There’s nothing quite like the charm of vintage furniture finds. But the trials and tribulations of sourcing the right piece can be frustrating. It’s all too easy to spend endless fruitless hours scrolling Facebook Marketplace in search of the perfect mid-century modern chairs or Murano glass chandeliers, or at countless Sunday mornings at faraway antique markets, hoping to stumble across a gem.
Bazaa, a new Aussie online marketplace, is here to change the way you shop for (and sell) second-hand and vintage homewares. Offering a seamless experience for browsing products, organising payments and delivery (not to mention avoiding scams), the platform lets you search through thousands of curated listings. Shop by product, style, colour, material, price, condition or specific sellers.
It’s co-founded by Thibault Henry and former Depop executive Aria Wigneswaran, who spotted a gap in the market for shopping second-hand furniture online, in the same way we do clothes and other goods.
“Australian consumers are just ahead of the time in terms of wanting to buy second-hand and engaging in the pre-loved and vintage market, but a lot of that has traditionally been offline,” Wigneswaran says. “We really want second-hand and vintage to be accessible for everyone … and not just discover it but also sell it.”
For those looking to list items, the process is simple and efficient. There’s a dedicated seller portal that allows users to sign up, create a shopfront, upload images of products along with descriptions and dimensions, and manage orders – as if they were running their own e-commerce site. Listings are approved each week by the Bazaa team against internal guidelines to help ensure the selection remains curated and elevated, while offering a diverse range of styles and price points.
Find period pieces from well-known designers – made with intricate craftsmanship and quality materials – as well as more low-key second-hand wares. On Wigneswaran’s wishlist: the Chieftain chair by Scandinavian designer Finn Juhl, a ’70s-style blackwood sideboard by iconic Aussie designer Gerald Easden and these bold postmodern Italian dining chairs. She also has her eye on some smaller decor pieces including a pair of wood-turned candle sticks, a blue and yellow floral vase and a Gzhel-style (Russian ceramics) olive oil-pouring jug.
According to Wigneswaran, second-hand pieces still have much life to give. “Sometimes people see vintage and second-hand almost as really cheap old stuff, but there are just so many pieces out there that have amazing stories, beautiful history.
“What we’re finding is, as people have opened up their doors to shopping vintage, they’re really understanding that there are so many different eras and styles available.”
It’s also a more sustainable way to shop and a step towards creating a more circular future, she says. “I think it’s something like 85 per cent of the stuff that we throw out onto the kerbside goes into landfill … the problem that we’re sort of trying to solve is how do we make [second-hand furniture] accessible to all those people who are looking for it.”
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