Thursday is Resource Day

The resource today that I want to feature is probably one that most of you have heard of before. I know that on some of my favorite Blogs, such as Peak of Chic and Desire to Inspire this company has been mentioned with some regularity. However, I decided to feature them today, because, in a very short time 1stdibs.com has almost single handedly transformed the antique market across the globe by using the Internet to match up buyers and sellers.

Basically the idea is that Antique dealers place ads on the website, which is incredibly easy to search, using a variety of criteria, such as location or type of object or even style or period. The simplicity of the model is astounding, but the true genius is the quality of dealer they have managed to attract. I have been fortunate to travel the world on various antique shopping adventures for different clients, and have amassed quite a black book of all my favorite stores in NYC, London and Paris, this website has made that obsolete, I can now shop Europe over coffee in my Living Room.

Another great way to use the site, especially if you are not in the antique market, is to use it almost as a study tool. In the upcoming weeks, I plan to do a posting on the value of Auction Catalogs as a learning tool, this operates in the same way. Every Friday the new stock comes out, I pore over the new stuff and download great images, with detail shots, of things that catch my eye, that I can use as inspiration. My Ideas file is overflowing with some cool things that I never would have seen without this amazing resource.

Anyway, check it out, and see what you think, I hope you get as much out of it as I do.