New Business Feature - Vertere Living

Tobi of Vertere Living

Vertere Living is a lovely new shop and studio that's really painting the town! This is a recent venture (opened November 2022) by owner Tobi, who lives in West Lorne with her husband, kids, and pets and works full-time in healthcare. What started as a furniture restoration hobby born from childhood memories of looking for old bottles with her dad has quickly become a growing business. She had previously worked on flipping thrifted and found furniture pieces in a relative's garage space, and when that was no longer available she was able to find a new facility that has opened the door to more of a public-facing opportunity.

Tobi's business name is centrered on the Latin word 'vertere,' which means 'to turn,' a term that she feels symbolizes the process of taking an old, discarded piece of furniture and making it into something new and beautiful. She sees that process as being tied to a larger 'turning' that she hopes to facilitate through her work, of shifting consumer values towards embracing pre-loved items and making more environmentally-conscious purchasing choices. Tobi grounds this in the idea that we are all connected to the earth. She hopes that her work will demonstrate to consumers that alternative options exist to the lower-quality, higher-priced, increasingly difficult to obtain new furniture currently offered by big-box stores.

This is truly a passion project for Tobi, who loves the organic process of getting inspired by individual pieces and imagining their potential. She learns to do by doing and is always interested in developing new techniques and enhancing her skills. Both hobby and business provide a no-pressure creative outlet where she is able to test the waters and grow at her own pace, balanced with her family and work priorities.

In addition to Tobi's incredible refinished furniture pieces, the shop also features vintage items, art, crafts, and gifts sourced from mainly women-owned small businesses and operators who share her values. She hopes to introduce both in-person and virtual workshops where people can learn the basics of furniture refinishing. She would also like to develop an educational component to the business through encouraging people to reimagine what they have instead of buying new.

Be sure to check out the shop's Instagram below, and keep an eye out for more beautiful creations to come from the shop in 2023! All best wishes to Tobi for this exciting new business putting Rodney on the map!

Vertere Living

102 Furnival Road, Rodney N0L 2C0

Contact

Website

Instagram