Paper short abstract:

In the second hand furniture trade, objects are transformed as they shift owners and contexts and move along biographical trajectories. Increasingly aware of objects having a 'before' and an 'after', consumers acquire and dispose of furniture as a form of collaborative consumption.

Paper long abstract:

This paper is based on an anthropological pilot study involving consumers and retailers within the secondhand furniture sector, a market which has seen a rapid growth in the last decade along with the popular interest in 'retro' and 'vintage' goods and continued questioning of ownership. Based on interviews and participant observation, the paper explores how different stakeholders view and engage with the objects in circulation. It outlines how objects are transformed when they are transferred from one context to another and how categories of 'old' and 'new' assume different meanings as objects move along biographical trajectories. Through these phases of use and reinterpretation, different things are imagined as accompanying the objects: positive values such as patina, authenticity and uniqueness, but also negative ones, such as dirt, physical damage or harmful insects. The paper argues that consumers are increasingly aware that objects have a 'before' and an 'after' when they make their choices of acquisition and disposal, and that motivation for buying second hand furniture as well as donating used goods entails aspects of 'collaborative consumption' (Botsman & Rogers 2010). At the same time, the increasing circulation of used items undermines the distinction between consumers and producers, with private individuals disposing of unwanted furniture through modern forms of web-based bartering and sale, and entrepreneurs exploiting new niches in the various stages of the circulation process.