"This Chicago Showroom is an Under-the-Radar Gem for Sourcing High-End Vintage Furniture Finds" by Sight Unseen

The collection of furniture, objects, and art at Beth Berke’s Chicago vintage furniture emporium South Loop Loft is both wonderfully eclectic and satisfyingly cohesive. While Berke is often drawn to iconic classics by recognizable names, she’s developed a keen eye for the unusual, too, which in a way reflects her curious path to the design world. Berke began as an aid worker in Afghanistan and then a social worker in Chicago, helping women and children in crisis; $30,000 sofas were not exactly top of mind. But a stint in San Francisco “on a social worker’s budget,” she says, led her to estate sales and Craigslist, as well as a burgeoning passion for vintage furniture. Moving back to Chicago and disillusioned with the bureaucratic red tape in her field — “I didn’t feel like I was helping kids anymore” — she started buying and refinishing furniture. She lived in a historic loft with a 20-foot balcony, where she’d take pieces outside, learn techniques from YouTube, and get to work. She started selling on Etsy and Chairish, and within three months she had a warehouse space open to the public on weekends. “I love the thrill of the hunt and that’s why it was easy to just start pushing things into the direction of a career.”

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