“My living room looks like a bomb went off,” Jonny Ribeiro tells me over Zoom from his East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, apartment. His roommate has just moved out and everything is in flux. But that’s nothing new for Jonny, a designer, collector, and dealer who is used to an ever-evolving domestic landscape. Most of what you see in his cozy city apartment is for sale.

Jonny developed an eye for old stuff while working in store development at Ralph Lauren. His job was to canvas flea markets—like Brimfield, in Massachusetts; Elephant’s Trunk, in Connecticut; and Round Top, in Texas—for objects and furniture to fill the heavily stylized stores. “I learned the importance of layers, of telling a story,” he says of the experience that laid the groundwork for a passionate collecting practice, in which he gravitates toward sculptural pieces by unknown makers that show wear and history. After Ralph Lauren, he worked for interior designer Sara Story for a few years, learning the ins and outs of crafting residential spaces. But just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he went out on his own, booking a few freelance design projects, amping up the buying and selling, and even designing some furniture of his own.

Jonny puts his lessons and layering to good use in the living space.

“My passion is putting that extra layer in, styling, making things photogenic,” explains Jonny, who brands himself as a “gun for hire” for anyone looking to add those finishing touches to a project. Accordingly, he tends to focus on accessories, artworks, and textiles rather than major furniture pieces, which, he feels, other dealers around the city are already doing a good job of.

Sometimes Jonny thinks about the deeper meaning of the things around him, saying, “I think we’re really just custodians for these pieces. We’re looking after them, giving them new context, and I think that’s what’s so attractive about finding these things and selling them—someone is going to repurpose whatever you sell them into their world and make it something different.”

While he’s looking after them, there is one thing they’ll help with: finding that new roommate. “It’s pretty easy to rent on Craigslist when I have all these nice things,” Jonny says with a laugh.

Classics like a Michel Ducaroy Togo sofa for Ligne Roset or a pair of Alvar Aalto cocktail tables mix with sculptural, patinaed finds such as an antique dry sink from the 1880s or a bent-plywood chair from the 1950s. Also in the mix are Jonny’s own designs (fabricated by his friend, Minjae Kim) like an angular wooden chair in Douglas fir or a teak-and-paper sconce, which nods to a Rudolf Steiner–era lamp sourced in Germany. He explains: “I take a lot of influence from pieces I find out in the wild. Usually, they’re one-offs that someone made for their home.”

I always ask myself, Where else are you going to find it?

@holemilk

@beau_traps

@tiwa_select

@mnjaekim

@studiozollo

Any sort of prototype—a chair or a stool or a light. I love seeing the beginning or even the mistakes of a first run.

It’s kind of all over the place. I’m from Santa Fe, New Mexico, and I get a lot of inspiration there. From Georgia O’Keefe’s house. The architecture of Los Angeles. Rudolph Schindler is a really big influence—he designed his furniture, like Frank Lloyd Wright did—for a specific house, which I think is so interesting. Before the pandemic hit, I went to Paris and got tons of inspiration. I love J.B. Blunk, a carpenter from Inverness, California.

Paula Rubenstein, she’s the GOAT as far as I’m concerned. She’s been doing this for a million years. She’s always at Brimfield even before I get there. And I get there early. Bi-Rite, I love them. Holler & Squall—this guy Zak who lives upstate has a little shop in Brooklyn Heights.

A 1920s French lamp by Bernard-Albin Gras. He would make these industrial task lamps. They’re really beautiful because they have this ball joint bearing and no screws—only clamps.

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