Vertu: A Fixture of Vintage Shopping on Washington for 25 Years

Rob Rozycki and Roger Ellingsworth have had an eye for modern retro furniture since the pair were in their 20s. The business partners opened in 1986 and have been situated in the Washington shopping district ever since, selling everything from high-end furniture to collectible vinyl records at their downtown store.

Rozycki, 50, said that when they started the business they easily found items to resell at estate sales, garages sales, flea markets and sometimes, though infrequently, in the trash. Metro Detroit is rich with vintage designer furniture of the '50s and '60s, the days when Rozycki says Detroit was "the center of design."

"The automotive and advertising industries were booming in this area in the '50s and '60s," he said. "People were aware of what was good. They all went to design school. They were creative people and they bought interesting things."

Locally, the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills produced highly praised designers such as Harry Bertoia, Charles and Ray Eames, Florence Knoll and Eero Saarinen. Their work defined mid-century modern furniture. Needless to say, original furniture from that era is highly collectible and it is not inexpensive. Values of some items have quadrupled since Vertu opened in the late '80s and there were 30 vintage stores downtown. Now only a handful remain.

Vertu has managed to survive by doing out-of-town business, traveling shows and Internet sales.

"People around here say 'Why is this stuff so expensive?' and then we go to New York City and they say 'Why is this stuff so cheap?'," Rozycki said. "We probably couldn't stay in business if we had to strictly depend on the local economy."

Still, Rozycki can't imagine the store being anywhere other than Royal Oak, and he sees shopping making a come back in downtown.

"There are four independent shops right in a row on Washington. Vertu, , and Scout," he said. A perk they all enjoy is foot traffic from acts performing at the . "When bands come into town they'll walk down Washington and do some shopping," he said.

Vertu has had a few notable customers over the years, Rozycki said. Once Marissa Tomei stopped in and bought some Latin music on vinyl, and in 2000 a young Jack White, of the White Stripes, asked he could borrow a Red Blue Chair designed in 1917 by Gerrit Rietveld.

"He asked us if he could take it for the weekend and use it for an album cover – for their De Stijl record. He said he would give us a album credit," Rozycki said. " I didn't want a bunch of kids messing around with a $3,000 chair. I told him give me $3,000 for the chair and I'll take the store credit," he said laughing.

White didn't come up with the money but he did come back later and buy a less expenisve Egg Chair designed in 1958 by Arne Jacobsen.

"He paid for it with crumpled up bills he pulled out of his pocket. It was his bar money," Rozycki said. The future Grammy-winning artist may not have had a lot of cash at the time, but Rozycki said White had very good taste in furniture.

While many artists are are drawn to the sculptural feel of vintage furniture, others are attracted to it because they remember it from their youth.

"In the Detroit area we grew up with this aesthetic without knowing what it was called or the names of the designers," said Maria Phillips, an Ann Arbor editor. Phillips said part of the appeal of shopping at Vertu is walking away feeling like you've learned something.

"A great story comes with every piece," she said. "Rob is a fountain of knowledge. He's dripping with passion. If you tell him 'I'm looking for X', he'll find it and he'll call you."

These days, Rozycki and Ellingsworth don't go have to go to many estate sales or flea markets looking for items. Ninety percent of their inventory comes through the front door, some of it coming back from former customers.

Rozycki doesn't miss the days when going to work was like participating in a scavenger hunt. What he does long for is the time when you actually had to know something about collectibles, as opposed to just doing a Google search.

"Everyone thinks they're an expert these days," he said.

You can find Vertu on the web at www.vertumodern.com. The site is currently being worked on, and should be complete in two weeks.