When we opened our doors nearly twenty years ago, our mission was to repurpose our finds into authentic Industrial Furniture & Lighting. Considered by many as one of the true originals who helped to shape the vintage-industrial design aesthetic, entrepreneur and designer Tim Byrne founded Get Back Inc. with a clear vision and a deep-seated passion… to be the premier source in the industry, for the highest-quality vintage-industrial designed furniture, furnishings for home & office décor. After more than 20 years Get Back has become the Go-To Resource for designers, hoteliers and restaurateurs alike. Today, we know what our customers & clients call on us for – they desire to Get-Back to showcasing or including our very distinctive, vintage-industrial style (quality, character, even feeling) into their own designs, whether it be for commercial or residential designs. They know, when a design is done well, with the right piece(s) it can create a memorable and transformative experience. The best designs can allow one to almost transcend time.
As our Founder Tim Byrne likes to say, “we were and are vintage-industrial, long before it became cool!” (meaning well before Pottery Barn and William Sonoma started carrying it, and even before Restoration Hardware began its national expansion). Since 2000 we have been providing “Only the Best” (in design, workmanship & quality) to many of the finest homes and businesses, not just here in the US but all around the world.
The Origin of Vintage-industrial Design
The “Vintage-Industrial” design style originated long ago, as a niche’ it was the key to our success (today some folks also like to refer to it as “industrial chic”, or simply “industrial interior design”). We are proud of the progress we have made and of the impact we have had, seeing this style of design flourish and a category grow. One can watch just about any interior decorating or home renovation show and see this style of design incorporated. Take note, next time you go-out to enjoy dinner look around, because at just about any local-bar, urban-eatery or lounge, even at some of the finest-establishments, you’ll see an influence from and appreciation for this burgeoning style of design and décor. It surely makes us smile. And for many of us, it encourages us to learn-more about the purpose behind the piece (or how and why it’s been repurposed).
It’s a very unique style and quite different from that of the more Modern-Industrial style of design. Vintage-Industrial designed pieces have a distinctive character to them, they’re often rough and tough, and yet still beautiful. The vintage industrial style is all about how a piece works, it’s about being able to see the raw materials, the textures and the structural components. It’s the inherent qualities of strength, reliability and function that are often the focal point or the accentuated part within a piece. Most importantly, when all of these elements are “working” together they can help to pull-in the viewer as they help to hint-at the story behind the piece. It is this heritage (or historical relevance to our shared history) which seems to intrigue us. These qualities speak to its personality while whispering at its provenance and the purpose it once had.
Today, an old weathered relic of the past can be repurposed, carefully restored and masterfully reworked to serve as a beautiful, yet functional, Work-of-Art. It is this uniqueness of style which allows us to celebrate all of those perfectly-aged imperfections, while also enabling us to wonder at a piece’s unique historical importance. For it is “his-story” that is both behind the purpose of the piece as well as within the inner-working, beauty of the piece. Together these are what makes a piece, a true Vintage-industrial work of art. For it is when one can make those meaningful connections with a piece, that one can be moved (and almost step-back in time, hence our brand name).
Modern-industrial pieces lack this historical-industrial component, as their “story” has yet to be written. They’re just beginning to find their part and place in our shared history. Modern Industrial pieces still have personality and character, however they’re often more contemporary design qualities (often described as… clean yet durable, simple yet bold, elegant and strong, minimal yet purposeful, and many more). This does not mean that Modern industrial pieces lack any of the beauty or the importance, it’s just that some of these finer qualities, seem to come with age (even if they’re considered more complex, a bit sophisticated, or wiser). Regardless of one’s choice of style, all design aesthetics should move you. In the end it’s really just a matter of preference. Yes, some pieces seem to be more timeless than others… Yet before long, everything really does become vintage, in some form or another.
About Get Back Inc.
Get Back Inc in Oakville, CT was founded by Tim Byrne in 2000, the business started out as one of the premier and original (meaning, the very first to the market) furniture & lighting companies in the country specializing in the vintage-industrial (American) style of design. With a focus on the more-rare and elegant style of furnishings & décor, pieces that help to celebrate the unique heritage and history of “heavy industry” or “big industry” here in New England (thanks in large part to the advent of electrical operations, large machinery and more-mechanized factories & mills, all of which dot the local lands and serve as fertile “picking” grounds). The Get-Back Designer Showroom is always filled with a variety of the most beautiful pieces, including steel-base glass tables, cast-iron stools, hand-hewn benches, shelving made from old, industrial piping, and so much more. All redesigned and handcrafted with a purpose, helping folks to reconnect with an era when things were made to last and made to work, day-in & day-out (thanks to a level of craftsmanship and care rarely seen in products made anywhere else in the world, at that time and even today).
