Sharing the joys of the past with the world today.
We're Jeff and Nataly, and we love to travel Eastern Europe looking for interesting items to share with our friends and customers like you from around the world! From lovely kitsch decor to vintage toys and rare Soviet collectibles, (and the occasional Western goodie that found its way behind the Irony Curtain), you are sure to find a treasure to enjoy here!
It all began for me (Jeff) as a little boy, going with my pops to the swap meets looking for old things to "trade up" for better stuff and to sell the things we didn't need or couldn't swap. Later, in my early 20s, starting with a 1940s washing machine I found, I fixed it and sold it in an antique mall, and used the proceeds to buy two cabinets at auction. It started me on a picking and flipping path that put me through college, as I started in earnest selling thrift shop finds, the contents of storage auctions and yard sales, and taking extensive road trips scouring the great Pacific Northwest for vintage collectibles to sell back in LA and San Francisco
Years later, after a career in advertising agencies and publishing houses in Europe and Asia, I met a wonderful woman by the name of Nataly from the Black Sea port city of Odesa. Long story short, we married each other as soul mates often do.
One day while shopping for produce in Odesa's famous Pryvoz Market, we came across a huge 1700s Russian brass mortar and pestle and threw it onto an online marketplace where it sat for some time. Nataly was totally convinced that it wouldn't sell. I was 100 percent sure. When it finally sold, she gave me a big smile. She is still smiling, but now her smile is much more enthusiastic because within a short time she got involved in the store’s trading process on a full-time basis with a real passion, as both a picker and our photographer.
We’ve always had a fascination with things from days gone by because you can really feel the soul of them. Like music, you can feel the vibrations of an item... it's like Animism, the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence, and just holding something from the past can have a real effect on you. It has been our great joy to discover the spirit of things in objects from behind the former Iron Curtain, and Nataly now has a deeper appreciation for the things she grew up with.
The stories some of our sources share with us about their items, really reaches the deepest parts of our being, like the elderly man who grew up in a Russian arctic city, selling us Christmas ornaments from his childhood because there was no one left to pass them on to and he wants them to go where they will bring joy... it means that it is up to us to help them on their journey to others who will treasure these items as well.
During our time on Etsy, we have met many great people from many countries around the world. With every purchase, they have shared this journey to different worlds and different times which only a vintage item can transport you to.
We can only do this right with a proper understanding of the importance of customer service, which is something we also really enjoy, the same as we love finding beautiful vintage pieces and putting them on a new path in life.
Thank you for joining us on this journey of discovery!
