Vintage circle: Russians buy vintage furniture and interior items
Avito analysts have noted that interest in vintage furniture and interior items has grown in Russia. In the first quarter of 2025, their sales increased by almost a third year-on-year. Chandeliers and paintings, tables and chairs, cabinets and dishes are in demand. In such objects, people value not only uniqueness, but also an emotional connection with the past, experts say. The growing interest in vintage is taking place against the background of increased sales of decor in general. This suggests that Russians have begun to pay more attention to home improvement.
What vintage furniture do Russians buy?
Sales of vintage furniture and interior items increased by 27% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period a year earlier. Since 2022, sales of such goods have increased 2.5 times, according to Avito data.
Vintage chandeliers and lamps are the most popular. Their share in the total sales of antiques was 27% (+23% year-on-year). For example, a bronze lamp made in France at the beginning of the twentieth century can be purchased for 8 thousand rubles.
Interior items and art, such as paintings, miniatures and posters, were also in demand. Sales of this type of goods increased by 45% over the year (the share in total sales was 21%). Vintage textiles and carpets came in third place in terms of demand from customers. Sales of this segment increased by 37% year-on-year (14% share). For example, a bright carpet from Dagestan in the Sumy technique (woven carpets with different front and back sides) is offered for 16 thousand rubles.
Sales of vintage tables and chairs increased by 18% year-on-year. For example, antique Viennese chairs can be purchased at a price starting from 18 thousand rubles per piece. Chairs, sofas and beds rounded out the top five most sought-after vintage furniture. Sales of these products increased by 15% year-on-year.
Antique lovers are also actively acquiring cabinets, dressers, shelving and cupboards. So, a buffet from the 1960s from Belgium is offered to buy for 115 thousand rubles. Vintage tableware is also in demand, for example, tea sets, glasses or soup bowls. Sales in this segment increased by a third in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year.
People appreciate in such things not only uniqueness, but also an emotional connection with the past, says Nikita Tkachev, head of the Avito Furniture and Interior category.
— Vintage transforms a house into a living space where each piece tells its own story. Moreover, Soviet furniture can be combined with European antiques and Persian carpets in one interior," he explained. — Textiles are one of the easiest ways to spice up an interior. This is probably why sales of vintage textiles and carpets have quadrupled over the past three years.
What attracts vintage
Among the buyers of vintage items, whether they are clothes or interior items, professional collectors stand out in a separate group, fashion historian and researcher in the field of the fashion industry Asya Alajalova explained to Izvestia.
For ordinary buyers, the motives may vary: someone is constantly interested in this, someone on a one-time basis. As a rule, they purchase vintage for utilitarian functions — to wear or use in the interior. However, buying vintage items online can be unpredictable.
— You never know what kind of pig in the poke you're going to get, because every vintage piece that someone has already used is absolutely unique. They are created in different parts of the globe. And it can be difficult to guess which one it will turn out to be when shopping online," the expert emphasized.
Through the purchase of rare items, people mentally return to the past, psychologist Natalia Naumova explained to Izvestia.
— It is possible that the childhood or youth of these people were connected with such subjects, — she noted.
Through such subjects, she says, people can try to figure out how things used to be arranged, as if to try on another time.
Vintage interior items are often purchased in order to breathe a second life into them in the future, to redo them to suit your interior.
— We recently purchased a country house built in the middle of the last century. They found many different sconces and chairs in the storerooms. We decided to use them in the interior," Tatiana, a resident of the Moscow region, told Izvestia.
To support retro projects in the interior, they decided to purchase other furniture in a similar style.
— I have been searching for a long time on various websites for a suitable vintage kitchen buffet. Then I partially restored it, repainted it, changed the fittings, and it became a wonderful accent in our interior," the woman explained.
The entire secondary market is not about economics or investments, Asya Alajalova added.
— I think it's a love story. Love for things and taking care of them. We often can't throw something away, we just can't raise our hand. And the secondary market seems to relieve us of some responsibility. Even if we just gave something away, we understand that we gave it to someone who will be happy with it," she explained.
Interior interest
The growing interest in vintage is taking place against the background of increased sales of decor in general, analysts noted. For example, sales of new interior items at Avito increased by 12% in the first quarter of this year. Russians have become more likely to buy mirrors, paintings, posters, vases, planters and other decor. The average check in this category was 2.5 thousand rubles. In addition, sales of home textiles, including tablecloths and napkins, as well as carpets, increased. Russians began to buy more blankets and pillows, towels, curtains and blinds, bed linen, blankets and bedspreads.
The growth in sales of decorative items indicates that Russians have a new culture of home improvement, says Natalia Preobrazhenskaya, chief designer of the Natalia Preobrazhenskaya Bureau studio, member of the expert council of the Moscow Interior and Design Week.
— Aesthetics are becoming as important as functionality. This trend is especially noticeable in the segment of rental and sale of housing. Aesthetic preparation of an object for delivery, the so—called homesteading, is an obligatory stage of preparing an apartment for entering the market," she said.
According to her estimates, high-quality homesteading can increase the total cost of an object by 7-15%, and rent or buy it two to three times faster.
Consumers are increasingly choosing domestic manufacturers, Natalia Preobrazhenskaya added.
— Over the past 3-5 years, the number of local furniture and decor brands has grown rapidly in Russia. Especially in Moscow and St. Petersburg," she shared.
We are talking not only about small workshops, but also about large brands that are already forming their own style standards, the designer emphasized.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
