Antique Dealer London
So, you probably think you've met Tat, one, two, three times too many. But wait! This is the new Tat. The fresh start. Well, not entirely fresh, but a Tat which has grown. As you may know, Tat has been going since 2016. In 2015, I had been made redundant from the charity Kids Company. I knew I wasn't tough enough for another charity. So, with that, I made my way back into the world of interiors. Not without needing a safety net, something I controlled and could put my energy into. Tat was born. I created a website, stored things behind the sofa and started taking days off to try my hand at selling on a market stall. Anyone who encountered me in those days would realise I wasn't a natural salesman. Still today, I find sales challenging, so thank god for our site. Since its start, Tat has been moving; it has gone from behind the sofa to a cupboard, to a spare room, a sitting room, then our first studio and, hopefully, the home we will be in for a while.
Antique Dealer London
When I started Tat, I was fascinated by the objects people disregarded. The figurines, the toleware, the egg cups... they all found a place at Tat. So the name seemed a perfect fit; even if people constantly checked, I knew what it meant. Thanks to Instagram, I managed to gain some buyers; it took me a year to reach a thousand followers, and it was a tremendous achievement as that was where all my sales were coming from.
At the end of 2019, doing my job and Tat was becoming increasingly difficult. Every weekend was dedicated to packing, posting and accounts. So, with deep sadness, I left my job at House & Garden, and Tat moved into my boyfriend's spare bedroom. There it stayed until 2021; it was its home when I started the blog and the job board. A lot went on in that room, and although I was embarrassed about the 'studio' I was incredibly proud of all that happened then. Orders went out, the blog gained traction, and our job board got going.
From the outside, it may look as if not much has happened in the last few years, but I am very excited about where it is now and the fact that we are still here. Moving into this new studio means we can give the Tat room to sing—hopefully, a Tat, which is a little more grown-up. With great sorrow, we had to say goodbye to the figurines and egg cups and have found a space with lighting, paintings, mirrors and the occasional miscellaneous piece. Hopefully, you can come and see it for yourself. We are opening it up to appointments. Sadly, we aren't a shop, so we can't accommodate all timings, but we will try our utmost.
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