If you’re looking to refurbish your home this summer, you might want to consider the virtues of vintage furniture. Selecting a feature armchair, side table or sofa to spruce up a room is great fun, but so is just browsing the stylish offerings and one-offs that find their way into Victoria’s best vintage furniture stores.
In partnership with Click for Vic, an initiative that encourages people to support Victorian businesses, we point you towards some of the state’s best vintage furniture stores, both city and country. Behold the fine modern craftsmanship of a 1960s Danish teak chair, or pick up a stately Edwardian armchair to complete your Titanic-themed home parlour suite.
Øresund, South Yarra
Øresund is a new store in South Yarra with a Scandinavian theme toting a huge selection of one-of-a-kind pieces guaranteed to make you a more interesting person just by owning them (not actually guaranteed).
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SIGN UPTucked away on Ellis Street, just off the busy Chapel Street strip (right near the Jam Factory), you can browse the renovated warehouse space for the likes of a soothing blue Johannes Andersen teak oak lounge chair or a Hans Wegner Getama high-back chair in stunning red. Perhaps the classic brown leather of a Harald Relling Wing lounge chair with a polished chrome base is more your taste. If you’re after a wall unit, a Mogen Öresund bookshelf with cabinet and a Karl-Erik Ekselius long teak sideboard are currently in stock. You might also find a vintage handwoven rug to really tie the room together. At the very least it’s a great place to go to brush up on your Scandinavian pronunciation.
Pegasus Antiques, Geelong
A stalwart of the Geelong antiques scene, Joel Duggan’s Pegasus Antiques give new life to some very old (and very beautiful) pieces of antique furniture. The team frequently travels to the UK and France to seek out the world’s best antique furniture, so that we may lounge around in style. Stepping into the old brick building is like stepping onto the set of a Jane Austen film adaptation.
Duggan and his team are experts in wood restoration, so you can expect to find exquisite Victorian drawers and coat racks, swan-neck dining chairs, leather-bound desk chairs, Huon pine chests of drawers, and red cedar gentleman’s chairs. After a Georgian longcase brass-dial clock or an 18th-century French walnut bread bin? They’ve got it. Equally expert in packing and shipping, they’ll also deliver anywhere in the country. Worth a trip to Geelong just for a browse.
Red Rider Vintage, St Kilda
Red Rider might specialise in Scandinavian furniture, but Ikea it ain’t. Along with great examples of Danish modern (including some seriously cool day beds, and who doesn’t need one of those?) you’ll find rare sideboards, teak chairs, bar stools, armchairs and dining tables. Retro 1960s is a definite theme, along with eye-turning industrial pieces, but last time we walked past there was a modernist 1970s Percival Lafer three-seater lounge in the window. The staff also repair and restore just about anything.
You’ll find Red Rider on Grey Street in St Kilda. It’s open from 11am every day except Tuesday and Sunday.
Grandfather’s Axe, Northcote
Grandfather’s Axe looks after your north-side needs for Scandinavian chairs, sofas, dining tables, desks, lighting, homewares and books. In its perch on the High Street hill midway between the eclectic Westgarth strip of shops and the bustling High Street epicentre of Northcote, expect to encounter all manner of weird and wonderful examples of design from the 1960s right through to the ’80s – pieces that invoke an “Is it artwork or is it furniture?” reaction. In the market for a 1970s Hans Wegner Keyhole rocking chair? Look no further.
There’s a lot of timeless beauty to be found at Grandfather’s Axe, from a gorgeous rosewood tile-top coffee table to a cute-as-anything Danish nest of tables that fit together like a Russian doll. It’s the type of place where you wander the rows of objects and wish you had a better house to put them in. Aspirational, yes. Worth a visit, without a doubt.
Vintage Shed, Tyabb
When it comes to sprawling vintage goods, regional Victoria is honourably represented at Tyabb. The Vintage Shed is like the Disneyland of op shops. Its 60-plus stalls have long lured travellers to the Mornington Peninsula to pull over and poke their heads into the cavernous warehouse, then wonder if there’s room in the car for a – well, just about anything you can imagine.
It’s home to an eclectic bunch of stallholders selling everything from old-school toys, records, vintage clothing and homewares to furniture, antiques and collectibles. You could easily spend two hours or more drifting from stall to stall, rummaging through the treasures and sniffing out bargains, including (if you’re lucky) teak furniture at a fraction of the price you’d pay in the city.
This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Visit Victoria. Support Victorian
producers by buying online through Click for
Vic and hitting the road to visit in person.
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