Vena Cava’s: eBay as Virtual Image (and Inspiration) Library

By Emily Hsieh
July 29, 2010

With mystical themes like astrology and Egyptian symbols playing into their recent collections, it wasn’t entirely surprising to learn that Vena Cava fashion designers—and eBay devotees—Lisa Mayock (left) and Sophia Buhai's (right) search strategy is all about embracing the unknown.

“My eBay method is very tangential,” Mayock, who counts a vintage Pee-Wee Herman gym bag as one of her all-time favorite eBay scores, says. “I’ll look for something that I like that leads me to something else that leads me to something else. It’s a great way to get lost and discover new things you wouldn’t have thought to look for.” Buhai concurs, “My best eBay finds have come by checking out the other things a seller has, which might be totally unrelated to what I originally searched for,” which for her include everything from octopuses preserved in old mason jars to an Eames-era dining room table.

Buhai’s love of eBay actually spans nearly a decade, “back when you could still find an antique 20’s dress for $25.” Now, eBay functions as an online social networking tool for her too: “It’s fun to go in and look at what your friends are watching, if you know their usernames. It’s cool to see what they’re bidding on—what they’re into—so you get turned onto different stuff. What you’re watching sort of becomes your journal for the month,” she says.

And, as we learned during a recent chat with Buhai and Mayock, eBay functions for them as a professional resource too.

Vena Cava's Spring 2010 collection

With their fall 2010 collection about to debut next month at New York Fashion Week, the CFDA Fund award winners took time out to expand on how eBay fits into their design process. According to Mayock, “For fall, we were very much inspired by 70’s fiber art—or art made from weaving different kinds of textiles—and the kinds of things we were able to track down on the site were pretty incredible.” She says she thinks of eBay almost like “an amazing image library.” Buhai adds, “Whether you’re looking for Victorian hair jewelry or vintage Mexican silver or interesting color palettes or hardware to inspire button designs, eBay is a great reference. You can find the most arcane things just by logging onto your computer.”

Here, Buhai and Mayock share the items—each as cool and original as the next—they’re watching on eBay right now.

SOPHIE’S PICKS

Roll over items for details

Catalogue for the Sheila Hicks exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum

Catalogue

(buy it now price, $39.95)

Silk Painting Gutta Art Book

Art Book

(buy it now price, $24.88)

Vena Cava’s: eBay as Virtual Image (and Inspiration) Library

“Talk Normal” Laurie Anderson 1984 Tour T-Shirt

T-Shirt

(buy it now price, $24.99)

Egyptian Nefertiti Bust

We did a collection that was inspired by Egyptomania. Egyptian imagery is something we’ve been really into, and this bust is so cool.

(buy it now price, $79.99)

Spratling Repro Silver and Azurite Malachite Necklace

Spratling is an amazing jewelry designer from the 30’s who did a lot of silver work in Mexico. I cant afford to buy his originals, but this is a great, affordable reproduction of one his pieces.

(buy it now price, $200)

Zodiac Symbol Pins

We recently used a bunch of zodiac signs in one of our collections. I’m not even sure how I came across these pins, but I love the 70’s typography.

(buy it now price, $1.90 each)

LISA’S PICKS

Fornasetti Mercedes

I collect Fornasetti plates, and they’re something I search for pretty consistently on eBay. I just found the artist’s beat-up Mercedes station wagon with weird architectural-looking paintings on the sides—so fun.

(buy it now price, $9000)

Cork Flooring

This cork flooring has such a beautiful, natural pattern that looks like marbleized paper. This could be great tacked on the wall in our studio to use as a bulletin board.

(buy it now price, $3.19 per square foot)

Macrame Wall Hanging from the 1960’s or 1970’s

Fiber art was such a big inspiration for fall. This amazing macramé wall hanging reminds me of one of our prints.

(buy it now price, $9.99)

Theda Bara Postcard

This is such a beautiful image of Theda Bara, who was a silent film star. We’re always looking for cool images that we can reference when designing lookbooks and invitations.

(buy it now price, $8.00)