Out of Office: Skyler Kanipe

I feel like I was kind of born into [vintage shopping]. My mom’s parents owned a furniture store, and it was a new-and-used situation. So, I grew up going to flea markets and auctions and all of that fun stuff.

[My favorite part of vintage shopping is] the thrill of searching for stuff. I always say that I never go in with an expectation. I just go and try to find something that finds me. But I think now it’s more memory based; I like the feeling of going into a vintage shop.

I feel like I go through phases, but right now I am looking for plates. I have a plate wall and so every time—I go about once a week—I look for vintage plates that speak to me. I also really enjoy pink, and so a lot of times I like to find things that are maybe not normally pink and then I’ll buy them.

In western Kentucky, we have a lot of cool places [to shop vintage]. There’s a place here in Benton that has great stuff, and there’s a few places in Paducah, where I live, that have some fun things. And even when I travel back to [Webster County, Kentucky] where I’m from, usually I stop everywhere on the way just to see what’s new since I’ve been there last.