Anthropologie Customers "Swarm" to Former Creative Director's Furniture Line

By Lexi Green
June 3, 2011

Leslie Oschmann's career is one most creative types could only dream of. In 1996, when Anthropologie was still a small start-up with just ten stores (there are now more than 150), she worked as a visual merchandiser in the Seattle outlet. Her role quickly grew as the company expanded and eventually, Leslie Oschmann moved across country to its corporate headquarters in Philadelphia to oversee visual direction. Her special skill? Anthropologie's Leslie Oschmann was a maven at digging through flea markets for vintage objects to turn into the unique in-store displays that Anthropologie customers lust over.

Swarm

Leslie Oschmann, Founder of Swarm

In 2006, after eight years as Anthropologie's Visual Director, Leslie Oschmann moved to Amsterdam, where her father is originally from. A year and a half later, she launched Swarm, a small design studio that specializes in re-working found objects and European antiques into compelling pieces of bespoke art and unique furniture designs. Vintage wooden school chairs, beaten up tote bags, wooden tables, bathroom vanities, necklaces and more become canvases for beautiful, one-of-a-kind oil paintings to rival any visual artist's work or are given shoes, gun holsters or other quirky accessories. It's just the type of thing you’d see in an Anthropologie shop. And, in fact, you can: Almost all of Anthropologie’s stores now carry Swarm designs from reclaimed flea market finds.

Swarm

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We first discovered Leslie Oschmann's funky chairs on "Man Shops Globe," a reality show about Anthropologie produced by the Sundance Channel and starring the retailer's buyer-at-large, Keith Johnson, as he scours the planet for beautiful pieces to carry in the store. Upon seeing Oschmann's work, Johnson is immediately sold. As Oschmann likes to say, “Anthropologie isn’t a bad customer to have!”

Leslie Oschmann still takes most of her creative design cues from her days working at Anthropologie. She loves reinvention and finding things in mass quantities from flea markets and on eBay online auctions (the Dutch version). “I definitely love anything worn," she tells us. "I very rarely buy anything new. I like the natural patina of something that has been quite loved.” She also often incorporates whimsy and humor into her reclaimed design work, another quality often found in Anthropologie's pieces. For example, the first items Oschmann made were reworked cheeky European oil portraits that she would find in lots at flea markets (see below). Oschmann would cut out a section of the painting and insert a '70s mod tie into the open space. “You almost couldn’t tell it wasn’t part of the painting," she recalls. But then, "You would think, 'Why does that man from the 18th century have a mod tie on?”

Swarm

The way Oschmann continues to give new life to vintage objects seemed remarkably green idea to us, so we wondered if that was part of her mission. "I didn't start out saying that I was going to be 'green' in my art and furniture designs. It just naturally happened. Newly manufactured goods don't show an aged look as well, and I like for my pieces to show age," she said. As for how she uses eBay online auctions: “eBay is great because you can find things en masse or in lots,” she tells us. “Going back to my display routes: if you find one thing, well, that’s nice, but if you find a hundred, that makes a statement.” And with that, asked Leslie Oschmann to head to eBay to find "lots" of things she could use in her work.

(images provided by Swarm)

Leslie Oschmann Swarms eBay for the Whole Lot

Roll over items for details

Lot of 12 Vintage Women's Floral Handkerchiefs

Lot of Antique Porcelain Knob Handles

Set of Four Vintage Oak Sewing Machine Table Legs

Vintage Lot of 10 Home Family Travel Movies '1939-56

Lot of 65 Vintage Watch Numbers and Dials

Lot of 8 Macrame' Vintage Pattern Books

1. Lot of 12 Vintage Women's Floral Handkerchiefs: "Vintage handkerchiefs can make great linings for bags."

2. Lot of Antique Porcelain Knob Handles:"I like these simple, white porcelain knobs. Much of my furniture work is very decorative, so sometimes it is better if the hardware is simple."

3. Set of Four Vintage Oak Sewing Machine Table Legs: Oschmann often takes apart several pieces of furniture and reworks them into a single new piece. "I like the shape of these table legs, especially the ball at the bottom," she says.

4. Vintage Lot of 10 Home Family Travel Movies '1939-56: "I love 8mm movies. These would be so interesting to watch because they are from such an interesting era (pre- and post- WWII)."

5. Lot of 8 Macrame' Vintage Pattern Books: "I am obsessed with macramé, but I have no idea how to make it! What better way to learn than from the time it was so popular, the 1970s? I bet there are some crazy patterns!"

6. Lot of 65 Vintage Watch Numbers and Dials: "I would love to do something with this lot of face watches. I am not sure how or what, but I like the mass of watch faces. It doesn't matter if they work or not, just the visual of this eBay find looks interesting."

(images courtesy of Leslie Oschmann/Swarm)

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