4 rural antique shops where you can find treasures from the past century

It is not difficult to get lost in David Babella’s remarkable collection. Whether you are browsing online or at the Baja site, you will be left scratching your head at the more and more beautiful objects. From the magnificent farmhouse tables to the metal cassette window frames and antique lion’s foot bathtub, you really have almost everything here. Furniture, accessories, tools, simpler pieces and some very special ones that you won’t find anywhere else. Goods carefully sorted and kept in order – you can even buy in bulk, there is hardly a product that you can find only 1 to 1 of.  Let’s wander the shop with no time limit and dress up your home with these beautiful antiques. In the meantime, feel free to ask the owner, who is happy to talk about his passion for collecting.

Arteria’s workshop, which excels primarily in the industrial style, produces some incredibly exciting pieces. From factories and plants in the Balkan countries, the team salvages equipment for the iron and steel industry that is no longer in use. Industrial fixtures, workshop tables, inscriptions and other rare accessories are part of this collection. But it’s not just factory objects that are given a second life: treasures from closed schools, cinemas and doctors’ surgeries are also found here. Old biology-themed posters, metal workshop crates, and vintage sewing lamps are also part of the collection. The team takes great care to refurbish the special furnishings, with electronics, for example, being made to 21st century specifications. What’s interesting is that whatever you choose, they have a story to tell, because they know the origin of each product, which makes it even more personal. 

Zoltán Hársfalvai is a passionate collector, and his collection (also) contains only meticulously restored, ready-to-use antiques in good condition. His hands produce almost only unique pieces, and his taste is remarkable. Looking at his objects can make you want to redecorate your entire home: antiques from France, Germany, Hungary and Poland are all part of his range. It is worth browsing his Instagram, but if you want to admire the collection in person, you can visit Zoltán at the Liliomkert Market in Káptalantóti, open every Sunday of the year.

One of the coolest places in Tata is the Oops Creative Agency, where you can spend hours browsing through retro, vintage, industrial and designer furnishings. Through the front door it was like stepping through a time portal! At every metre, you will see something that is one of the favourite designs of our childhood, but without the bad condition. The people at Oops breathe new life into these unique pieces with love, skill and meticulous work, so that we prefer sustainable, growing-value items to mass-produced products. And if we haven’t done it before, we will certainly choose them from now on! On top of all this, the Tata store is not only very focused on the collection, but also on educating a design-savvy audience. They also regularly organise open days, exhibitions and design history lectures in their shop, where they invite distinguished guests.