Hi, I’m Stephen and this is a short introduction to me, my love of antiques and how Source Vintage came to be.
Up to the age of 30, I had been stumbling through life, working mundane 9 to 5 jobs. You might say I was lost, with no direction. I wanted to find that interest, that passion, which would allow me to finally discover myself. The funny thing is that it had been right under my nose the entire time. I had loved searching for anything old at fairs, markets and car boot sales. I was into vintage clothing and collected vinyl records, and bought anything that I felt a connection with. I decided I would really focus in on this. I attended more events and found more old items and realised that old stuff had in fact been my true calling all along. I soon found myself surrounded by vintage and antique items, in fact I had become a bit of a hoarder really.
I had decided to leave the office job I was in and relocate to a new city. On doing so I saw an advert in the window of an antiques centre. So, in a complete change of career, I applied for and secured a job there. Surrounded by old stuff at home and at work, this was excellent! This new job allowed me to train my eyes, identify different makers and items of value. Armed with this knowledge I went to more fairs, markets, antiques centres and car boot sales. Soon, I was spotting better items and getting more for my money. I was running out of space at home and had to make myself a rule that if it didn't fit in my pocket, I wouldn't buy it! I was having the time of my life!
The weirdness of 2020 has made me, like a lot of people I’m sure, do a lot of thinking and self evaluating. I’d already started selling vintage and antique pieces online and had enjoyed it immensely. But I thought, what if I if I had more time to search, research, photograph and list items online. What if I could do something I absolutely love, full-time. So, during lockdown, I started making a plan of action. I built my own website from scratch and decided I wanted to make that daunting leap into becoming a full-time self-employed antiques dealer. I wanted to give this a real go! Dream big or go home, I thought! So, on 26th May 2020, I resigned from my job at the antiques centre. There’s no looking back now! It feels like a strange time to have done it, but at the same time it felt like the right time to do it.
Source Vintage is now my sole income and I am putting everything into making it work. I’m thinking of new ways, like this blog, to get more traffic to my website. It is a work in progress and it will continue to evolve. But I will need your support and the support of my fellow antiques dealers to make this a success! I have already had members of the dealer community sending me messages of support, giving me feedback and even buying items from me. And, in these uncertain times, we will all need to support each other. I truly believe that this is a time of real change, change for the better, and there will be a very bright light at the end of this very dark tunnel.
So, I hope you have enjoyed my first blog post. It’s a little insight into my life and the inception of Source Vintage. Please do let me know what you think and whether you want to read more of this kind of stuff. Also, get in touch if you have any questions or ideas for future posts you’d like to see me do or indeed, if you have any advice for a young antiques dealer just starting out on his journey.
Bless you all, stay safe out there and I’ll speak to you again soon.
Stephen
Owner Source Vintage
Shop from Source Vintage here