Today we’d like to introduce you to Briel Delmonaco.
Briel, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Sometimes I wake up and wonder whose life is this and how did I get here? Never in a million years did I think I would end up making custom furniture and also own a vintage rental company.
After graduating from college, I started a career in sales with a Fortune 500 company, I loved the sales life; being on the road, meeting new clients and helping businesses. However after a few years was laid off due to the impoverished economy, despite being ranked one of the top sales reps in the country – no tenure, no job. Actively seeking work in my field and going on over 80 interviews in the course of a few months, I tried to keep my creative juices flowing by “re-imagining” and refinishing furniture out of my small garage at home. I started with repainting and embellishing a vintage women’s dressing vanity and grew my skill set from there.
Within a few months, I had taught myself more painting techniques, wood restoration, light woodworking and simple upholstery – all without the help of the internet or YouTube videos. I felt the best experience was through hands on learning, especially trial and error.
Thanks to the outpouring of support from the local community, generous clients and tons of hard work my little garage wasn’t large enough so I moved the operation to a small 500 foot warehouse,
When I was repeatedly getting calls from event planners and photographers to borrow our vintage furniture, I realized there was another local market that wasn’t getting adequately serviced, vintage rentals. Uniquely Chic Vintage Rentals was born and within months we had booked over 50 rental reservations our first year.
Today both our custom furniture workshop and vintage rental collection reside in a 5000 square foot warehouse in Lincoln, RI. We made over 187 pieces of custom furniture last year and booked over 75 event rentals.
Every day when I return home, I pull into that same little garage and smile; a constant reminder of how far I have come and that hard work, diligence, passion and respect can take you anywhere.
Thankfully the demand for unique, custom and one-of-a-kind furniture has grown
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of my favorite quotes, “The dream is free, but the hustle is sold separately.” summarizes my journey most accurately. Nothing worth working towards or fighting for is ever smooth and there have been plenty of long sleepless nights, self-doubt and learning experiences along the way. Probably our biggest struggle has been spreading the word and educating the public about what Uniquely Chic Vintage and UCVR does. Sometimes folks get confused, we often get asked “do you make furniture or do you rent it? The answer is both. Uniquely Chic Vintage is a full service furniture restoration shop, where we restore, refinish and upholster antique and vintage furniture. Uniquely Chic Vintage Rentals provides custom, one of a kind curated vintage offerings for rent. Our rental clientele range from couples looking for some unique elements to add to their wedding, corporate events, photographers, home staging and marketing campaigns.
One of the biggest issues has been and probably will always be physical space. Thankfully both companies have grown so rapidly in such a relatively short amount of time that the need for space and storage is always changing. In order to offer our all of our clientele the most interesting and exciting items to choose from, we are adding to both our custom furniture collection offerings and our rental inventory on almost a daily basis.
Please tell us about Uniquely Chic Vintage and Uniquely Chic Vintage Rentals.
I do it all! As any smaller business owner knows all too well, we wear most of the hats if not all of them. There is not one facet of both businesses that I am not truly invested in. Most days you can find me upholstering custom furniture for clients in our 5,000 square foot workshop, making a new backdrop for our rental collection, or picking up a couch from a client in another state.
Our process is very hands on with each and every client and I personally with them all from start to finish. I work with hundreds of clients every year across the US to source and procure a specific style piece of furniture. From there we decide how they want to reinvent the piece – whether it be changing the stain on the wood, an exciting paint application, the fabric selection process, and shipping. We have made custom furniture for over 40 states and shipped internationally to country like the Ukraine, Japan, and Trinidad.
There’s no company quite like Uniquely Chic Vintage that provides the start to finish level custom furniture approach and hands on service we do. What really sets us apart from the big box furniture stores and other upholstery shops is that we are so unique. I love clients that get really creative, chose crazy patterns, wild colors and unusual designs. We aren’t afraid to tap into the “so ugly it’s good” relm and I think people really appreciate our openness to test (and obliterate) conventional styles norms.
I am most proud of our work ethnic and the relationships we have formed with our clients. I truly love what I do which thankfully translates an amazing experience for our clients, making the process so much more enjoyable and comfortable for everyone. We will truly go above and beyond to make a client happy, thankfully there’s no limit to what we can fabricate and accomplish.
If I had to brag, scoring amazing clients like Louis Vuitton, Nickelodeon, Glade, and Martha Stewart Weddings, makes us feel damn good too! Being asked to design Styleweek Northeast 2018 was another defining moment, as I was being considered more than just the “furniture lady” and regarded as a designer.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve benefited from using?
I simply would not be successful or able live without my social media coordinator, Jennifer Dodge. My job is to make amazing furniture, I recognized that our culture revolves around technology and social media, which is frankly not my wheelhouse. By entrusting in Ms. Dodge to manage our website and social media mean that I can do what I am best at, working with our clients and making furniture. She ensures that our company and brand is always engaging, fresh and relevant, we simply wouldn’t be where we are today without her.
Pricing:
- Our Rental Pricing – ranges in price based on season, rental items and venue location $10 – $500. Our rental prices include delivery, pickup and setup.
- Custom Furniture – varies by piece and restoration required $50 – $2,500
- Consultation – always free 🙂
Contact Info:
- Address: 50 Indsutrial Circle
Lincoln, RI 02865
By appointment only. - Website: www.uniquelychicvintage.com
- Phone: 4013091801
- Email: uniquelychicvintage@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uniquelychicvintagerentals
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UniquelyChicVintageRental
- Twitter: @UniquelyChicRI
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/UniquelyChicVintage/
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