These days it takes a lot more than a simple CB2 haul to impress a guest. For your apartment to be dialed in by contemporary standards you need a mix of things—materials, colours, scales, and most definitely, periods. But how to go about collecting antiques if you are new to the field, or new to design as a whole?
Here at ELLE DECOR we’ve been obsessed with all things beautiful, antiques included, for eons, profiling up-and-coming antique dealers, and always highlighting how designers of today infuse their clients’ homes with personality via a clever dose of vintage. But just because something is old (take your grandmother’s glass vase), doesn’t mean it’s special. And just because it’s finely made, doesn’t mean it’s of the moment. Paradoxically perhaps, antiques have their peaks and their troughs like any other fluctuation in the world of interior design. Below, we’ve gathered the top antique and vintage trends that will pick up speed in 2025, according to dealers and experts.
19th-Century American Quilts
Victorian Wicker
Another word we never thought we would hear again is wicker—specifically the Victorian wicker chairs and tables exploding with curlicues and decorative elements that we’ve started to see spotted through our favourite interiors.
ELLE DECOR A-List interior designer Adam Charlap Hyman, of the ELLE DECOR A-List firm Charlap Hyman Herrero, works wicker in wherever he can. Two brands in particular have a hold on Charlap Hyman: the American brand Heywood Wakefield and the French brand Perret and Vibert. For furniture that is over 100 years old, the wicker pieces by these brands look like something out of the future. “What draws me to Heywood Wakefield is that the forms are very abstract and kind of odd,” says Charlap Hyman. “They almost connote sea creatures or aliens. Sometimes you see them in these 1920s and 1930s houses alongside surrealist art.”
The Victorians, in particular, stretched the material to its limits, bending wicker into rocking chairs, side chairs, chaises, tables, and lamps. There are varying levels of quality available, like any other antique, with prices ranging from the low hundreds to high thousands. 1stDibs and Home Fix Boutique is always well stocked with great examples, but many designers, including Charlap Hyman, have found their favourites at Paris flea markets.
When you find the Victorian wicker that’s right for you, remember context: “There is something refreshing about having something made out of a grass in your New York City living room,” says Charlap Hyman. “The coolest thing is when it doesn’t belong.”
Surrealist Paintings
We’ve already told you about the jolie laide, or “pretty ugly,” trend that’s swept our social feeds in which designers are embracing objects and accessories that surprise or disgust. Fortunately, the antique world is way ahead of the curve here, with bizarre surrealist and naïve artworks poised to pop up everywhere in the year ahead.
And while most of us can’t afford a Leonora Carrington, Max Ernst, or Salvador Dalí painting, no one can deny the impact of a dreamscape in a home that is decidedly rooted in real life. For those of us with midmarket budgets, an entrée into the dreamworld can come via a few lesser-known artists. Less expensive than the leaders of surrealism but still a reach for most are the works of Gertrude Abercrombie. The bohemian artist was an engaged member of Chicago’s music scene in the 1920s but fell into obscurity during the middle of the 20th century. Her psychologically tense yet playful landscapes and interiors started selling like hotcakes after a wildly successful solo show at Karma Gallery in New York City in 2018. Her work is still available through the gallery and at auction, with newly available paintings listed frequently on Artsy, generally upward of $10,000.
More recent, and more humbly priced, are the paintings of Earl Swanigan—a self-taught artist working in Hudson, New York, until 2019. His portraits embody the at once disturbing and playful energy of early 20th-century surrealists, usually picturing famous historical figures as cats, dogs, or birds. Before his death he became a favorite among Black contemporary artists and designers on the East Coast. ELLE DECOR A-List Titan Sheila Bridges often uses Swanigan’s paintings in projects and owns several, which she hung in her Hudson Valley home. Swanigan has been something of a secret, so getting your hands on a painting can take a little while. If you are lucky enough to visit downtown Hudson on a weekend, try White Whale Limited. If you aren’t a local, set up alerts for online auctions. The plus side to his relative obscurity is that his prices are still extremely accessible, with paintings almost always going for under $1,000.
In a Netflix era when seating is designed mostly for watching TV or working at your laptop, it follows that we’ve grown used to the upholstered, cushioned, and swiveling. But for those who like to look at their chairs as much as sit in them, the classic 18th-century Windsor chair holds as much interest as it did when it became a staple in American Colonial homes.
To the contemporary eye the form of these chairs is graphic and simple—a wooden seat carved out of one piece of hardwood, with spindles threaded into the seat’s back, held together by a softly rounded piece of wood at the top, and balanced on four simple feet, sometimes with a stretcher connecting them. These chairs can range vastly in price, depending on age, condition, maker, material, whether they are painted or not, and who might have owned them. The least expensive, still functional examples can be had for as little as a few hundred dollars—usually lucky finds at a coastal antique dealer’s shop. The best examples range from the low to very high thousands. Battle Brown in Hudson always has a few on offer, generally from the 18th or 19th century. Olde Hope Antiques always has several in stock, of the highest quality, usually in the mid-thousands. 1stDibs has a wide range of styles and sometimes even matching pairs (which generally hold their value more than single chairs).
For decorators and collectors these chairs are a clean, simple way to communicate a sense of place and time. They are one of the purest 18th-century furniture forms that are still useful (and reproduced) today. Their simplicity can also lend themselves well to more eclectic interiors. “We have all been sort of drawn to these kinds of pure and puritanical furniture forms lately,” says Charlap Hyman. “But my personal favorite example of these are the mismatched sets of Windsor chairs in Beauport’s dining room that are all painted uniformly in teal.”
Knole Sofas
No one is unfamiliar with the fold-out couch—that scourge of 1990s hospitality. Few know of the earlier and altogether more stylish predecessor—the Knole settée (no, not that Knoll!), which functioned as the sleeper sofa of yesteryear. They originated in Kent, England, in the 1600s for monarchs to receive guests (sessions that could last for hours and hours) and are typified by a straight, long back, seating for at least two, and foldable arms that can be positioned to create something closer to a chaise longue.
In a contemporary context, they are the perfect sofa for an overnight guest. “Finding period or stylistically appropriate upholstered sofas is challenging. And finding ones that you can comfortably sink into for a long conversation or a drink or two is extremely rare,” says antiques dealer Collier Calandruccio of Klismos Gallery. “Knole sofas, at least by the 19th century, had achieved that level of comfort. They roamed scores of drawing rooms in historicist mansions of the Gilded Age and their simple geometry and versatility make them an easy fit for modern life. I see a clear through-line from Knole to the long sofas of Le Corbusier.”
Early examples are extremely hard to find, with many designers opting for reproductions over the real thing. On the accessible end of the price bucket are Victorian and Edwardian versions, ranging from $3,000 to $10,000 usually. “Knole sofas can range from several thousand dollars to tens of thousands. Really good examples, and pairs particularly, are scarce, but well worth the search and investment,” says Calandruccio.
The fun thing about this type of antique is that old and valuable though it may be, you still have a degree of control about how it looks—reupholstery is a perfectly acceptable way to keep the old form fresh. And like everything we’ve listed above, these sofas offer a direct link to the past while remaining functional for contemporary life, a feature that—if handled well—can launch you into a stylish future.