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“It’s like an El Dorado for people who like special things!” exclaims Ksenia Shestakovskaia, one-half of the force behind the popular Instagram account Decor Hardcore. Along with Michael Garrett, the two post photos of the beautiful, tacky, horrible, gaudy, and surprising furniture and home decor they find on eBay. Rococo-style gold calculators, Baroque vanities dripping in porcelain and gold, chairs that seem to be made out of Triscuit crackers, and bathroom countertops that resemble a light-up block of ice are all fair game.
Just last month, the duo even partnered with Gucci on custom memes. “Gucci actually found us on Instagram,” says Garrett. “They said they loved our feed and wanted to have us onboard for a new digital project. The rest is history!”
Shestakovskaia was born into what she describes as “the aesthetic vacuum of the Soviet Union,” and studied animation in Tel Aviv before becoming a textile and graphic designer, while Garrett was born in Wisconsin and studied product design and then became a product developer for footwear and leather goods. “Fashion started to bore me to death,” says Shestakovskaia. “I was in the same place with fashion, bored and disillusioned,” added Garrett. “When Ksenia began showing me early glimpses of Decor Hardcore, which at the time was still just her private collection of eBay images, I got hooked.” The Instagram account has been up and running since fall 2015 and has nearly 60,000 followers.
To say the duo have been busy these last few months is an understatement. For one, they just reimagined the Instagram account as a creative agency. “We just returned from covering Salone del Mobile in Milan; we’re developing our first Instagram community initiative and are working on an event for Miami Art Basel, a merch collab, a new website, and our first book,” explains Garrett.
Up next: a project that might be even bigger than the Gucci memes. “On the agency side, we can also share three words worth noting: Versace, Versace, Versace!” says Garrett. Luckily for those unfamiliar with the uncharted waters of eBay furniture, Shestakovskaia and Garrett shared their top tips for finding some of the best and most unique pieces.
Get familiar with your favorite designers, and search.“I have some favorite ones but I don’t know many specific names in this field. So far, Nanda Vigo blew my mind. Her sense of shape and color is fascinating. Alessandro Mendini is pretty as well,” says Shestakovskaia.
Find beauty in ugliness.“If you can dream it, you can find it on eBay! The better you know what you’re looking for the higher the chances are you will find it. As for search terms, I can recommend: ‘ugly,’ ‘tacky,’ ‘horrendous,’ or ‘terrible,’ to name a few. I am often surprised to examine what other people consider to be ugly,” says Shestakovskaia.
Don’t get too attached to individual sellers.“There’s no seller or style that I follow religiously. I do follow a couple of shops because they are located nearby and in case I’m rich, one day I can purchase from them. Sellers quite often reopen new accounts and it’s hard to keep track so I don’t really rely on them. First and foremost—eBay requires dedication, and only then it pays off. You need to be on it and you need to be aware. It’s a gambling game . . . an addiction,” explains Shestakovskaia.
Hunt for a surprising piece and make it the statement of one room.“The best piece I personally bought from eBay is my vagina lamp, because I was really missing a certain centerpiece on one of my walls. It has the shape and glow of a holy vagina. The brand is nonexistent so it makes me wonder if it’s some kind of personal or student project. It’s something that I will never sell or give away and I can’t get enough of it!” exclaims Shestakovskaia.
If you can’t find anything to buy, browse for Instagram inspiration.“I think another thing that we both love about eBay is that it reveals things that are hidden behind the doors of complete strangers. That amateur, intimate, sometimes even voyeuristic point of view on design always fascinated me. It’s hard to find that anywhere else,” says Garrett.