THE HAPPY HOME: The Art of Thrifting With Home Love Point
The importance of thrifting, antiquing, and making connections with small business owners
If you’ve been working from home since the beginning of the quarantine, chances are you’ve begun to dabble in home improvement here and there. It makes sense—being at home 24/7 has inspired a lot of us to redecorate and refresh our living spaces to make them more conducive places for work, study, and leisure. You may even find that your Instagram newsfeed is filled with all the same things, from terazzo-patterned throw blankets to yet another bust-inspired vase with dried flowers in them.
As more and more people strive attain a certain aesthetic in their homes, you may find yourself wanting a different look—something more unique and exceptional, something that caters to your taste and your taste alone. Whether it’s your first time buying things for your home or already a seasoned shopper, it’s important to remember why thrifting and antiquing matter, and why they’re good practices to have—not just as a homeowner, but also as an inhabitant of our planet.
Thrifting benefits you, your home, and the environment. Since the pieces you find have been passed down from owner to owner, they often have character and originality, especially if they’re vintage. Thrifting and antiquing also help diversify and add flair to your living space. By thrifting, you spend time getting to know a piece. You think about where to place it, how to accessorize it, and how it will tie the space together.
Most of the time, you just know where to place a piece you see on Instagram. It feels like love at first sight, and you know there’s nothing else like it. Thrifting and antiquing can be a very satisfying way to let your creativity run wild. After a long search, when you come across that one piece you’ve been looking for so long, it feels like victory. Thrifting lets you score unique and stylish pieces for your home. It’s saying no to cheap, mass-produced furniture that break or wear down easily.
Thrifting also matters because it’s a form of recycling. It’s being eco-friendly. The vintage pieces you find are, more often than not, of higher quality than furniture that is mass-produced. That means that the pieces curated and sold by online furniture thrift shops—often small, local businesses—can last longer than any piece you get from the department store.
If there’s something that makes thrifting and antiquing so much more special than buying homeware at the mall, it’s the connections you make with the shop-owners. As with any small, local business, thrift stores on Instagram are more personal and hands-on. They take the time to get to know their customers, just as you take the time to get to know the piece you’ve been eyeing. By thrifting and antiquing, you form a connection with someone else, someone new—an incredibly important feeling to have especially now that it’s quarantine.
For this reason, we spoke to Rainne Lorenzo of Home Love Point, a shop that specializes in Japanese ceramics and other decorative items for the home, from vases to framed illustrations.
Rainne Lorenzo of Home Love Point
Rainne Lorenzo of Home Love Point
Rainne has always been a fan of Japanese wares, which she began collecting after being inspired by her husband who also owns a few pieces himself.
“One time,” she says, “I was able to acquire this set of stoneware cups from Japan which I haven’t used yet. Since we had too many items at home, I decided perhaps I can sell those items we bought that we haven’t used. My first collection back in January of 2018 consisted of only 14 items. Now I get to launch 70 to 100 pieces in every volume that I drop.”
During the pandemic, Rainne opened a physical shop in Pasig at what seemed to be the perfect time: “At the start of the pandemic, sales were actually quite strong because a lot of people were discovering a love for cooking and they probably needed homewares for that especially since a lot has started posting their dishes online—nice dishes and bowls help make any meal pretty.”
“I am very thankful that this has also helped a lot when I decided to open a shop,” she adds. “Now the fervor has slowed down but it is steadier and there’s still a market for it and it’s actually keeping us on our toes when it comes to always trying to think of some new items to offer.”
Home Love Point’s standout pieces are the blue and white ceramics—Rainne's personal favorites because they are very modern and can easily fit all types of dinner arrangements. “My most favorite prints are tokusa which is simply ceramic wares with blue lines—they are low-key elegant and beautiful,” Rainne says.
“Another is the Hakusan Bloom, admittedly one of the less popular pieces in the shop but I love it because when I was researching famous Japanese prints I discovered that it was one of the first modern designs in Japanese ware that’s considered anti-Arita (Arita is a famous ceramic ware in Japan that’s best known for its colorful, oriental design). Aside from ceramics, I also sell stoneware items that are considered piece-de-resistance of a table set up because it can be used to highlight the best dish during a meal.”
But what Rainne loves the most about being a small business owner is getting to interact with her clients. “Small shops like us have the luxury to be more personal with people we meet online. I get to discuss wares with clients, I get to know them better and I try to keep the personal details in mind when I encounter a new item that I offer in the shop.”
“Sometimes I would message a client because I know she’s collecting a certain print or I know that her daughter loves anything with a cat or dog on it. In return, a lot of them have become my friends. Sometimes they would be the one to send me gifts in the shop! They would bring me cakes, accessories, soaps, etc. It’s really nice. When I sell my items, since all of the pieces in my shop were chosen by me, I often remember who bought it. I remember the buyer more than the product,” she says.
For the future, Rainne is looking to offer small statement furniture as well as other decorative fixtures. “My husband and I are also working on making the shop a creative space of sorts where we do photography every weekend using old school cameras,” she adds. “But basically I just want to offer more beautiful pieces that I plan to get when travel is once more allowed. I want to go to Japan and hoard stuff for my clients that I know they would love and bring joy to their homes.
Now, Home Love Point has over 4,900 followers and continues to sell beautiful, functional, and affordable stoneware, porcelain, ceramics, and more, personally curated by Rainne herself.
If you’re looking to score Japanese crockery on Instagram or surplus shops, Rainne has a couple of tips for that as well.
1. Know what you want.
“First you should really establish what pieces speak to you or what you really want,” she says. “I used to have a client who always wanted to get blue and whites and then eventually she realized that she liked mostly white pieces and ended up just selling her blue and white pieces online as well.”
2. Familiarize yourself with brands.
“There’s also a ton of information online—familiarize yourself with brands,” Rain says. “If you see something you like, you can check the stamp or brand at the bottom and see if what you got is a classic or a rare piece. You’d be surprised just how many classic brands are sold out there, both in shops and online.”
Bonus: Know what sets each type of Japanese crockery apart:
Imari is the Western term for Arita ware, known for its colorful design.
Stoneware are Japanese pottery and porcelain crafts.
Blue and whites are Japan’s own rendition of Chinese porcelain.
Photos courtesy of Rainne Lorenzo
Home Love Point is located at the FRDC Building 106 E Rodriguez Jr Ave, Brgy. Ugong, Pasig (along C5, right across Valle Verde). Follow @homelovepoint on Instagram.
Top Stories
Metro Beauty Picks Of The Week
BEAUTYMar 14, 2023