ANTIQUE WEEK ARTICLE

The Americas coming to Vintage and Modern

From Antique Week (http://www.AntiqueWeek.com)

NEW YORK – Bill Indursky and his company, Vintage and Modern, Inc., are reaching out to touch the world.

Indursky, who might be called something of a polymath, does not think small.

In short, he is guiding Vintage and Modern into international waters, with the overall goal of making the company a central hub for the marketing of worldwide antiques, fine art, décor accessories, jewelry, furniture and more. To achieve this lofty goal, he is signing up shop owners and craftsman throughout the world to sell their wares. The new website will offer these items, bringing international dealers on board while offering descriptions in 36 languages to better accommodate a worldwide market. The website will offer the social networking abilities where those of similar interests throughout the world can discuss antiques and fashions, in addition to bartering.

“It’s no secret that the world is shrinking and people not only want, but expect to have easy access to even the most far-flung of resources,” Indursky says.

At the present, the company has 115 sellers, with 80 percent of them coming from the United States. Although the company has yet to market their site in Europe, there are sellers from England and Switzerland. Right now, according to Indursky, the company’s emphasis is on expanding into South America.

So far, this year Vintage and Modern is working on bringing 25 selected South American vendors, including several from Buenos Aires, into their fold. “Argentina and South America on the whole have a deep and rich design history,” says Christian Lovschal, VandM’s South American director of sales. “A large community of craftspeople have thrived here for centuries and there is a tremendous respect for the art of furniture making.”

In Buenos Aires, VandM also signed up the Guevara Gallery, a 30-year-old family business specializing in everything from Art Deco to Art Nouveau and Bauhaus. The company will also be representing other small businesses that specialize in sculpture, antique lighting, garden furniture, vintage textile, furnishings and accessories.

The next big push is into Canada.

“We’re conquering the Americas first,” Indursky, sounding like a modern-age Napoleon, says. “In South America, their wealth is so connected with the United States – much like, what I think, we’ll find in Canada. Their economy has been hit hard, but we’re still producing a lot of international buyers which, I believe, evens it out some.”

From the Americas, Indursky plans on moving into Europe in 2010, and Asia the following year (“that will be a little tricky,’’ he admits).

For Indursky and VandM, life has been a whirlwind of activity. Indursky has a Masters Degree in architecture, with a Minor in ceramics. Then he turned his mind to fashion design for nearly 10 years, before becoming totally immersed in computer technology and web design about four years ago.

He and Chris Sansbury founded Vintage and Modern in 2006.

Working out of a small building in the Red Hook neighborhood in Brooklyn, the pair began reaching out to dealers throughout the country.

“It was our idea to represent those higher end craftsman and dealers who didn’t necessarily have a platform to sell from,” he says. “We were trying to find the best dealers in select ware, and many of the one-of-a-kind items that people would buy for that individual look.”

After signing up a company, VandM representatives cull through their inventory, select several unique items with instant sales potential, take photos, then put the items on their website. They update each dealers offerings at least once a month, repeating the same process.

The company initially started connecting with specialty designers; however, they have in no way discouraged the retail buyer from signing on and buying directly from the dealers and craftspeople.

Indursky draws some comparisons with eBay, in that Vintage and Modern is only the broker between buyer and seller. “eBay, for the most part, deals in items less than $500. We’re trying to take it to the next level. We want to offer items in the $500-1,000 level and on up. It’s not to say, we won’t have a few select items at $75-125 – we vet our dealers very thoroughly – but we want to remain on a higher plane.”

In August 2008, VandM was purchased by EUE/Screen Gems, one of the world’s largest television production companies. The new building in New York City’s 44th Street and Second Avenue, houses studios for such shows as Guiding Light, Dawson’s Creek and Rachel Ray (“her kitchen is right above my office,” Indursky says.

With the sale of the company came the capital to expand throughout the United States, into South America, Canada and beyond. And, that additional capital is already showing its impact.

“Sales last month, doubled over the previous month,” he said. “Last month, alone, we had 60,000 visitors on the site. And on the dealer side, we’re working with a great bunch of sellers, including dealers that sell at the ’picker level’ to those who have the high end shops.’

Indursky’s vision, in linking these series of regional and somewhat specialized markets together, is to help small business compete with the large box stores. In short, he says the small business – whether it be a fledgling designer, antique shop owner or craftsman – is too important to slowly die out.

“It’s getting harder and harder for small business to survive,” he says. “Small businesses are the backbone of America.”

Contact: www.vandm.com

Eric C. Rodenberg
6/26/2009