Well, I figured I should get a post in before February comes to an end. I was supposed to start blogging on a regular basis after our site re-code, but it's quickly devolved into a chore. I kept putting it off every week until today.

With the other aspects of the "business" taking up time (including taxes this month), I'm running into that same trap of trying to justify making posts. So I'm just going to show some pretty pics we already posted on instagram. But this discontent will be revisited soon.

Stig Lindberg Gustavsberg Floral Vase Cup

I've started taking more product photos that include interior shots of our home. When we started A La Modern in 2010, this was the way we took almost all our product photos. A few years later, we switched to almost all empty white/blue backgrounds. We did it mostly because "everyone else was doing it". The thought was that you'd get included in more treasuries, features and press articles. Well - I've begun switching back to including some non-plain backgrounds, because I realized it helps the shop stand out a bit. Increasingly, I feel like being different helps more than hurts in vintage selling. (Ahem, also hence this blog)

Cohn Stoneware Pottery Weedpot

Of course, the majority of product shots are still taken against a white background. I looks cleaner, I know - but I'm going to be including both types for listings. Having a non-white background also seems to help with the overall lighting in some shots, and we've switched back to using our old Nikon DLSR for many product photos. By the way, the weedpot above is marked "Cohn" on the bottom - I thought that was Abe Cohn at first, but the sig didn't match up with any that I've seen.

David Stewart Studio Owl Vase and Frog Planter

Picked up this large studio pottery David Stewart owl/bird vase at an auction. The frog is also a studio piece that has been in our collection. We've been keeping a lot of our DS Lion's Valley, especially if it's the studio stuff. But I've been considering liquidating a lot of it at some point.

Greek Tile

This is a small tile plaque by Greek artist Helen Michaelides that we were happy to pick up. I really like this one, it's a little different than some of the other stylized ones we've seen. Very close in feel to the Panos Valsamakis tile wall hanging we've had - and possibly she could be a contemporary or student of his. But there's very little info on the artist - we learned all of it from our friend Mid Mod Mom who figured out what that "Mixandidou" signature was awhile back. If anyone knows anything additional about the artist, please post a comment about it below.

Murano Glass Swans

Ending with a set of beautiful Murano sommerso glass swan figures, likely Flavio Poli pieces. Glass is a neverending learning experience for us - but we've gotten better over time. In this new super competitive world of picking and thrifting where knowledge is a Google away, it's really important to learn more about potentially valuable items that are unmarked.

Happy thrifting!

P.S. it looks like our custom contact forms are working out, so we should be getting all our messages now.