We have had our minds set on sourcing some vintage furniture for the shop for some time now and we knew where we wanted to get it from. EU Vintage is Bouk Maijer’s retro European furniture company and fortunately for us it’s warehouse is based just outside Ripon.
Bouk takes trips once a month to Europe where he meets up with his network of dealers to source vintage furniture that he then transports back up to Yorkshire in his van. Many of the pieces are Scandinavian in either origin or design and so reminiscent of the furniture we have seen when visiting family over in Norway.
We have purchased two sofas and two chairs and commissioned Bouk to find us another of each on his next trip departing in the middle of August.

Comfy sofa by respected Dutch furniture company Leolux. A few bumps and scrapes on the woodwork but simple and solid other than that.

A classic Leolux sofa design, this is a little more well used – or to use furniture dealer speak: ‘The leather has a wonderful patina’

It’s a bold call but this dark brown leather Åke Fribytter designed ‘Kroken’ chair, from Swedish furniture company Nelo Möbel, is probably the most comfortable I’ve ever sat on.
Our fall back options were items from this collection by Made.com, we liked the colours and the compact nature of the furniture but felt they lacked a bit of character. What do you think? Did we make the right choice?
Agree, the older stuff is better. The made stuff looks a bit too commercial and run of the mill. Nice colours though. Maybe use these as accent colours in cushions and fabrics
Hi Tim,
That was the decision we reached and we have now chosen a fabric with similar colours to use to cover some chairs and make some cushions. In addition we have gone for lime green chairs for our outside space – it won’t be too long before we will be able to get some pictures up so everyone can see.
We hope to see you in the cafe in the future!