Nostalgia for ‘Grandma’s house’? Not just that. Young people discovering vintage

On social media and blogs, they call it ‘grandmacore’: the trend among the younger generations to create lifestyles, clothing and, above all, home décor inspired by their grandmothers’ era. The key word for this trend is ‘cosy’ – meaning comfortable and welcoming – and it opens up a world of vintage clothes and furnishings, embroidered tablecloths, solid wood furniture, books, throws and knick-knacks to be found just about everywhere. Embroidery and crochet are enjoying a resurgence. There is a delight in collecting that almost seems like a rejection of the minimalism that prevailed until a few years ago. Looking at photos on social media platforms such as Pinterest, the impression is more of a perhaps slightly stereotypical reinterpretation of what one imagines their grandmothers’ homes – particularly Scandinavian or Anglo-Saxon ones – were like a few decades ago, rather than a revival of original pieces. Yet a broader perspective suggests that, more generally, there is a trend among young Italians to return to the furniture, decorative objects and ambience of the second half of the 20th century – the very period when the grandparents of millennials and Generation Z were setting up home. The perfect opportunity to get a sense of this is Mercanteinfiera, an event currently taking place in its autumn edition from 3 to 11 October at the Fiere di Parma: a showcase dedicated to antiques, modern design pieces and collectables. Hundreds of traders are in attendance, serving as a barometer of the market.

Let’s hear from Yonni Ghirardelli, whose shop, Mobilart, is located in Vercelli. He explains that young people’s interest in furniture from the 1950s and 1960s is a new phenomenon, not a revival. “Up until about twenty years ago, this trend didn’t exist: we tended to be more drawn to antique furniture.” Today, he continues, the younger generations find it harder to fit that sort of furniture into their homes. Because tastes change, fashions change. And sometimes even antique dealers change the way they do business and move on to a different era. “I come from the world of antiques and then, about twenty years ago, I moved into the world of vintage and design,” tells us Santino Castiglia, of Castiglia Gallery (Palermo). Over the last twenty years, he explains, not only have young people become more interested in this world, but there has also been a growing trend for this sort of ‘fashion’. Consequently, market prices for many Italian and foreign design pieces have risen. “So much so that even in new productions, the major distribution houses are drawing inspiration from the periods from the 1960s onwards. The 1970s, too, with the very bold colours of that era, are certainly in vogue.”

Maurizio Marzadori, from Freak Andò (Bologna), offers a different perspective. “Young people are discovering a world that we call industrial archaeology,” he explains. It happens that, whilst browsing shops selling jeans and similar items, the younger generations “see furnishings made from these old workshop pieces of furniture – such as chests of drawers with peeling paint – and some of them get really excited about them”. And then there are young people – “those with a certain cultural awareness” – who are also taking an interest in Italian design. To the great designers. And he mentions Gio Ponti, Ico Parisi and Marco Zanuso. “In Italy, people really like to mix mid-century modern with antiques, or even with contemporary pieces,” says Gianluca Bertoncelli of Chi cerca trova (Castelfranco Emilia, Modena). In short, playing with different eras and styles.

However, it is worth noting that “Young people are taking an interest, yes, but in a strange sort of modern vintage, not the classic walnut furniture of yesteryear,” confides Stefano Galvani, who runs his business, Caprice Italia, in Montefiorino (Modena). Are they therefore seeking curiosities? “Those from the end of the last century, nothing too fussy, preferably with a name…”. He points to a lovely table football table (which some call ‘calciobalilla’) as an example. Fred Zedda works at Trinca & Branca, a shop in the centre of Turin near the large Porta Palazzo market. “I’ve actually seen loads of young people there buying old plates – the sort you’d find in their grandparents’ homes.” Zedda hasn’t noticed any major change recently. “Gradually, perhaps, young people are buying their own homes, looking for small decorative items that don’t cost too much, or reusing the ones our grandparents actually had.” Ombretta Pavanello has no doubts: “Our grandmothers have left us a rich cultural heritage, a wealth of objects that we can still enjoy.” Her shop, Fennor Antiques, in Tuoro sul Trasimeno (Perugia), specialises in decorative cutlery and cocktail barware. “Young people really love these things. Partly because they’ve rediscovered the joy of cooking and, consequently, of setting the table with taste and elegance… and also cocktails and drinks… Young people are no longer content with plastic cups.”

What can we deduce from our brief investigation? Perhaps that in Italy we have already moved somewhat beyond ‘grandmacore’, without even realising it had come and gone. That, rather than ‘distressed’ furniture in the style of that seen in old photographs, young Italian adults, depending on their financial means, are developing a passion for ‘genuine’ modern antiques – including pieces by renowned designers – and for mid-20th-century furniture, the original kind, whilst the crisis affecting large 19th-century furniture unfortunately persists. Antique dealers have long since sensed the shift; some, we’ve heard, have already repositioned themselves in search of a new market. And in this, nostalgia for one’s grandmother has little to do with it.