcing, it’s something I think about a lot so today I’m trying to get it down on paper. I watch leading designers and tastemakers carefully, often starting to see trends filtering through well before they've arrived on the high street - I also start seeing them leave after the shops have flooded the market with copies - so as a dealer you sometime end up seeing the trend cycle from both ends at once. I always think vintage pieces exist both just ahead of the curve and slightly behind it - most new pieces are inspired in some way by the past, I feel its my life work to set out and find the original!
We were showing at a vintage fair recently & my other half overheard someone looking at a genuine old piece say, "but you can buy that in Zara." It stuck with me, because it's got the story completely backwards. Zara didn't invent that look — it copied it decades after it was first designed when it came back round again. The high street isn't setting the trend, it's chasing something that's already been and gone once before. That's exactly the pattern I want to talk about today.
What I'm (sometimes) over: the wavy, wriggle, squiggle…
I feel when designer and maker Oscar Piccolo released his "Lampada Cappello" in 2018 - a series of wavy-based lamps with pleated shades it felt genuinely a case of a designer reinterpreting older forms into something new - the pleated shade reimagined alongside the gentle sculptural form of the lamp stand gave it a beautiful grace - it was a sell out and an instagram sensation - it also kick started a trend.
Oscar Piccolo’s "Lampada Cappello" designed in 2018.
It made us vintage dealers set about seeking out old designs - often dating back and influenced by the Memphis era of the 1980s, when Milan-based designer Ettore Sottsass and his collective first put the squiggle at the centre of furniture design, originally through his 1978 'Bacterio' print. Anything with a wave, wriggle or squiggle was game!
But then, as usual, the high street cottoned on — it got copied and mass-produced until every wavy mirror and wobbly candlestick looked like it came off the same production line. However, whilst the 'trend' always eventually fades the originals don't. Long after the high street version has gone to the charity shop, a genuine vintage piece — or indeed Oscar's beautiful 'Lampada Cappello' - is still as desirable as it was the day it was made, often even more so.
A rare 3 bar wavy lamp sourced by S&S featured in Dolores at Palm Heights, Grand Cayman. Image source: Gabriella Khalil
What I'm (currently) backing: scrolls, spirals, drapes and tassels…
If you haven’t already noticed this is the one I'm already well into it and it's exactly the kind of trend that vintage gets to first. Scrolls, spirals, drapes, tasselled trims — a sort of theatrical elegance it's been quietly working its way back into the design world for a little while now. The ‘Opera Aesthetic’ is flagged as one of the leading interiors trends of 2026. There's apparently a companion trend too - "Neo Deco," which is essentially the scrolls-and-spirals - a revival of Art Deco glamour with polished metals and bold geometric curves. This is where being a vintage dealer is ahead of the times - I'm sourcing these original pieces now whilst they're still out there to be found, before the high street catches up!
It's a pattern that plays out again and again, to quote my Mum - ‘what goes around, comes around’. Often a designer falls for an original vintage piece, reworks it into something fresh and modern, and that new piece takes off, sometimes years before the high street even notices the design style has shifted. Oscar’s lamp did exactly this for the wavy trend. By the time the mass market catches up and starts churning out its own version, the original vintage piece or the original reimagined version that started it all has usually already quietly come and gone through people like me.
Here are a few pieces from the shop that sum up the Opera Aesthetic…
The pattern I keep coming back to…
Trends don’t really die - they just get worn out & exhausted by imitation. The high street chases the look and floods the market for a short period of time but the vintage pieces stand the test of time - they may cost more but they are the most desirable and sustainable option.
If any of these pieces have caught your eye, get in touch or keep an eye on new stock drops over on Instagram — the good ones don't tend to hang around!