Our Vintage Story // A New (Old) Project

A little bit ago & probably even today actually, I've been hinting at a new project Zach & I are embarking on.  You may have noticed that both Zach & I love thrifting, antiquing, yard sale-ing, flea market-ing, & all around finding cool stuff.  We both love connecting with pieces from by gone eras.

Zach is a collector of electronics, books, & instruction manuals.  I am a collector of purses, luggage, & knick knacks.  Zach's tastes range from the late 1800s to the late 1940s.  My tastes begin in the 1950s & stretch to about the 1970s.  Together our interests span nearly 100 years of history, fashion, trends, electronics, & collectables.

For me, loving vintage all started with being raised in my Grandmother's home surrounded by pictures & pieces from my Grandparent's marriage.  They were married 57 years until my Grandfather's passing.  Growing up, days were spent at their house studying antiques brought over from France, eating at a dining room table purchased mid century, & flipping through photo books where my Grandmother grew to look more & more like myself everyday.  I was drawn to longer hemlines, higher waists, coiffed hair, & to look as flawless as my Grandmother did.  Vintage to me means a sense of family, a sense of belonging.

For Zach the turn of the century was the beginning of our modern era. Cars had just been invented, flight had just taken off, and we as a people were beginning to finally explore our world and connect like we never had before. We emerged so gracefully from our isolation into the world stage; men were civilized and women were refined. All you needed was someone's word and their handshake to seal a deal. Collecting things from this age really connects him to that time. "As the radio tubes warm up and their faint glow is the only light in the room, I imagine a family gathered around the shortwave waiting for news from the western front, or news about Al Cappone or another gangster," he says. It was a time when we, as Americans, were still innocent. When you literally had to know some one to get into a club and the secret knock opened a door to a secret room. These were very hard times, back then, but Zach aches to add a small amount of class to today's impersonal world.  This class sets him apart from a mere collector.  Zach, like me, is a connector.

Not just collectors of things, we are connectors with people.

This leads me to announce that Zach & I are taking part in a new little venture that will launch here at the end of August:

The launch of our Vintage Shop 516VINTAGE.  With a focus on luggage, instant book collections, & home decor 516VINTAGE will be updated monthly with new, vintage connections.  A focus on telling stories, on creating an atmosphere, & on giving you a way to connect with the past 516VINTAGE hopes to be a place of vintage inspiration to you.

Zach & I are going to launch 516VINTAGE on September 1st & have already started photographing and filling the shop with lovely, lovely goodies.

Another super cool thing launching in September is the Blogging 101 eBook! Subscribe to the newsletter for all Five Sixteenths info.  I can't wait for you all to see our little project!

Have a great Sunday!

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