Interview, Lou & Pickle: Antique, vintage and one-off furniture items

Photo by Duy Hoang on Unsplash

Antique, vintage and reclaimed furniture items have become increasingly popular – with everyone looking for new and innovative ways in which they can add character and personality into their homes, there’s no surprise there is a current revival for old, unique and one-off items. 

With this in mind, we had a brief chat with Lou & Pickle, an online furniture shop, named by Sheer Luxe as one of the best antiques stores on Instagram. 

Q: Tell us a little about Lou & Pickle, what do you do and what inspired you to set up Lou & Pickle?

L&P: Lou and Pickle is an online shop which sells vintage furniture, kilims and one off interior pieces. 

We are a husband and wife team with a great passion for interiors. Having collected quite a few vintage pieces over the years, we saw an opportunity to finally set up shop just before Christmas, 2020. We wanted to take advantage of the growing appetite from the public to purchase or collect one-off items. Vintage pieces have become increasingly more affordable, which has led to the public’s enthusiasm for these items reaching an all time high. 

Pickle's background is in interiors, he's always had a love of antique and vintage furniture. Whereas, I (Lou) was brought up in Asia and the Middle East, and I've always had a longing for discovering vintage kilims, beautiful pieces of rattan and wicker furniture. 

Q: What are your favourite finds?

P: A pair of perfectly proportioned armchairs with elegant tapered legs; they have a timeless quality to them which I love. We try not to get too carried away with what's on trend.

L: I get very excited when I find a beautiful antique kilim that is in good condition. A good strong colour and a fabulous pattern is what always catches my eye. I was brought up surrounded by rattan furniture, so when I find a piece that is still in perfect condition, it makes me very happy.   

Q: Which antiques are proving to be the most popular?

L&P: Our lacquered chests of drawers seem to be our most popular items, this is closely followed by the large, vintage kilims which always creates a lot of interest.

It's wonderful to see a current revival for pops of colour - something we feel creates a warm and interesting home.

Q: Do you get requests for antique hunting?

L&P: We get many requests to source items, but it's usually for larger pieces of furniture. We offer clients the option to choose a colour to lacquer the item in, which always goes down well.

We've recently had a lovely family ask us to source five large antique kilims for a rural country retreat. It was a joy to work with the client – we had to research and find the right kilims, which were the appropriate colour and size for the house.

Q: How do you advise clients to style their antiques?

L&P: Generally, we advise clients to buy what they love rather than what they are told they should like. Mixing old with new, gives a home a balance, interest and a timeless quality that we love.

Appropriateness is key, so too is humour – the items that make the two of us smile are guaranteed to sell within minutes.